18:08 - Falvey passes to Ring 5 yards away from the center circle on Indy's defensive side.
18:10 - Ring leads Vukovic for a run up the left side.
18:18 - To Vuko's left (and in front of him) is Smart, Braun and Zayed are near the penalty spot, and Gordon is making a run on the right side near the 18-yard line. Vukovic attempts a cross that never clears the Strikers back four.
18:23 - Ball is cleared deep to Nunez at the center circle. Torrado steps towards Nunez, but not quick enough. Ring is 5 yards away from Torrado and Vukovic is starting to make his run back.
18:27 - Nunez sends a through ball between all three defenders to Paulo.
18:33 - Nunez gathers and sprints towards goal. Ring at a full sprint (not nearly fast enough to keep up with Paulo) and Vuko continues at running speed, but not sprinting speed. Nunez takes the shot from the 6-yard box to far corner with Keller closing and Busch protecting near corner.
Goal.
Thomas Rongen recapping the goal - "the one name we didn't mention, Chris, was Vukovic. Vukovic makes the run forward. Ball gets cut out. Transition happens. Left full back is drawn. Center back doesn't step. Ring has to chase right now from midfield. We just talked about the back four not being really in sync. That's a good example right there. Punished by Paulo Junior."
The Eleven struggle on the road and continue to make things more difficult for themselves by giving up goals and having to play from behind. I didn't see the game live and looked at the stats before I watched the replay. The Average Position graph shown above jumped off the page for me beyond everything else. I'm not saying that I don't want Vuko going forward because this team has thrived off of his left-sided service, but for the left back's average position to be EVEN with the forwards might be a bit much.
With somebody on that side with Paulo Junior's pace, I would prefer to have the left back not play in such an advanced position. Some of it could be attributed to the fact that the Eleven were chasing the game, especially after the Strikers picked up their second goal in the 67th minute from Maicon, but it magnifies the point of the Eleven's struggles of playing from behind on the road.
Braun got on the board late to help the goal differential and eliminate the clean sheet for the Strikers, but it continues to be a point of concern how badly the Eleven have struggled on the road. Given that the Eleven's run-of-form in the Fall has not been what it was in the Spring and the Cosmos continue to pull away from the rest of the pack, it's looking like the Soccer Bowl runs through New York. There's still several games remaining and the Eleven are starting to get healthy again, but with a streaking Miami FC coming into the Mike this coming weekend, the Eleven need to fare better against Miami than they did against Tampa Bay the last time they were at home.
Random high praise of the game:
Rongen regarding Mares - "I brought him into my 20s a few times. And at Louisville, where he played his college ball, Chris, he always played centrally for Kenny Lawler...he played always centrally and what I liked about him was that he was not fast, he was not strong, but he was extremely intelligent. He was tactically, he had a knowledge of the game way beyond his years and rarely lost the ball."
Rarely (and absolutely never in Indy Eleven history) is a game over within 10 minutes into it, but that's exactly how this game felt in the stands. After a nearly 3 hour delay, the teams finally took the field and The Eleven immediately put the Strikers on their heels. The Eleven had their first shot on goal within the first two minutes and a 12 shot flurry followed in the first half. In the first 30 minutes, they scored three goals, hit posts and crossbars, and forced Striker goalkeeper Restrepo to parry the ball over and wide. This could have easily been a 5 or 6 to nil halftime lead if not for some unlucky bounces. They were faster, stronger, and seemed to want it more. Passes were one-touches and crisp.
It was beautiful soccer to watch.
After Zayed's goal in the 10th minute setup by a one-touch outside-of-the-foot chip from Paterson, Lacroix's ability to outmuscle and outrun his man and fire a shot by Restrepo in the 21st minute, and Janicki's header in the 26th minute off of a Paterson corner kick, the Eleven added one more historical statistic to their already impressive season. By my count, this is the first time the team has ever scored 3 goals in a half. They did score 3 goals in under 45 minutes last year against Minnesota, but that was spread out over the two halves. This year's goals aren't coming from midfield prayers either. They've scored twice from outside the 18 yard box in 20 goals. Twice.
When the Strikers' Moura received his second yellow card in the 42nd minute, what was already a victory by the Eleven looked like it could become an absolute beating, much the way that the Strikers beat the Eleven last year. The Eleven went to Fort Lauderdale this Spring and came home with a nil-nil draw thanks to Busch playing out of his mind. Wednesday's game didn't require any of those defensive and goalkeeping dramatics. The Eleven were seemingly finding shots at will and by everybody, to the point that the sparse but still vocal BYB (and their sound REALLY carries on a cool post-storm night with a small crowd) started chanting "John Busch score a goal." It almost didn't seem ridiculous.
The 2nd half was... anticlimactic.
Almost the entirety of the Strikers lineup played in their own half.
Three goals in the first half, up a man for +50 minutes, the Eleven could have potentially created a significant goal differential against a team that looked entirely overmatched. Fort Lauderdale came out of the locker room at halftime and put a moderate effort for a short time but fairly quickly seemed to resolve themselves to the defeat and the game dissolved into a slow prodding affair where the Eleven played down to their competition. Normally, that would have bothered me. However, given that the first half was the creamy filling in a Minnesota United Oreo cookie 3-games-in-8-day schedule (and we all know the filling is the best part of an Oreo) and that Fort Lauderdale didn't really come out with any substantial effort in the 2nd half, I can see why the Eleven backed off. They took some chances and were upset by not connecting on some passes/shots, but they weren't playing at full throttle either. Content to knock it around, save the legs that weren't being taken out from under them by Fort Lauderdale, and try to make it easier on them when they go to Minnesota on Saturday. It seems to go against their normal attitude to play hard until the end of the game, but for all intent and purposes, the game was over at halftime.
Afterwards, I saw that the Striker's Managing Director Luis Cuccatti appeared to be very unhappy with the fact that the game was played.
A three hour delay is not ideal. Obviously. While the fans were forced into secondary locations to wait out the delay (and I spent a good chunk of it in the garage across the street having a very nice conversation with a guy from Lafayette), I've been told that the Indy Eleven Operations staff were receiving regular updates from local authorities and campus officials regarding the lighting in the area and communicated the updates regularly with both team and league officials for how that was going to affect the schedule, including the time for the warm-ups and the kickoff. "Per the request of the game's League Designee, and in accordance with safety guidelines regarding time and distance of last lighting strike in the area, a kickoff time of 10:36 p.m. ET was established, communicated, and agreed upon by both coaches." Which we all saw in the form of tweet from the team telling us to vacate our safety locations and get to the stadium because we were going to get to see some mid-week #SoccerAfterDark.
To me, it boils down to the last five words of that last quote from the team. "Agreed upon by both coaches." Fort Lauderdale agreed to start the game at 10:36 in the PM. However, for those fans in attendance who were getting wet again right around 10:36 and wondered why the Indy Eleven were on the field waiting and the Strikers weren't, it could be (and I'm guessing here) because Fort Lauderdale changed their minds and were using some delay tactics by staying in the locker room, with the idea being that if they delayed a little longer, it would push the start beyond a 3-hour delay threshold. A couple years ago, the league had an extended weather issue with a Cosmos vs Silverbacks game and re-evaluated their delay policy. I can't immediately find it, but I think that threshold is now 3 hours. Based on Mr. Cuccatti's statements, that looks to be a good guess.
So after nearly 3 hours, the Eleven players were on the field, as agreed upon, and the Strikers were in the locker room. When, I'm sure, they were forced to leave the locker room and get onto the field so the game could be started, the Strikers players looked like they had resigned themselves to not playing the game, while the Eleven did not. In fact, the Eleven looked like they were taking it out on Fort Lauderdale for making them wait in the rain even longer.
Mr. Cuccatti further had this to say.
NASL 3 x 0 Strikers....absurd. On top of 5games in 13 days...+4hrs 15mins rain delay in two games...absurd... https://t.co/rLFv3S0Rle
One of those five games is a U.S. Open Cup game. I don't feel sorry for the Strikers since "this year’s winning team will receive $250,000, a berth in the 2017-18 CONCACAF Champions’ League and have its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports. The runner-up will earn $60,000, while the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will take home a $15,000 cash prize." At a minimum, the Strikers are taking home $15k as the last remaining NASL team. If you don't want to participate in the tournament, that's your option. Otherwise, the rest of the schedule is just like other NASL teams in having 4 games in 13 days. Mid-week games are no surprise to anybody in this league. Your other mid-week game is in the U.S. Open Cup.
I don't know that the Eleven players made an explicit decision to make the Strikers pay for making them sit in the rain longer than was scheduled and agreed upon, but I remember my days as a player and any extra motivation that you can bring to the game was often helpful. There's a reason "bulletin board material" is a common phrase these days. I think the Eleven were going to win this game regardless, but you don't give a group of warriors additional reason to take it to you. While it's disappointing to see that kind of reaction from the Strikers front office, it was good to see former Indy Eleven player Victor Pineda get 59-minutes against his old squad after not playing in the first game between the two teams. Stat-wise, Pineda had a good game, even if the scoreline was lopsided against his team.
It was a long night for everybody, but I'm glad I was around to watch the Eleven work through the adversity of the delay to put on one of their best 45-minute displays. Given that the game slowed down so much in the end that Coach Hankinson didn't feel the need to use his normal substitution pattern nor full compliment of substitutions (making only 2 of the 3), hopefully the Eleven are able to come out strong against Minnesota. Once again, the factors are stacked against the Eleven versus Minnesota. They're a team that will want to make amends for the loss this past Saturday, while playing at home, without a mid-week game with which they had to contend, and a chance to prevent the Eleven from setting a new undefeated streak record. It may not be a 3-0 affair, but once again, I have to admit that nothing is going to surprise me with this team any longer.
An injured Ring and an illness late in the week for Zayed forced Coach Hankinson to tweak the lineup yet again. This means that with the exception of the first two games, the team hasn't had the same starting XI in back-to-back games. The back five (the backline + Busch) has remained the same minus the 25 combined minutes where Palmer and Vukovic were subbed out in the Tampa Bay and New York games, respectively. So the defense has stayed the same, allowing just four goals in six games and two clean sheets for Busch.
It's the seven players in front of them that Coach Hankinson keeps trying to find the right combination that will open the locked door that leads to an effective and consistent attack. One game is an outlier. Two games is something to watch. Three games is a trend. Six games may be revealing your true identity. Right now, that identity is to defend and counter. Unfortunately, that counter isn't productive.
Through six games, the identity of the team takes shape through some very key statistics. The Eleven are averaging 43% to 57% possession. Coincidentally (or not), they have a nearly identical ratio for duels won (45.3%/54.7%) and aerial duels won (42%/58%). They are also attempting long passes at a rate of 21.7%, a full 7% higher than their opponents. So that means that 1 out of every 5 passes from the team is of the long variety, but they're not giving themselves a fair chance when they do it.
For all the changes in the off-season, I feel like these are things I said about last year's team. There was a constant shuffling of the staring XI and the long passes dominated. The Opta stats indicate that it wasn't as bad as I felt while watching, but it seemed like most of the time that the defense would pass between themselves, the pass would go into the midfield and then go right back to the defenders. The midfield didn't couldn't do anything with it so they sent it right back. The next step from the defense was to send it over the midfielders trying to directly get the forwards involved.
There's something to be said about not losing. More than halfway through the Spring Season, the Eleven are the only ones that can make that claim. Yet, despite an undefeated record, the team still finds themselves squarely in the middle of the table (albeit a congested and tight table). The team picked up a point on the road and still moved down the table from last week. At some point, the fortunate results of the other games around the league are going to turn less fortunate and the draws are going to turn sour.
In a week where Busch's father passed away, he gave a Best XI performance that would make any dad proud. To paraphrase what one of the Strikers announcers said during the telecast, "if this was boxing, the Strikers would have won on points." The Strikers would have won every round and it's only because Busch made some spectacular saves, the Strikers had some poor shot selections, and the woodwork chipped in for a save of its own. Busch kept this team in it with his hustle, calm head, and quick reflexes. To say that the team stole a point on the road is an understatement. Despite the turnover in rosters of both of these teams, this game had every opportunity to look like the 7-1 drubbing the Strikers gave the Eleven the last time they traveled to Fort Lauderdale.
With Minnesota and their nearly 2 goals a game average coming to The Mike this weekend, if Ring is unable to play because of his knee, I wouldn't be surprised if Keller makes his first start of the season paired with Paterson in the holding midfield. Coach Hankinson has said that Keller is healthy and progressing nicely and he made the trip to Fort Lauderdale, which was his first time making an away game roster this season.
Food for thought in closing... Coach Hankinson came to Indy and started the season with a 4-2-3-1 starting lineup. To jump start his offense, he changed to a 4-4-2 and that helped take Zayed off the island he was on and gave him somebody to take some of the offensive burden. Would a 4-2-1-3 work? The back four and the two center midfielders have shown that they can handle things from a defensive standpoint. Relieve Ubi of some of his defensive responsibilities and give him multiple weapons in front of him in which to distribute the ball. With Zayed in the middle part of that 3 with some combination of Braun/Gordon/Reinoso, who have all shown to have high motors, and let them track back as necessary, but release the hounds going forward. When they tire, bring on Lacroix/Mares/Smart and let them run at the defense too.
This team will seemingly always take a defensive first approach, but right now, neither Ubi, Zayed, nor Braun are being utilized to their fullest abilities on the offensive side. Somehow, that needs to be changed.
Update:
Congratulations Jon Busch on being selected to the Team of the Week! Well deserved!
If ever there was a game that the fans wanted to see duplicated, it was the Minnesota game from last week. With the exception of a couple changes to the starting lineup due to injuries to Keller and Lacroix, the game followed a similar script. The Eleven didn't win the "official" possession battle, but were the clear winners of the "meaningful possession," particularly in the first half where they gave themselves a 2 - 0 halftime advantage. The team seemed to take their foot off the gas a little during the second half and defended a bit more, but they continued to press and move the ball well. It was only with one of the rare Norales miscues that Fort Lauderdale scrapped back a goal to make it an interesting final 30 minutes.
It took 50 starts, but Nicht obtained his first yellow card as an Indy Eleven for some time wasting at the end of the game. Given that it came at the end of a victory, I'm sure he's okay with it. There were comments made about this being his 50th start and some rumors that this game might be his final home game as an Eleven. Whether this is because he will be going to another team, or more likely because of retirement, he will finish the season as one of the most capped players for the Eleven. Norales and Mares are both closing in on the 50 game mark and Smart bypassed that milestone a few games ago having played in 54 games for the Eleven. If it truly was Nicht's final home game as an Eleven player and the team knows it, it would have been nice if the team let the fans know beforehand so that the fans could have given the first ever player signed by the team a proper send off. I expect we'll know relatively soon whether the rumors were true and what other players might be joining him.
Like I stated for my thoughts on the Minnesota game, this is the type of play that the team has shown in flashes throughout the season. It's just a shame that the best played games of the season come at the end after they've been eliminated from the playoffs. It also shows what a winning streak can do to the table. With the exception of the top three teams, the rest of the league is very compact in the standings and every point makes a difference. If the Eleven can extend the win streak to three against Carolina on Friday, the Eleven will have gone from 11th place in week 27 to 6th place just three weeks later.
What could have been? That's the question to ponder during the off-season, but it's nice to enjoy a win streak right now.
Highlights:
Update:
Congrats to Brian Brown for making this week's Team of the Week
Normally, I would watch the game a second time before writing anything, but I don't think I have it in me to sit through this game again so here goes.
Fort Lauderdale's goal in the 7th minute by PC was the eventual game-winning goal, but they didn't rest on their laurels and added FIVE MORE GOALS for a total of 7 goals. The Strikers absolutely overran the Eleven scoring a touchdown and converted the extra point. The score got out of hand in the second half after the red card was shown to Franco, but when you give up a goal in the 2nd minute (and to call it the 2nd minute is generous) the game was never really in the Eleven's control.
Pinho 2'
PC 7'
Freitas 20'
Freitas 67'
Pinho 77'
Pinho 81'
PC 85'
That's ugly. No two ways to put it. Unless you wanted to use some expletives...
The Eleven managed get on the board in the 16th by a good hustle play by Richards, but this could have easily been 9 or 10 to 1 if the Strikers didn't hit the post once and if Pinho and Ramirez didn't completely miss relatively easy shots late in the game. The Strikers never took their foot off the gas until the ref blew the final whistle. They didn't pass the ball around the backline or take the ball into the corner and hold it to kill time. Every chance they got, they took it right at the Eleven's defense and the Eleven's defense looked overmatched and out of place.
By my evaluation, with next week's probable starting defensive lineup due to Franco's red card absence, the Eleven will have fielded the same back four in back-to-back games only once since the July 11th/19th games when Franco-Miller-Norales-Hyland started against Carolina and Ottawa, respectively. Since the 19th game against Ottawa, the Eleven have fielded:
July 19th - Franco-Miller-Norales-Hyland (4 - 2 L)
July 25th - Franco-Janicki-Norales-Hyland (1 - 1 T)
Aug 1 - Franco-Janicki-Miller-Hyland (1 - 0 L)
Aug 5 - McKinney-Janicki-Miller-Frias (2 - 0 L)
Aug 8 - Franco-Janicki-Norales-Hyland (4 - 1 L)
Aug 19 - Franco-Norales-Miller-Hyland (2 - 0 W)
Aug 22 - Franco-Norales-Miller-Hyland (1 - 1 T)
Aug 29 - Franco-Janicki-Miller-Hyland (7 - 1 L)
So only one instance of back-to-back starting defensive lines and the Eleven had a 1W-2D-5L record and a 20 - 8 goal difference in that timeframe. Even if today's game against Fort Lauderdale had ended as just a 3-1 loss, the team would still have a 1:2 goal differential in that 8 game stretch. Part of that is offense scoring issues (can I reiterate that the Eleven have to figure out how to take half-chance shots on goal because waiting for the full chance isn't getting it done), but the other part is that this team was rebuilt from season 1 to season 2 from the defense forward. The core of the returning players was the defense. Right now, that core is not performing as had planned. Some of that is injuries, some of that is red cards, and some of that is poor play, but the inconsistency in the defense has combined with an anemic offense to get 9 points out of an available 30.
The team still has 10 games left in the Fall season, but they would need an amazing run of WINS to make me feel like a playoff spot is a possibility. Right now, I just don't see it happening, but maybe that's because I just sat through a 7 - 1 drubbing with this running through my head through most of it:
That's actually quite easy to answer. 1) I'm a glutton for punishment and have years of being a Cubs fan that have hardened my expectations of my sports teams and 2) I believe in the idea of this team even if the results aren't happening as desired. I want a team in Indy to stay, I know these guys aren't happy with the results, and I see other teams that have struggled turn it around because of the parity in this league.
There's still half of the Fall Season remaining, but the Eleven must do better and they must do better as soon as possible because I don't like to see this type of sentiment from the official Eleven game feed even if it was exactly what every fan that watched to the end was thinking.
And like the @IndyElevenLive feed, I mercifully put this post behind me/us and look forward to a better game, and hopefully result, in Minnesota on Wednesday and then again on Saturday against Jacksonville back in Indianapolis.
Not counting the hat trick by Blake Smith in the U.S. Open Cup game last season, by my count, the Indy Eleven have only had two previous players score a brace during a league game. By scoring his extra time goal in the 94th minute, Pineda joins a group that includes just Mike Ambersley and Kleberson who have had multiple goal league games for the Eleven (Ambersley and Kleberson both got their braces against Atlanta).
For his effort, Pineda was awarded the NASL Player of the Week, following last week's award by Kyle Hyland.
His awards for the week also includes being nominated for the NASL Plays of the Week:
I voted for Pineda, because, well, I'm a homer, but this is a hard week to choose a winner. Three of the five nominees are shots from roughly the exact same spot on the field. The only difference might be when Pineda's occurred in the game. I feel like the Scorpions' goalkeeper Sattler deserves some love for that save.
It's been said all season that sometimes you have to a steal a win or a tie during a season as points can be hard to obtain and the Eleven have become the heart attack kids this season. The team has played nine games this season and the Eleven have game tying or game winning goals in the 89th minute or later four times and another two where they have given up goals in the 85th minute or later. Two-thirds of the games this season have been decided in the final 5 minutes (or stoppage time). If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that you never leave an Indy Eleven game before the ref blows the final whistle.
I noticed as I went through my notes for this game that I had something written every five minutes for the first 25 minutes or so of the first half. It seemed like every 5 minutes, the Eleven had a good chance at the goal. They might not have done much with all of those opportunities, but they had good build-up and were actually taking shots. Seeing them actually shooting the ball was nice to see. I also had a note around the 20 minute mark, right before the Strikers scored, where Brown had his back to the goal and laid the ball off to Pineda who took a shot. It reminded me a lot of the goal that Mares scored against Tampa Bay in that it was in a similar part of the field and Brown was playing the ball to another player with his back to goal. It surprises me a little that its the smaller Brown making these hold-up plays instead of the bigger Rugg, but it's been effective. Though I'm starting to wonder if Rugg's cleats are made of concrete because he's had some very heavy touches lately so maybe it's a good thing it's Brown with the lay-off touches.
The other parts of this game that stuck out to me was free kick in the 11th minute. Seemed like a very wasted opportunity from 18 1/2 yards out. The Strikers had 7 or 8 guys directly in the wall and the other three between the ball and the goal. The Eleven only put two guys in the box with four guys behind the ball. It's like they were playing for the rebound instead of any kind of real effort on the goal. I don't know how the Nicht missed the ball on the Striker goal in the 22nd minute, but I really liked his kick save off the cheeky back heel shot in the 32nd minute off the corner kick. At the end of the game, both teams seemed to be playing for the tie, with the exception of late game substitute Duke Lacroix. His effort and pace is what created the chance for Pineda's late goal and I'm curious to see if he starts to get some additional minutes in the near future.
It's always nice to get the first win since mid-April, especially after a week where Coach Sommer was fired and interim coach Tim Regan took the reigns for the first time, but I have to temper my enthusiasm. The team "looked" better and achieved a better result, but the stats still all lean towards the Strikers. A team that we need to remember was/is sitting near the bottom of the table like the Eleven. It's not like this was a win against the Cosmos. So while I'm glad to see the team come away with three points, I'm still cautiously optimistic. That being said, a win this coming Saturday against Edmonton and a few key results (Jacksonville and San Antonio losses would be nice) and the Eleven finish the Spring Season in the Top 5. A placement that seemed improbable with the string of results after the Carolina tie and with enough points compared to the teams ahead of them to put them in a reasonable position going into the Fall Season.
Pineda wasn't the only Eleven player receiving recognition for his play as Norales makes his third Team of the Week. Congrats fellas!
Twenty-eight seconds. TWENTY-EIGHT SECONDS! That takes the "adage" goal to an entirely new and disheartening level. Remember when we were kids playing pickup games with the neighborhood kids and would have to spot them a goal or two because they weren't as good as us, but we really wanted to play and that was the only way they would agree to it. Yeah, the Eleven need to stop thinking they're playing against the little kids in the neighborhood. It's not working out too well.
I don't know what else to say about this game that the IndyElevenLive Twitter feed didn't say in two succinct tweets.
Half Stats:
Shots - FTL 9 IND 5
SOG - FTL 4 IND 1
Saves - FTL 0 IND 3
Corners - FTL 5 IND 5
Fouls - FTL 5 IND 6
Offside - FTL 2 IND 0
Final Stats:
Shots: FTL 14 IND 10
SOG: FTL 7 IND 3
Saves: FTL 2 IND 5
Corners: FTL 7 IND 5
Fouls: FTL 10 IND 15
Offside: FTL 4 IND 1
There were some good moments in the game for the Eleven, but even the highlights video below (from the Indy Eleven YouTube channel) felt like it had a lot more Strikers highlights than Eleven highlights. The Eleven were beaten and it started in less than 30 seconds from the opening whistle.
I need somebody else to confirm it for me, but I believe that with Jhulliam's addition to the starting lineup on Saturday in place of Ambersley, Coach Sommer has used the same starting eleven in back-to-back games only once; games #1 and #2, way back in April. Ambersley's removal from the starting lineup also means that Nicht is the lone player to have started every single game this season. However, Ambersley and Smart were substituted in during the second half, so their streak of consecutively played games remains active and remain as the only three players to have played in every single game. I have to wonder if some consistency in the lineup would have helped this season.
You're going to have to take it on my word that I had started writing this post in my head prior to my reading the 11thHeaven guy's recent post on why the Eleven's tie on Wednesday is actually a win for the team. That being said, Doug and the boys over there are good. If you're looking for much better tactical analysis of the games than I provide, that's where you need to read. Read me too though.
This quote from White Men Can't Jump kept running through my head today about the game:
"Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic globule, from which one extracts what one needs."
What one needs to extract from Wednesday's perpetuation of the league winless streak is that despite missing five guys with a combined 51 league starts for the Eleven (three of those with double digit starts) and playing the last thirty minutes of the game down a man, the Eleven looked to absolutely dominate the run of play. The official stats show a 51% to 49% possession ratio, but that seems way off base from my seat in the stands and may have only equalized a bit due to some possession from the Strikers at the end of the game when they had their man advantage after the Johnson red card. Missing so many key contributors to the team, the Eleven fielded a lineup that included a back four who had never played together in a game as a group as best I can remember.
I haven't seen the defense play as cohesive as a unit as I witnessed last night. They covered for each other perfectly and Frias looked like a completely different player playing from center back than he has at left back. Hyland played like a man who was trying to prove that his place on the bench the last 4 games was a mistake. With the exception of the Strikers' Picault, Stone and Estridge showed that they have the speed to track down just about anybody in this league to help cover, all while going forward on multiple occasions for corner and free kicks. I'm sure they played with a chip on their shoulder to prove us all wrong (and I was one of the doubters), but the effort that we have seen every week finally translated into a great defensive game. Given the number of players that have seen time on the field this year, the number of lineups that Coach Sommer has utilized, and the fact that Norales has been one of the more consistent defenders on the team, I don't know how many more games we'll see these four play together, but I hope they get at least one more chance to prove that it wasn't a fluke.
The defense wasn't the only positive thing to come out of last night's tie. Despite not putting the ball in the goal for the first time all season, they were really close the entire game and it was only because of some excellent goalkeeping that they didn't put a couple in during the first half. We also learned that even at age 34, Jermaine Johnson still has some wheels to get up and down the field. Also that he needs to figure out that the NASL referees are free with their cards and not always the most consistent bunch.
It took a slow exit from the stadium after the game to appreciate how well the team played and that maybe I need to rethink how I see the results of the game. "Sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose." It may not have been the result that we all hoped to see, but maybe it was the result we needed to see.
It would have been nice to see the team wearing their red jerseys, but unless you were one of the 3,515 people sitting in Lockhart Stadium, you didn't get to see this game as the NASL Live Feed was nothing but a colorful pattern of vertical bars. I haven't paid into this service so I followed the game via the @IndyElevenLive twitter feed, which did a really good job of providing updates throughout the game. Since that was the way that I "watched" the game, and likely all of the away games, I can't speak to whether my previous concerns of the team not looking in sync was improved or if they still had those moments.
What I can speak to is the XI's continuing trend of beating the hell out of the woodwork. Kleberson once again hit the frame, just minutes after Ben Spencer hit the cross bar. They guys are finding shots and a few inches separates them from a goal and an 0-1-2 record. I believe that they are also nearly even on possession for all three games this season, which I suppose helps makes sense of two ties and a 3-2 loss.
You know, I don't know what kind of analysis I can give for a game that I read about through Twitter. I do continue to like the team's fight, especially after going down 3-1. Though they may have fought a bit too much. After keeping everybody clear of getting a card in the first two games, four different guys were shown a yellow card in this one. So hopefully they can keep the fire, but back it off just a smidge so that nobody ends up watching from the sidelines unnecessarily.
It was also nice to see that after three weeks into the season, defender Norales continues to find his way into scoring positions and also making his way onto the NASL Team of the Week for the third week in a row.
