I have no desire to re-watch this game with Edmonton's horrible stream.
I have no desire to count how many times the ball was just casually given away by the Indy Eleven players.
NASL/Opta Stats - Indy Eleven Unsuccessful Passes
I have no desire to count how many times the matador defense was employed (ole!)...or how many times that led to last ditch defending.
Photo: NASL/FC Edmonton
I have no desire to go back and figure out how many times a player took one extra touch that prevented them from getting a shot on goal.
Whatever optimism I had left about the team making the Championship disappeared today. With 8 games remaining (4 home, 4 away), I don't see how they get enough points to overtake the teams ahead of them. The Eleven have a -7 goal differential in the Fall Season and it's not just an issue of not scoring, but leaking goals too.
But what concerns me is shown in the photo to the right. Yes, that's a penalty kick by Corea. A converted penalty kick. The 5th such converted penalty kick on the season and one that was actually the correct call. What bothers me most is that the team has also had some penalty kicks saved by Busch, only to have the rebound put in the goal. What have they learned from all of the penalty kicks that were saved and then scored? Well, in the case of Vuko, it means stand flat-footed with your hands on your hips. Watch the highlights and you'll see that Falvey and Franco are only slightly better.
Today, I saw this tweet:
"If you don't address the things you're not doing well when you're winning the winning will eventually stop." David Cutcliffe pic.twitter.com/0xqEuy447W
I would extend that to include that if you don't address the things you're not doing well when you're losing, the losing will continue.
Continuing to stand with your hands on your hips on a penalty kick is just one more small thing that frustrates and concerns me about this team as it hits the final stretch of games in the season. Maybe not mathematically out of it yet, but quickly finding themselves in desperate need for points.
In an 8 team league, teams are going to play each other multiple times. The Eleven have seen their fill of the Eddies in the first 18, having now played each other 4 times. Unfortunately with this week's negative result, the Eleven have now played the Eddies to 1 win, 1 draw, & 2 losses. Playing a team this frequently also means that you're not going to be able to surprise anybody with formations or personnel. You are who you are and they are who they are. Injuries will adjust slightly, but given the number of injuries the Eleven had in the Spring Season, there is plenty of video on each player on the roster for which opponents can use to scout.
Yet, the defensive-minded Eddies came out in a much more attacking role than normal, putting the Eleven back on their heels early, continuing their mindset at the end of last week's game. Coach Miller indicated to last week's Edmonton television personnel that he would rather lose 5 - 4 than lose another 1 - 0 decision. That scoreline is a sore spot for Edmonton as they lost 8 games by that scoreline and as such, started attacking early and kept at it forcing the Eleven into poor touches and passes throughout large portions of the game.
The Eleven and Edmonton have routinely played close matches and a single goal has often been the game-winner. While it wasn't the official game-winner for Edmonton, their first goal in the 53rd minute off of a Corea penalty kick seems to be a microcosm of some of the Eleven's issues with referees, penalty kicks, and yellow cards. That was also so much going on during the penalty kick, that I'm going to break it down into little pieces that I want to discuss. The kick also signifies the 4 goal other teams have scored from the spot on the Eleven and another two that have been scored off saved penalty kicks that were followed and put away. Six penalty kicks awarded to opponents in a season seems high to me and there's still another 14 games left to go.
Here's the video:
Is there contact? Yes. Enough to cause a player to be taken out the way that Galvao makes it appear? No. Is the ref in a good position to make the call? Yes. Does he make the correct call? In my opinion, no. No, he does not.
From the video, you can see that the "foul" was called at 50:24 in the game. Yet the ball didn't finally make it into the back of the goal until 52:34. What could possibly happen to take over 2 minutes to take a penalty kick?
The comedy duo of Torrado and Falvey. Once the ball is set, Corea ties his shoes. Torrado has some discussion with the ref, within inches of Corea to give him some extra time to think about his shot. As Torrado backs ago, Falvey moves forward to complain about the ball placement while taking the ref's attention, and Torrado pulls out this gem:
Yes, that is Torrado reaching down and untying Corea's boot. It ultimately meant very little to Corea as he scores the kick and Torrado picked up his second yellow in as many games in the Fall Season, but that's a guy that has a lifetime of doing the little things to try and get into opposing players' heads.
Photo: NASL/FC Edmonton
If you recall, Edmonton were awarded a penalty kick back in May when these two teams played as Corea tripped over his own feet, made quite the show of going to ground, and was another unusual sequence played before fans in Edmonton. Here's my description of that sequence:
Torrado's own frustration bubbled over as he used the opportunity to get a drink from Busch's water bottle after the ball had been placed for the kick, then walked straight to Corea taking the kick, touched him on the arm, and provided Corea with some choice words. At which point, he was shown his third yellow in as many games.
Sounds eerily familiar. Continuing from my description...
After that, Corea stutter-stepped his way to blasting the penalty kick off the right side of the crossbar even though Busch went to the left. But wait, the call that's never called gets called as the Eleven were charged with encroachment.
After all of the festivities this week with Falvey and Torrado, Corea finally prepares to take the penalty kick, stutter-stepped his approach again and put it to the right side of the goal while Busch dove to the left. Edmonton is now up by a goal in a game/series where one-goal games are common. My issue with the last part of this scenario is visible in the screen capture on the right. At this point in the capture, Corea has completed his stutter-step, but the ball is still firmly planted on the white spot on the ground. Yet Diakite, Fisk, and Ameobi (ok, and Falvey) are all well on their way towards goal. Given that Diakite started from the circle, that's a hefty run before the ball is ever kicked. This continues to prove why fans are constantly frustrated with the officiating that takes place in the NASL. If it was encroachment in Edmonton when Edmonton missed the shot, then it is encroachment here when they make the shot.
NASL/WNDY screen capture
<--- Oh, and while I'm at it talking about the NASL referees, this needs to end.
If I was the ref, I would tell them that if they aren't wearing a captain's armband, if they said another word, they would get a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. I'm not sure if it is a letter of the law, but it might stop the meeting of the minds that some teams think is necessary after every single call.
Edmonton went on to score in the 59th minute, followed by a spectacular free kick from Vukovic, only to see Edmonton put one more on the board in the 73rd minute. After the second goal, I didn't think the Eleven could come back to win it and the final 17 minutes seemed like a formality once they scored their third. The team has talked about the belief that they can win, anywhere and anytime, but that feeling didn't seem to be reflected on the field on Saturday and is definitely a change from their 2016 form. They head down to Miami this week to play a team reeling from their first losing streak all year, eager to prove it was just a blip on the map, so the Eleven need to find that belief again and find it fast.
The Game Beckons Game Ball:
Vukovic. Not necessarily because I thought he overall play was spectacular necessitating choosing him over anybody else, but the guy can hit a damn good set piece. He scored off of one in the 66th minute in the upper left corner and then nearly did it again into the upper right hand corner later in the game. The NASL referees like to call fouls when a player falls out, regardless of whether it was actually a foul, so the Eleven need to fall down in the final third whenever they get the contact. Others seem to be playing the system and with a weapon like Vuko's free-kick left foot, the Eleven need to take advantage as often as possible.
The thing about a Sunday afternoon game in Edmonton is that it makes it difficult for me to watch the game live. Thanks to ESPN3 and the ability to watch replays of games, I was able to sit through Edmonton's horrible tv feed to watch the Eleven continue their unbeaten streak that they started in the final stages of the Spring Season. While I wasn't able to watch the game live, the @IndyElevenLive twitter feed immediately set me down a path of concern. A starting lineup that does not include Justin Braun has shown some difficulties in the Spring Season of generating goals. A starting lineup that does not include Falvey as the anchor in the backline is a bit disconcerting. A starting lineup that does not include both of them? That had the potential to be a disaster.
The team has shown they have talent and momentum, but Falvey and Braun have been the lynch-pins of the offense and defense. "Luckily," and maybe hopefully, the Eleven's string of injuries in the Spring Season have paid off by giving guys the playing time necessary that allowed yet another centerback pairing to succeed and another forward to find the back of the net.
Palmer and Keller have rotated in and out of the centerback pairing all season and have been on the field together, but never together as the anchors of the defense. In a game where Edmonton is credited with 40 crosses, FORTY, their partnership seems to have been effective.
Goldsmith has been seeing time towards the ends of games, but picked up a start with Braun's absence. Then proceeded to score a goal in the 7th minute by doing much of what both Braun and Zayed do. Hang around the goal and don't stop on a play. Smart took the ball deep towards the endline before trying to send it back across goal, but the pace he put on the ball was too much to handle for Farago and it bounced nicely inside the 6-yard box for Goldsmith to finish.
This was a game of thirds. I would love to see a statistical breakdown of the game split into the first 60 minutes and the final 30 minutes. It was around the 60th minute where it felt like the game switched. The Eleven did a good job of controlling the ball and the tempo in the first 60, but the Eddies become a much more attacking force in the final 30. Prior to my watch of the game, I had already looked at the stats and knew that Edmonton had 40 crosses and well into the 2nd half, I couldn't imagine how they reached that number. I'm still not sure if it was accurate, but they were clearly the team pressing and putting the Eleven back on their heels.
Around the time that the game seemed to change was with the introduction by Edmonton of McKendry in the 58th minute. In the 60th minute, McKendry fouled Torrado with an elbow to the face, which Vukovic pleaded to the ref deserved more than just the whistle. Once Torrado was taken off the field, the ref restarted play with a drop ball. A drop ball that McKendry contested against Zayed and then hacked away at Zayed's leg after Zayed won the ball and tried to distribute. The two fouls in quick succession led to McKendry receiving a yellow card. After that, I had the general impression that Edmonton increased their level of effort and began pressing and attacking the Eleven more. The last 30 minutes were definitely in the favor of Edmonton, forcing the Eleven to hold onto their 2-1 halftime lead.
Zayed picked up the Eleven's second goal of the game in the 41st minute to give them the lead going into halftime after Edmonton's Ameobi put his head to Fisk's cross to tie the game in the 33rd minute. Historically, Zayed roughly averages a goal every two games, but well off his pace this year, scoring just 3 goals in 14 matches. Zayed needed to see the ball go in the goal. He's been so close on multiple occasions this year so to get a good touch on the ball to put it around the keeper and watch it go off the post and in instead of bouncing back out could be huge for him moving forward. Sometimes a guy that is paid to score needs to see the ball go in to jumpstart a dry patch. Hopefully, this goal was that for him.
The Eleven come home on Saturday to play Edmonton again and will be looking to duplicate the winning result and keep their momentum before heading to Miami the following week. Getting wins against Edmonton is a much different task than going to Miami and getting a result there, but hopefully the team isn't looking that far ahead, even if I am.
The Game Beckons Game Ball:
I want to give the Game Ball every week to Keller for the job he is doing this year after being thrown into his Swiss Army Knife role, but instead I'm going to split the Game Beckons Game Ball this week to both forwards. Zayed because he needed to see the ball go in and Goldsmith because he was able to translate his goal scoring in training to the game. Other guys scoring goals besides Braun is only going to help this team moving forward in the Fall Season.
Losing to Miami in back-to-back weeks is understandable. Unfortunate, but understandable. Losing to the Michigan Bucks in the middle of the week between those two games is also unfortunate, but in my opinion, inexcusable. A week after all of that frustration, the Indy Eleven traveled to Edmonton on Saturday to play a team that has, perhaps, struggled even more than the Indy Eleven this season to get positive results. The two teams played against each other in one of last year's semifinal matchups and this year find themselves competing against each other to not be at the bottom of the table. Both teams have the benefit that Puerto Rico holds down that spot for the time being. A team, like the Eleven, who have yet to win a game this season and who have already fired their head coach.
Going into the game, Edmonton had only managed to score 3 goals all season, two of which came in one game against Puerto Rico. The Eleven needed to go to Canada and find the back of the net against a team that looked like they would have had a hard time scoring multiple goals to overcome any deficit. They scored twice on the Eleven.
This is the face of someone who has kicked the turf and
not one of someone who has been tripped.
Photo credit: NASL/FC Edmonton
I think we can all agree that the first goal by Edmonton off the Corea penalty kick was the result of a horrible sequence of events that exemplifies everybody's frustrations with NASL referees. Corea kicks the ground and trips himself in the penalty box, but because he has three Eleven players near him, a penalty kick is awarded. A penalty kick that even the Edmonton announcers questioned. Torrado's own frustration bubbled over as he used the opportunity to get a drink from Busch's water bottle after the ball had been placed for the kick, then walked straight to Corea taking the kick, touched him on the arm, and provided Corea with some choice words. At which point, he was shown his third yellow in as many games. Personally, I'm starting to think he's just trying to get to his 5th yellow of the spring season so he can take a game off. He's clearly frustrated with the way things are going, but that was not a smart card to receive. The ref, while bad, had no other option but to give him the card. After that, Corea stutter-stepped his way to blasting the penalty kick off the right side of the crossbar even though Busch went to the left. But wait, the call that's never called gets called as the Eleven were charged with encroachment. Corea gets to make amends of his poor first attempt, goes the opposite direction, which Busch did as well, and the Eddies found themselves up a goal in the 27th minute.
For what it's worth, Torrado's yellow card had to be given, but Falvey's yellow confuses me. Falvey's leg never came any higher than his hip and Ledgerwood jumped into the ball and kick. How that goes as a foul, much less a yellow card is beyond me. Did you know that the Eleven have conceded 113 fouls on the season and that their opponents have conceded 114 fouls? Did you know that the Eleven have been shown 18 yellow cards (highest in the league), while their opponents have been shown a total of 7. I've watched every Eleven game and the Eleven isn't that substantially more physical than their opponents. Unfairly targeted? Maybe.
All that being said, Edmonton's second goal off a set-piece was a result of poor man marking. Three different Eddies could have had a chance at the ball that Straith put in the back of the net in stoppage time of the first half. For a team that has been struggling offensively, two goals in the first half must have felt like the flood gates opened. For the Eleven, a two-goal deficit was never going to be an easy task this year. Braun has scored 4 of the team's 9 goals (and now assisted on 3 more) so as I've been saying for weeks now, the Eleven's offense goes as Braun goes. With a two goal lead, at home, and the struggles they've had this year, Edmonton could have parked the bus and defend what has become a fairly inept offense as of late.
The question that we're all asking is what happened to last year's team? Who left and who took their place?
Gordon
Janicki
Lacroix
Larrea
Mares
Paterson
Reinoso
Shaffer
Wojcik
Youla
Some of those seem like underwhelming or under-performing players, right? Yet, that list accounts for 21 goals last year. If you total the goals scored by all the returning players not named Zayed? 15. With 8 of those being from Braun. Ubi and Torrado didn't score a single goal in the regular season last year so it's not surprising they haven't done so this year. Goldsmith, Speas, and Thompson have shown promise and have found the woodwork on a few occasions, but two of those are rookies and Eleven rookies have historically struggled to significantly impact the team. I don't think a healthy Smart or Zayed immediately turn this team's fortunes around, but Zayed's ability to poach goals and Smart's crosses are two components that are sorely missed right now. Zayed's presence should also take some of the pressure off of Braun and he's drawing A LOT of attention these days.
Neither of those guys are due back soon so this could get worse before it gets better. After a string of six draws to start the season, the Eleven have fallen off the cliff the past three games (four if you count the Open Cup game against the Michigan Bucks). A win against another struggling team in Edmonton would have been a helpful boost to the morale. As it was, Brad Ring's assault of the unassuming Gatorade bottle when he was subbed off in the 67th minute was the perfect display of the frustration he feels with the results.
Can the Eleven climb back out of the canyon? They get a chance next week in San Francisco next week before coming home to the Mike to face Jacksonville. A win in San Fran looks to be an absolute necessity, not only for affect on the standings, but also for the morale of the team.
Due to brisk temperatures and a stiff wind, the Indy Eleven debuted their new Adidas kits in front of a smaller than normal crowd. However, the new #ThreeStripeLife didn't translate to #ThreePoints as the Eleven drew yet again, this time at the hands of FC Edmonton. An Edmonton team that was coming off three days rest having played (and lost) on Wednesday against Ottawa in the Canadian Championship. An Edmonton team that has been held scoreless in four of their six games and have only scored three goals all season. Not exactly an offensive juggernaut and the kind of team where a goal scored against them likely gets you the win.
Yet the Eleven forced Edmonton goalkeeper Konopka into making just two saves on twelve shots. Eight of those shots came from outside the box, which is nearly twice the team's normal average. Despite winning the possession battle and spending a great deal of time in Edmonton's side of the field, the Eleven only had a few solid chances on goal, but overall, the two team's played like a draw was the plan. For Edmonton, that might have actually been the case, but I doubt that Indy went into this game trying for a single point. So what turned a desired win at home into a deserved draw?
Injuries are clearly a factor. Ables (knee), Franco (leg), Manning (head), Smart (quad), Speas (abdominal), Vukovic (kidney) were all unavailable for the game. Meaning that Plumhoff and Poltronieri, who were officially signed to the team on FRIDAY, had to be available for selection and both entered the game. That severely limits Coach Hankinson's options to try and exploit opposing teams' weaknesses. He basically has to go with who is healthy and hope they can get it done.
Tonight, the team that he did put on the field seemed to be off with their first touches, which gave the Eddies enough time to stifle even the faintest of attempts by the Eleven. How bad was it? Even the normally accurate Torrado could must only about 60% pass completion rate. Every time a first touch failed a player, the rhythm of a run or a pass or a clearance were affected. It was not a pretty game.
One of the disadvantages of having the league select Braun as the Player of the Month (which is a well deserved acknowledgement of his efforts this year), he's not surprising anybody. The second he touched a ball, at least two Edmonton players closed the space to him so that he couldn't make a play. As I've said before, when the offense is relying so heavily on him right now, that makes the Eleven offense look anemic and means that somebody else is going to need to step up. And soon. Zayed has definitely stepped up his effort the last couple weeks, but the last year's team leading scorer needs to start putting some of his shots in the back of the net to help ease some of the burden on Braun.
I'm officially on the worried bandwagon. This team needs a win and they need it badly. If they can't get one at home against one of the worse teams in the league that was coming off a mid-week game, I don't have high hopes for maintaining the undefeated streak at Miami next week. League leading Miami. A draw in Miami next week might be high hopes at this point with so much of the team in the infirmary. Back-to-back games against Miami the next two weeks will put the team at the half-way point in the Spring Season and may go a long way to determine whether they have any chance at a Spring title or whether they stay middle to back of the pack.
Brad Ring. I don't care if he was tossed on a double yellow card scenario. In a game where the ref called a foul against the Eleven seemingly every time an Eddie fell down, it's actually more amazing that more players weren't shown yellows and Ring probably could have picked up a second one long before he did. His first one was deserved, his second one wasn't but he didn't shy away from any of the physical play. Though his yellow cards highlight a disturbing trend with the Eleven this year. They've received yellow cards at nearly a 4 to 1 clip compared to their opponents. Have they been physical? Yes. Have they been that much more physical then their opponents? No.
The Game Beckons Game Ball
I want to give this week's Game Beckons Game Ball to Larry Mason. During the 74th minute of the game, the normally boisterous group went silent for an entire minute as they paid tribute to Larry Mason, who passed away this week at the age of 74. The team had a moment of silence before the national anthems and the BYB released smoke in his honor. For those that don't know, Larry is the father of BYB President, Josh Mason, but Larry was an enjoyable presence on the endline as he took photos. I didn't know Larry that well, but he was always worth a good conversation. Ironically, the last time that the Eleven played Edmonton last year, Larry allowed me to use some of his photographs for my post. In fact, he knew that my normal photographer, my own father, was not going to be at the game and offered his photos to me without me asking for them. It was just something he wanted to do. That's usually what good guys do and Larry Mason seemed to be one of those from everything I ever observed of him. My thoughts are with the Mason family during this time.
