Indy Eleven vs One Knoxville - 2025 Jagermeister Cup

Summary

- Opponent: One Knoxville SC
- Location: Covenant Health Park
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 1-0 W

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

- Substitution: O'Brien, J. 62' (McRobb); Williams, R. 62' (Amoh); Kizza 62' (White); Collier 70' (Foster); Lindley 81' (Blake)

- Unused: Sulte, Hogan

Scoring Summary:
IND - Amoh 47' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - White 6' (Yellow)
IND - Blake 78' (Yellow)
KNX - Skelton 80'; 90+1' (Yellow, Yellow, RED)
IND - Lindley 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Kaleia

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Just a couple of days removed from complaining about playing on baseball fields and wouldn't you know it, Indy found themselves playing in a baseball field. A field with temporary turf so brown it looked like there was barely a difference from the normal clay infield. Throw in the fact that the entirety of the first base path wasn't even completely sodded and it was clear that Knoxville provided enough turf to squeeze in a soccer field, but only just. I guess since Knoxville is in League One instead of the Championship, I could give them a little bit of leeway. I still hate it though.

Half - Shots

One Knoxville came out strong, holding a good amount of possession as Indy tried to get their legs under them. Once Indy settled into the field and the pace of the turf(s), they looked to be the more dangerous attacking team. Amoh put a ball off the crossbar in the 14th minute that nearly kicked off the scoring. Despite Indy getting 8 shots and 2 shots on target in the half compared to 1 (1) for Knoxville and the ball spending a good portion of the half in Knoxville's defensive half of the field, the first half felt much like it did against Forward Madison; like the gap between the teams wasn't that great, but that if Indy could get a lead, then maybe Knoxville would buckle and multiple goals would happen. As it was, Indy had the better of the chances on goal, but still went into the halftime locker room with a nil-nil score line. 

This is a little bit of an applicable to this game but more of an overarching tangent, but when you're a team like Indy that play a lot of balls over the top to the forwards, it bothers me when a forward gets called for offside because they haven't hustled to get back on side with the change of possession. If you get called offside because you didn't time your run correctly, that's one thing. When you're called offside because you didn't pay enough attention or were jogging your way back onside, that just feels like either laziness or a misunderstanding of how the team plays. 

Amoh is feeling so confident that he had the audacity to attempt a 45-yard shot that floated over former Indy goalkeeper Sean Lewis and into the goal to start the scoring in the 47th minute. Right now, he must feel like the goal is the size of the side of a rural Indiana barn. Through all competitions, Amoh has now scored 8 goals (4 in league, 1 in U.S. Open Cup, and 3 in the Jagermeister Cup), putting himself on top of the tournament goal scoring list, and putting himself 

as the clear leader in the club for goals scored this year, with Quinn as the second best scorer with 3.

With the goal, Indy began to concede possession, and once again, on the lower side of the possession battle. While the majority of Knoxville's possession in the first half was in their own half, down a goal, they began to push and spend more of their possession in Indy's half of the field. To Indy's defensive credit, Knoxville managed just 2 more shots in the second half, neither considered to be on target. It might not have been the prettiest soccer, but it was effective. 

Indy may be struggling to get wins in league play, but are now 2 wins in 2 games in the Jagermeister Cup, albeit against the League One competition in Group 3. Indy will now look to translate their success tonight to their home game this coming Wednesday when Hartford Athletic make their way to The Mike.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Elvis Amoh for the GBGB for the steal of a Knoxville freekick in Indy's half and the intestinal fortitude to take a 45-yard shot on goal.