Indy Eleven vs Detroit City FC - 12.18

Summary

- Opponent: Detroit City FC
- Location: Keyworth Stadium
- Attendance: 6,317
- Final Score: 1-0 L

- Starting XI: Sulte, O'feimu, Musa, O'Brien, J., Rendon, Lindley, Murphy, Quinn (C), Blake, Williams, R., Foster

- Substitution: Neidlinger 69' (Foster); Williams, R. 69' (Amoh); Hogan 84' (Lindley); Kizza 84' (Blake); Collier 90'+1' (O'Brien, J)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Soumaoro 

Scoring Summary:
DET - Own Goal 57' (Musa)

- Bookings:

IND - Rendon 30' (RED)
DET - Bryant 38' (Yellow)
IND - Charles-Cook 88' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matthew Corrigan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Indy had all intentions of going to Detroit and coming away with at least a point, and preferably all three points to be able to make some significant movement up the table in a proverbial 6-point game with Detroit just ahead of Indy in the table. Indy started the game in a deep block with 5 midfielders clogging the very narrow Keyworth Stadium field to try and limit Detroit's opportunities and work for counterattacks. That deep block resulted in a nearly 70/30% possession advantage for Detroit City. 

The possession difference ballooned to an 80/20% advantage for the home side by the halftime whistle after Rendon was shown a straight red card in the 30th minute due to what was deemed a high elbow to the face of Amoo-Mensah. After Indy's second red card of the season, ironically both coming against Detroit City, Indy was content to try and get a point out of the game. However, Diouf beat O'Brien off the dribble, made it to the end line, and sent a close proximity cross off the chest of Musa that deflected into Indy's goal giving Detroit's man advantage a goal advantage. 

With the lead and up a man in the 57th minute, Detroit continued to push for a second for about 15 to 20 minutes. However, once the clock rolled towards the 80th minute and it became clearer and clearer that Indy didn't have it in them to get their own goal, Detroit began to take their foot off the gas and started taking the air out of the game. Indy was down to long balls and counterattacks, but couldn't find anything out of the game. Despite being down a player, Indy limited Detroit to just 4 shots on target. However, Indy's only official shot on target happened in the 17th minute from a Romario Williams backheel that went directly to Saldana.

A 30th minute red card and a 57th minute own goal gave Detroit the win. With the other results in the Eastern Conference tonight at the time of this article, Indy find themselves, once again, staring at the wrong side of the playoff line. They continue to have a game-in-hand (or two) on most of the teams around them, but they will be spending much more time in the dying weeks of the season on the road than they have during the middle part of the season, and against several of the conference contenders, including still having three games against the Conference leaders of Louisville and Charleston. The conference has a very crowded middle so Indy is going to need to be more effective around goal in the final 12 games than they have been in recent games.

Indy continue the journey with another game on the road next week at Loudoun United before returning home for a three-game homestand starting with a midweek Jagermeister Cup game against Greenville Triumph followed by Miami and the first 2025 edition of LIPAFC against Louisville. Indy definitely need points from the Loudoun and Miami games and a win against Greenville pushes into a semifinal of the Cup. I've said it before recently, but playing for trophies can change the opinion of whether a season was a success or not.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Officially, he was credited with 4 saves, but each of those saves were special. Sulte's 6'-7" frame and his ability to move laterally was on full display tonight. It's rare that an opposing team has four shots on target and the goalkeeper makes four saves and the team still loses, but an own goal gets treated differently. Sulte did what he could to help keep Indy in the game, which was enough for me to give him tonight's GBGB.