Indy Eleven vs Philadelphia Union - 2025 U.S. Open Cup Round of 32

Summary

- Opponent: Philadelphia Union 
- Location: Subaru Park
- Attendance: 8,633
- Final Score: 1-1 D (5-4 Philadelphia after extra time)

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, White, Ofeimu, Musa, Stanley, Foster, Murphy, Quinn (C), Rendon, Blake, Amoh

- Substitution: Williams, R. 73' (Amoh); Collier 73' (Collier); O'Brien, J. 90' (Rendon); Lindley 90' (Murphy)

- Unused: Sulte, Hogan, Kizza

Scoring Summary:
PHI - Bedoya 6' (assist Mbaizo)
IND - Amoh 48' (assist Foster)

Penalty Kicks:
1 IND - Williams, R. - Success (to right) 
1 PHI - Vassilev - Success (to right)
2 IND - Blake - Success (down the middle)
2 PHI - Baribo - Success (to the left)
3 IND - Quinn - FAIL (to the right)
3 PHI - Westfield - Success (to the left)
4 IND - Lindley - Success (to the right) 
4 PHI - Rafanello - Success (down the middle)
5 IND - Stanley - Success (to the right)
5 PHI - Lukic - Success (to the right)

- Bookings:

PHI - Vazquez 55' (Yellow)

IND - Murphy 69' (Yellow)
PHI - Makhanya 88' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 90' (Yellow)
IND - Stanley 90'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matthew Corrigan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Here's the thing. Indy wasn't going to sneak up on any MLS teams this year. A run to the semifinal last year catches everybody's attention. Philadelphia wasn't going to overlook a semifinalist, no matter what league their opponent originated. Philadelphia did still seem to think that it wasn't going to take their top players to do it based on their starting lineup. Giving a 15-year in Sullivan first-team minutes gives some indication of that. In the first half, that proved to be the correct mentality. Indy played timid and passive. No, not passive. Reactionary. From the jump, they looked like a team that was content with seeing getting the game to halftime to try and win it late. Defensively they were chasing. Offensively, they were chasing. Very few times did they ever look like the team that had a game plan, other than "let's not lose it in the first half." Something they, in essence, looked like they did when the conceded a 5th minute goal. Indy Eleven eventually succumbed to the Union 5-4 in penalty kicks, but they overcame their early mistake to make a good showing for themselves.

Much of the first half of this game reminded me of the U.S. Open Cup game last year against Sporting Kansas City. Same as last year's game, Indy came out in a bunker, providing at least on the surface more respect for their opponent than maybe necessary. In Kansas City, Indy proceeded to concede a goal within the first 15 minutes, forcing them to play from behind, just like tonight's early goal forced this version of Indy to do. Against Kansas City, the team then conceded a second goal before halftime, making it vital that they play a different style of soccer in the second half. Indy still lost last year's game, but they gave a better showing of themselves. Indy managed to make it to halftime this year still just down by the single goal, but they were playing the same style of soccer. 

Indy Goal Locations (Across All Competitions)

In this game, Indy found a goal nearly immediately coming out of the halftime break. Not surprisingly, it was the most in-form striker for Indy in Amoh. The first half and second half tactical plan seemed to be the exact same from the 2024 semifinal to the 2025 Round of 32 game. The difference was that Indy didn't concede the second goal in the first half and found an equalizer early. 

Indy's confidence increased in proportion to Philadelphia's frustration level and the game became a game where both teams looked like they wanted to win instead of one team wanting to win and the other not wanting to lose. I think it was always the plan for Indy to play the way they did, but I'm just not sure it was necessary against Philadelphia's starting lineup.

Indy started looking gassed when the game finally found its way to extra time after neither team were able to get the winning goal in regular time. Indy's effort in the second half can't be argued, but it took a lot out of them to get to the extra time. As a result, Indy began to bunker again and absorb pressure and absorb attack after attack from the Union. That bunker continued into the second half to extra time, but it certainly looked like the team was following the coach's plan.

Penalty kicks can go either way. Indy fans don't expect it to go poorly for Quinn, but getting his shot stopped by Andrew Rick proved to be the difference between the two teams. Indy had their 2025 U.S. Open Cup journey ended in the Round of 32 by the Philadelphia Union, but the team once again showed the fight that Indy fans want to see from this team. Indy have now faced 5 full-fledged MLS teams in the U.S Open Cup in their history and have taken two of them to extra time (one to penalty kicks), defeated a third, and lost to a fourth in the semifinals of the tournament. So only one win, but I think Indy fans can take solace in knowing that the club makes a good showing of itself against the MLS sides (even if those sides are sending out some of their 2nd string players).

The minutes on the starters' legs is worrisome as the team travels directly from Philadelphia to Sacramento (I was told they won't be stopping in Indy between the games) to face one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but Coach McAuley has always said that his teams will go after trophies. To beat a team like Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park requires a complete effort from all your players, and Indy's starters put in a shift, particularly after the halftime break. When it comes to trophies on the line, Coach McAuley has taken the opinion that he will play the players that he thinks give the team the best chance to win and then he'll deal with the ramifications for the league games once the game is finished. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Charles-Cook. No doubt and no other option. There's a reason Indy took it to penalty kicks, but Charles-Cook kept Indy in this game as he made 10 saves on 33 shot attempts and 11 shots on target. Teams have 11 players and Charles-Cook showed that sometimes it takes all of them to win games. Yeah, he wasn't able to get to any of the penalty kicks, but he had good reads for all of them, but the shots were just better. If not for Charles-Cook, this game doesn't get to penalty kicks. RCC is the GBGB winner.

Indy Eleven vs Detroit City - 12.06

Summary

- Opponent: Detroit City FC 
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,738
- Final Score: 2-2 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, Musa, Ofeimu, White, Stanley, Foster, Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Amoh, Kizza

- Substitution: Rendon 45' (Kizza); O'Brien, J. 66' (Foster), Collier 67' (Blake); Williams, R. 67' (Amoh); Hogan 80' (Stanley)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Lindley

Scoring Summary:
DET - Rutz 2' (assist Yamazaki)
DET - Smith 15' (assist Chapman)
IND - Amoh 27' (unassisted)
IND - Amoh 66' (assist Quinn)

- Bookings:

DET - Williams 4' (Yellow)
IND - White 32', 60' (Yellow, Yellow - RED)
IND - Musa 55' (Yellow)
DET - Yamazaki 58' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 64' (Yellow)
DET - Chapman 65' (Yellow)
DET - Bryant 72' (Yellow)
DET - Amoo-Mensah 85' (Yellow)

- Referee: Elijio Arreguin

- Adage goals: One.

Thoughts and Opinions

Counting tonight's game, Indy and Detroit have played each other 5 times in the past two seasons when you also include the preseason game and the U.S. Open Cup matchup. In the USL Championship, players move around quite a bit with some rosters completely flipped from one season to next so it's not a given that two teams that faced each other 4 times last season can take much stock in thinking they know how a team is going to play this year based on how they played last year. That's not the case with these two teams who both returned a strong core from last year's rosters. Add the fact that Indy have two players from Detroit's last year roster (Amoh and Murphy), and Detroit has one player from Indy's last year roster (Guenzatti), and a good portion of the rosters remember last year's meetings. 

It didn't take long for Detroit City to put their stamp on this game. Indy's defenders lost sight of Yamazaki who had a ball sprayed out wide right to him with acres of space in front of him. Quinn made his best effort to catch Yamazaki, but the DCFC midfielder sent a ball between the lines to Rutz who had separated from Ofeimu on the left side of the box. A touch over an on-rushing Sulte and Detroit firmly placed themselves in the driver seat in just the 2nd minute of the game. A position Le Rouge wouldn't be able to hold onto with the game finishing in a 2-2 draw despite DCFC holding a man advantage for the final 30-minutes of the match.

After DCFC scored their second goal in the 15th minute, it looked like the game was done and dusted. Indy have now conceded multiple goals in all four of their home games. Indy is going to need to solidify their defense if there is ever going to be a chance of making The Mike any kind of fortress. In this league, it's important to get wins at home and at least a point on the road. At this point in the season, Carroll Stadium is looking more like a soggy pup-tent than anything resembling a fortress, despite the positive result tonight.

Thanks to some Quinn pressure on Williams in the 27th minute, the ball fell to Amoh's feet around the penalty spot with no other players but the goalkeeper anywhere in the vicinity, and the former DCFC player blasted a shot past his former teammates to pull one back. Indy's defensive pressure led to a goal to make themselves feel a little better about their early miscues. The goal re-energized the home squad and started tilting the bulk of the play towards the DCFC goal. The visitors still went into the halftime locker room with an advantage in nearly all the major statistics, including the one that matters the most, the score.

Coach McAuley made an immediate change coming out of the locker room by bringing in Rendon to Kizza indicating that McAuley wanted to provide more stability in the midfield. At the time, I might have made a different decision as I thought Foster's defensive effort in the first half was a liability. However, his pace and his increased effort (possibly as a result of a halftime motivational talk from McCauley) in the second half helped sway my opinion back to keeping him in the game. Moving him up top where he prefers to be probably helped his attitude and effort.

Down a goal and chasing the game, Indy exacerbated their struggles when White picked up his second yellow of the game in the 60th minute. It was described to McCauley as an "excessive challenge," but I think that many of the calls and cards in the second half were because referee Arreguin let a lot of physical play happen in the first half. When he decided to start calling the game tighter, White and players from both teams, had difficulty adapting to his new level of what constituted a foul. As a player, you want a consistent whistle, one way or the other; consistent between teams and consistent between halves. I don't think that was the case tonight, and the 7 cards in the second half reflected that change in how the game was refereed.

From Indy's perspective, the red card turned out to not hurt them. Amoh found his fifth goal in three games in the 66th minute to even the game at 2-2, despite the man disadvantage. Even after an abysmal start to the game and losing a player to a second yellow card, Indy found themselves back level with 20+ minutes to go. Detroit, realizing that they were in jeopardy of having lost a two-goal lead and went from walking away with the full points to just a point, and Indy, realizing that despite being down a man, had drawn the game level turned the game into a chess match of how much to press and when. Indy began to bunker a bit, making it difficult for Detroit to find any open lanes for their attack. Detroit still managed 5 shots, 2 on target, after the second Indy goal, but just couldn't crack the code of Indy's defense to duplicate the scoring effort that they were able to accomplish in the first half. 

Detroit would clearly like to have picked up the full three points given their early prowess and lead. However, once Indy took the early punch in the mouth, they settled into the game and had good chances of their own. Neither team will be happy with it, but a draw felt to me like it might be the right result based on the whole of the game. 

Both teams now turn their attention to their U.S. Open Cup games on Wednesday against Chicago Fire for Detroit and Philadelphia Union for Indy. Whatever squad rotation Coach McAuley had planned for the game knowing the teams travels to Sacramento next weekend, White's red card might change things slightly. If he wasn't going to play the full 90-minutes against the Union, he will now since he won't be able to make the trip out west. The Manager of Team Administration, Shelby Gilmore, conveyed to me that the team will travel to Philly and then will travel directly to Sacramento. So once the squad leaves Indy on Tuesday, they won't be back until Monday. 

The Boys in Blue won't be back in front of the home squad until May 28th unless they beat Philadelphia in the U.S. Open Cup and NYCFC beat Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Due to the draw, Indy would be the host team in that scenario. Assuming that doesn't happen, Indy fans can make the trip to Grand Park to support the Girls in Blue if they need their local soccer fix.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

If he keeps up this heater, I may have to rename this award from the Game Beckons Game Ball to the Elvis Amoh Game Ball. He was making an impact off the bench to the point where Coach McAuley felt Amoh deserved to be inserted into the starting lineup. Amoh proceeded to make an impact as a starter. Until this run-of-form slows down, the GBGB is his until somebody else absolutely takes it away from him.