FC Motown Confident with Sacir Hot at the Helm
Though FC Motown fell in the 2018 NPSL National Championship, head coach Sacir Hot is looking at the positives of what was overall an incredibly successful season.
“It was a massive success, we had tons of fans, we hosted a pretty big soccer match in Motown,” Hot said. “We played a side very close that could be challenging all the professional sides in the country, so I think we put on a good show. Not one part of me thinks we didn’t play well, just some unfortunate things happened, but that’s soccer, overall I think it was a great success.”
All in all, 2,143 people packed into a sold-out Ranger Stadium on the Drew University campus to watch two NPSL powerhouses battle for a national title. Miami FC opened the scoring in the 33rd minute from midfielder Jonny Steele, with FC Motown’s Dilly Duka evening the bought in the 36th. FC Motown’s Chris Riordan was sent off in the 57th minute for his second yellow card and Miami FC 2 capitalized by scoring from a free kick just two minutes later. Miami FC added an insurance goal in the 87th and took home the national championship. Despite the tough loss following a sending off, Hot is taking away the positives.
“It’s a huge accomplishment to make it to the final,” Hot said. “Our players are waking up in the morning and going to desk jobs and we are beating and going toe-to-toe with professional teams, it’s incredible.”
Hot’s coaching run with FC Motown comes following his professional playing career, where he spent time with New York Red Bulls, New York Red Bulls II, and German club KSV Hessen Kassel. Hot, in his first season as a sole head coach, led his squad to a 9-1-0 regular season record and helped the squad record an NPSL-best goal differential at a whopping +35.
Being a first-year head coach with a fully amateur squad, Hot learned a lot about the challenges that come with being a head coach.
“It was really interesting, and it’s not your usual coaching environment,” Hot said. “Our guys have professional careers outside of soccer… so to make a final run with Motown was just really incredible when I look back at it.”
FC Motown co-owner Oliver Papraniku was certainly impressed with Hot’s leadership and coaching ability and knows that his future is bright.
“We started last NPSL season coaching together and it was clear that he was a leader and going to be a great coach,” Papraniku said. “This season he had the full control of all coaching and it was great to see him put his imprint on the team. It’s obvious that he has a great future in the game.”
FC Motown co-founder Dan Karosen reflected the same sentiment.
“Sacir is one of the bright young coaches in the nation and led a group of players of diverse backgrounds to the doorstep of a national championship,” Karosen said. “This was a great achievement and he is getting better every year.”
With Hot reaching such a high point so early in his coaching career, it may seem easy for him to look towards other opportunities. Hot, on the other hand, is focused solely on FC Motown.
“I’m going to continue to build FC Motown into a powerhouse until we win a national title,” Hot said. “I’m going to continue to perfect my trade and learn as much as possible. Who knows what kind of opportunities may come in the future but right now my focus is on Motown and doing what’s best for Motown.”
Contributor: Daniel Cermak/NPSL.com
Photo Credit: www.OnsidePhotography.com
