Indy Eleven vs Louisville City FC - 13.19

Summary

- Opponent: Louisville City FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,542
- Final Score: 2-1 W

- Starting XI: Dick, Mitrano, Craig, Herbert, Hafferty, Quinn (C), Lindley, O'Brien, J., Blake, Kizza, Rendon

- Substitution: Mesanvi 68' (Kizza); Rasheed 68' (Hafferty); Henry-Scott 80' (Rendon); Barry 90'+4' (Blake)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Omar, Sing

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Rendon 31' (assist Quinn)
LOU - Adams 58' (assist Davila)
IND - Blake 60' (assist Kizza)

- Bookings:

LOU - Adams 69' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Hassan

- Adage goals: None
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 10

Thoughts and Opinions

If you were looking for a night not have a poor attendance for a rivalry game, tonight was that night. The Indianapolis metro area was hosting Garth Brooks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Indianapolis Indians were hosting the Louisville Bats at Victory Field, Westfield was hosting the LIV golf tournament, and both Indiana University and Purdue University begin classes on Monday so many fans were taking family members to school. That was just the obvious stuff that jumped out to me. So I put very little stock in the announced attendance for the night, but it was a good-sized crowd under the other entertainment alternatives available to folks in the not-so-sleepy Naptown area. However, the fans that were in Carroll Stadium saw something that hadn't happened since 2022. The Indy Eleven beat Louisville City. In the history of the two clubs, Louisville, rightfully, held a 13W-7D-5L advantage in the series coming into the game, but Indy pulled out a 2-1 victory to send their rivals back down I-65 with a rare defeat.

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

This week, the Indy roster made some adjustments as Okello was traded to Lexington for Joe Hafferty and Malik Henry-Scott, and Kian Williams was loaned to Detroit City FC. The newest Boys in Blue were immediately inserted into the gameday roster, with Hafferty getting his first start in his first chance to do so, taking the spot that Nibunguchy filled last week. The left back spot has been a revolving door lately with neither Nibunguchy nor Neidlinger before him even making the bench tonight. Hafferty's 68-minutes of action tonight was the kind of performance that will endear him to Indy Eleven fans. Based on what I was able to get from staff and players, Hafferty had a single training session with the rest of the players, but you wouldn't have known it from his performance. That was a pro being a pro. Learn the game plan and then go do your job. That was one hell of a performance by Hafferty given his absolutely minimal time with the club.

In the game last week against Sporting JAX, McAuley pushed Quinn back into the midfield with Mitrano getting the start as the left back. The same tactic was employed tonight against Louisville City, but against a much better Louisville team, the midfield had a much flatter appearance than the Lindley/Quinn deep and Blake/O'Brien more forward arrangement that was used against JAX. 

Dick was quick off his line in the early stages of the game in a very back-and-forth first 10 minutes. It seemed like it was a very specific talking point by the team that Dick was going to need to make his presence felt against the Louisville offense. So in addition to having Blake and O'Brien sitting deeper, there was an appearance that Indy came into the game with the mentality that it was definitely all hands on deck defending by the home side. 

Indy kicked off the scoring in the 31st minute when the midfield effort was rewarded. Louisville tried to force a ball through the middle of the field that a sliding Lindley picked off directly to Quinn. Quinn one-touched the ball up the field to Rendon who used his noggin as his first touch to settle the ball to where he wanted it. Then Indy's leading scorer (the latest to reach double-digits in scoring for the season), drove a ball across the turf across the goal and under Faundez who couldn't get down fast enough to make the save. As has been stated ad nauseum this year, Indy couldn't care less about the possession difference and their lack of holding onto the ball (which was 70/30 at that point in the game) if their style of play results in opportunities on goal. Heading into the halftime locker room, Indy had a drastic disadvantage in the possession, but held the advantage in shots, shots on target, and most importantly on the scoreboard. 

Louisville City found their own goal in the 58th minute when Adams redirected a corner kick that Dick acted like he thought it was going to drift wide, but it tucked into the side netting to even the scoring. Minutes later, though, Kizza (more on him in a bit) dropped a ball off to Blake who blasted the ball to the left side of the goal beyond an outstretched Faundez. The flurry of goals nearly continued with the visitors getting their own opportunity seconds after the restart, but didn't find the goal. 

At that point, it became apparent that this game was going to go until the very last seconds with Louisville needing to chase the game. A team chasing the game plays into Indy's style of play of defend and counterattack, so it felt like the 2-1 score line was not going to be the final score. After the Indy goal, the field tilted in Louisville's favor as they pushed to find the equalizing goal. Nine of the visitor's 19 shots came after the goal, all of them after the 80th minute when McAuley replaced Rendon with Barry, signaling that it was time for the Indy players to lock-in defensively from top to bottom, with only Mesanvi left on the field for his counterattacking speed. Despite 6-minutes of stoppage time, Louisville City was unable to get a second goal and the home side found a rare win in the series. 

Indy will look to keep the momentum going with a trip out west to play Phoenix next weekend before returning home for Labor Day weekend to play Birmingham. Indy will want to get good results against both teams, who currently sit below their conferences respective playoff lines, before heading back out west to play the Western Conference-leading New Mexico United.

Hi Olivia! Thanks for reading.

Game Beckons Game Ball

As I've stated before, many times the GBGB doesn't always go to the player that scores the goal, or gets the assist, or that even has eye-popping stats. Sometimes it's just the player that keeps catching my eye making, or trying to make, good plays. Tonight, that was Kizza. Again, his stats aren't spectacular. He lost a lot more duels than he won. But his effort was great, and he kept putting himself into positions to try and help the team. He regularly dropped back towards the midfield to make himself available for the ball, while also understanding that in this version of the 4-4-2, he had to be available going forward. His hold-up play might have been one of the best we've seen from the team this season. He's had to come off the bench a lot this year and isn't averaging a ton of minutes, but he put in a shift tonight that was good for the team.

Honorable Mention:

Apparently, Kibunguchy's injury last week helped keep him out of the lineup tonight which is what allowed Hafferty to get the start in the game, but his play tonight might keep Kibunguchy on the bench even after his injury heals. As I mentioned before, that was one hell of a performance from a guy with almost no time with the team before tonight's game.

Photos: Don Thompson Photography