Indy Eleven vs Lexington SC - 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Lexington SC
- Location: Lexington SC Stadium
- Attendance: 5,127
- Final Score: 0-0 D AET (7-6 Indy in Shootout)

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Barry, Craig (C), Rasheed, Neidlinger, Omar, O'Brien, J., Okello, Rendon, Williams, K., Sing

- Substitution: Mesanvi 45 (Rendon); Blake 61' (Williams, K.); Sharp 61' (Sing); Mitrano 82' (Barry)

- Unused: Dick, Kizza

- Scoring Summary:
NONE

- Shootout Summary:
IND - Blake (Saved)
LEX - Molloy (Scored) - 0-1
IND - O'Brien (Scored) 1-1
LEX - Midence (Scored) 1-2
IND - Omar (Scored) 2-2
LEX - Ordonez (Scored) 2-3
IND - Mitrano (Scored) 3-3
LEX - Epps (Scored) 3-4
IND - Sharp (Scored) 4-4
LEX - Hafferty (Saved) 4-4
IND - Craig (Scored) 5-4
LEX - Firmino (Scored) 5-5
IND - Neidlinger (Scored) 6-5
LEX - Greene (Scored) 6-6
IND - Rasheed (Scored) 7-6
LEX - Blessing (Saved) 7-6
Indy win 7-6

- Bookings:

IND - Neidlinger 18' (Yellow)
LEX - Bench 69' (Yellow)
LEX - Firmino 70' (Yellow)
LEX - Zengue 78' (Yellow)
IND - Rasheed 88' (Yellow)

- Referee: Sergii Demianchuk

- Adage goals: None.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 8

Thoughts and Opinions

I thought that I was going to be discussing Indy's 3 games in 8 days stretch and how it might affect this game against Lexington. However, thunderstorms came through Indy on Wednesday forcing, I think, Indy's first-ever home cancellation. So Indy made the trip to Lexington with one less game on their legs than anticipated. The roster still looked different though with guys that are injured, on international duty, or somewhere else. Indy somehow managed to get a nil-nil draw and bump themselves, likely temporarily, up to 2nd in the Group 4 USL Cup standings thanks to the 7-6 penalty shootout victory.

As many people may tell you, mathematics are hard. Indy's math to get out of the group stage of the Prinx Tires USL Cup is even harder, but a win was almost vital to even come close to giving themselves a chance. With tonight's game, Indy is the only team to have played all four games of the group stage and their fate is now completely out of their hands. And yet... they haven't been mathematically eliminated from contention. IF Forward Madison beats Union Omaha AND Louisville beats Lexington AND Fort Wayne beats Detroit City, then Indy would miraculously finish 2nd in the Group. The odds would still be against them in the tiebreakers to get one of the wild card slots, but they haven't been officially eliminated from the knockout rounds. Maybe that's grasping at straws, but getting a draw and the shootout win shows Indy's continued fight despite the issues they continue to have with player availability.

Indy next return to Carroll Stadium for a July 4th contest against Charleston after a bye week. Thanks to the postponement of the Brooklyn game and Indy's USL Cup games, the game against the Battery will be just their 2nd league game since the Rhode Island game from May 30th. Despite the infrequent league games, Indy has still clung to a spot above the playoff line, which is miracle number two in this article. 

I don't know how the season is going to end for Indy, whether that's a spot in the playoffs or not, but I have to appreciate the fight that this team continues to show game after game. Nobody would really say that it's the prettiest of soccer, but they do seem to find a way to get good results (and put themselves in a position to get better results) more often than not. Tonight was no different; Charles-Cook came up big and players gutted out a draw and shootout victory. 

Game Beckons Game Ball

He doesn't get a lot of minutes playing behind Eric Dick, but Reice Charles-Cook made 7 saves in regulation and two vital saves in the penalty kick shootout to help get the team into the shootout and then to get the extra point from the shootout win, respectively. The team still doesn't have much chance to make it out of the group stage as a Wild Card, but it's good to see Reice get some good minutes and play well in them. So he gets tonight's GBGB.

Indy Eleven vs Forward Madison - 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Forward Madison
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 8,586
- Final Score: 2-0 W

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Quinn (C), Rasheed, Craig, Neidlinger, Lindley, O'Brien, J., Blake, Okello, Rendon, Kizza

- Substitution: Mitrano 36' (Quinn - Injury); Omar 63' (Lindley); Sing 63' (Kizza); Barry 86' (Rendon); Lowden 86' (Williams, K.)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Mesanvi

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Craig 48' (assist Rendon)
IND - O'Brien, J. 54'

- Bookings:

MAD - Torres 12' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 21' (Yellow)
MAD - Shannon 47' (Yellow)
MAD - Kanyane 50' (Yellow)
MAD - Toure 58' (Yellow)
IND - O'Brien, J. 68' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Kaleia

- Adage goals: None.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 8

Thoughts and Opinions

In the game against Rhode Island, I mentioned Indy's kickoff starts being much like a Hail Mary pass in the other type of football and that it resulted in a 17 second shot on target for Indy. Forward Madison had the exact same starting formation with nearly the same results. The only difference was that Madison's was 1 second quicker and not on target. However, the Hail Mary formation has been effective for the team starting the game that way in the past two men's game. In a modern game where position often reigns supreme, it's a stark difference in the way that Indy plays and how effective the long ball kickoff has been recently. 

Shots - Full Time

The League One side may have started the shots, but it was Indy that dominated that stat. The final totals were 24 shots for Indy to 8 shots for Forward Madison. More telling was the Shots on Target that were swayed drastically to Indy's favor to the tune of a 14 to 1 advantage. Had it not been for some great saves by Manske, this had the makings of a major drubbing. Some of Indy's 14 shots on target were right at Manske, but he was forced into some really good reaction saves, all from close range as Indy took 20 of their 24 shots from within the box. Madison's shots were scattered throughout the game, while Indy had a constant peppering of Manske's goal throughout the entirety of the game. The two-goal difference is good for Indy but could have been much worse for the visitors if it hadn't been for some of Manske's saves. 

Indy's injury struggles have been discussed frequently on this site this year, but Indy has mostly found a way to be successful, getting points out of 8 of their 10 home games across all competitions. Watching Quinn get subbed out in the 36th minute ultimately didn't affect this game, but does create some concern for the future depending on the type of injury he sustained. The backline has been a constant work effort in sending out a workable lineup as McAuley has dealt with season-long injuries and international duty. For multiple reason, hopefully, Quinn's injury isn't severe.

There's still a lot of season to be played, with injuries continuing to be something to keep in mind, but as of today - after the 10th league game, 3 USL Cup games, & 2 Open Cup games - the 2026 team is sitting at the second highest percentage rate in team history at points achieved behind only the 2016 team (who took points from a game 81% of the time) and just ahead of the 2019 team (at 72.5%), arguably the two high water marks for successful Indy Eleven seasons. For a team that I called a potential middle of the table League One team a month ago, they have continued to get results. Are they games against the highest echelon teams in the Eastern Conference? No. But you have to get wins or at least positive results from the teams that are struggling/not good, and Indy has done that really well the last month. Tonight's win was against a League One opponent and likely still isn't going to be enough to help Indy advance to the USL Cup knockout rounds, but Indy has also had poor results from other League One opponents this year. 

Getting a solid victory at home with a week to prepare for games against Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, and Lexington in a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday stretch is a good way to start June.

Game Beckons Game Ball

I don't do it very often, but periodically I have to give credit where credit is due, even if that player is on the opposing team. Indy's constant attack resulted in constant shots and shots on target. Manske clearly kept this game within an arm's reach for Madison. Otherwise, the goal differential would have been far worse for the Flamingos. For Manske's 12 saves and 5 clearances, I have to give him tonight's GBGB.

Indy Eleven vs Fort Wayne FC - 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Fort Wayne FC
- Location: Ruoff Mortgate Stadium
- Attendance: 3,794
- Final Score: 2-2 D (Indy get the extra point for the 3-1 shootout win)

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

- Substitution: Okello 74' (Kizza); Rasheed 78' (Neidlinger); Williams 90'+2' (Mesanvi); Sing 90'+2' (Rendon)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Barry, Mitrano

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Quinn 26' (unassisted)
FW - Healy 33' (unassisted)
IND - Rendon 64' (assist Blake)
FW - Thomas 90'+1' (assist Gafar)

- Shootout:
FW - Ricol (Scored)
IND - Blake (Scored)
FW - Healy (Miss)
IND - Quinn (Scored)
FW - Nieto (Saved)
IND - O'Brien (Scored)
FW - Thomas (Miss)
Indy win 3-1

- Bookings:

IND - Blake 15' (Yellow)
IND - Neidlinger 39' (Yellow)
FW - Abbey 44' (Yellow)
FW - Garay 45'+1' (Yellow)
IND - Craig 68' (Yellow)
FW - Thomas 79' (Yellow)
FW - Dias 83' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Hassan

- Adage goals: One.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 8

Thoughts and Opinions

The advantage to my new outlook to the way I'm going to handle this year's games is that I don't have to get carried away writing detailed articles for certain games when I have other things going on. Today I had other things going on, but still kept an eye on the game just to get a feel for how it was going. And how it went was the same issue that this team, and last year's team, has continued to have. They literally cannot see a game over the line. Indy conceded a 90'+1' stoppage time goal to take their win to a draw in the second game of the Prinx Tires USL Cup group play. Indy have played two games in group play against two of the USL League One teams in their group and have come away with just 2 points (all of them obtained tonight thanks to the 3-1 shootout win). 

It's become more and more evident as the season has progressed that Indy is likely an average to maybe below average USL Championship team this year, at least based on results. However, through three games this year with USL League competition (twice with Union Omaha and once against Fort Wayne, who are in their first season as a professional team), Indy has lost twice and drawn once, indicating that this year's Indy Eleven team might be an average to below average League One team. Particularly when you factor in that two of those three games utilized what could be considered Indy's "A" team. The average age more closely resembles that of a League One team and it turns out that the overall talent level may reflect that too. 

I'm not saying anything any fan that has watched all season couldn't tell you. There are deficiencies in this team; the play of Quinn, Blake, Lindley, and Rendon not included in that statement. Those are the only players on this team that I feel are playing at a high level. Even Dick, who was brought into the team to be a solidifying force in the back, has looked shaky. The team has had just a single clean sheet this season and that was Charles-Cook's effort in the U.S. Open Cup against the amateur squad from Des Moines. The first goal for Fort Wayne was Dick spilling the ball instead of holding onto it and his defenders all standing around while Healy wanted it more. The second ball was straight at Dick at head height and it went through his hands. 

Based on Indy's previous loss and their competitors in the group (Louisville, Detroit, Lexington, etc.), it was unlikely that Indy was going to make it out of the group play. Tonight's win turned to draw would seem to nearly solidify that fact even though the top teams in the group still haven't played their second game. I just can't see a way for Indy to advance.

While the game doesn't count against Indy's league standings, and there will almost certainly not be any extra USL Cup games after the group play, the "bumps along the way" that I foresaw earlier in the season are turning out to be massive trenches of disappointment and are happening much more regularly than I anticipated. Yes, the team has a 4W-4D-4L record in all competitions at this point, meaning they are getting positive results from the games 67% of the time, but this does not feel like a winning team. 

Indy return to action next Saturday at The Mike against another struggling team when Lexington SC come to town. 

Indy Eleven vs Union Omaha - 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Union Omaha
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 8,552
- Final Score: 2-1 L

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Quinn (C), Herbert, Craig, Neidlinger, Blake, Lindley, O'Brien, J., Mesanvi, Rendon, Okello

- Substitution: Rasheed 65' (Craig); Barry 66;' (Herbert); Sing 66' (Okello); Kizza 66' (Lindley); Thomas 78' (Mesanvi)

- Unused: Dick, Omar

- Scoring Summary:
OMA - Faz 44' (assist Borczak)
OMA - Borczak 56' (assist Freitas)
IND - Rendon 80' (assist Quinn)

- Bookings:

OMA - Freitas 39' (Yellow)
IND - Lindley 39' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 45'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Elvis Osmanovic

- Adage goals: One.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 6

Thoughts and Opinions

A mere 25 days ago, these two teams faced off on a Tuesday night in the U.S. Open Cup, with the League One side advancing in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over their Championship counterparts. All goals in that game came in the 75th minute or later with Indy's goal coming in stoppage time to eliminate the clean sheet, but the Owl's goals in the 75th and 83rd minutes were enough for them to secure the win. Indy played a highly rotated squad in the game due to their league fixtures around the USOC game, but tonight with no game until next Saturday, Coach McAuley brought out the normal starters, with the exception of White who was injured last Saturday against Birmingham and will be out the rest of the season and Dick in goal, who were replaced by Neidlinger and Charles-Cook, respectively. Given that Charles-Cook didn't finish out the game against Omaha due to his red card in the USOC match, McAuley may have wanted to give him the opportunity to face the team again. Omaha knows he's not afraid of contact, so maybe having Reice back there was to get in the heads of the forwards. An under-the-weather Dick this week probably played into the goalkeeper decision as well.

What could have been argued was Indy's "B" squad in the first meeting between the two teams was replaced by Indy's "A" squad, but the result was the same as Indy fell to the League One side by the same 2-1 score. It's only the first game in the group play for the USL Cup, but when your group includes Louisville, Detroit, and Lexington from the USL Championship and Omaha, Madison, and Fort Wayne from League One, Indy's road to moving onto the next round became a lot harder after tonight's loss. 

Indy came out of the locker room ready to get in on the board with significant pressure on the Omaha goal within the first minute. By minute 2 though, Indy feel back into their typical defend-first, counterattack style of play. It's important to know who you are and Indy knows who they are, particularly at home on the Carroll Stadium turf where the ball rarely bounces the way you might expect. So it's become clear that no matter who Indy is playing, regardless of the opponent's league, Indy is going to play their style, possession totals be damned.

Indy had opportunities throughout the half. Omaha had opportunities. Their players also liked to crumble under contact as quickly as possible under most scenarios. When the referee is calling it, good for them, but Indy never seemed to adapt to the referee's calls. 

It happened in the first half instead of at the end of the game, but Indy once again conceded a goal late in a half. This time it was a player that found an open spot along the 6-yard box and Faz put the shot out of the reach of Charles-Cook. As a result, heading into the halftime locker room, Indy found themselves once again trailing the same League One opponent that defeated them a month ago. 

The second half went about like many might expect. Omaha found a second goal. Indy eventually ratcheted up their pressure and found more chances and their own goal late to prevent the clean sheet, but came up short to start the Prinx Tires USL Cup group play with a loss. 

There is no secret to the way Indy is going to play, but Indy's long passes are only as effective as their aerial duels rate, what they can do with the second ball from those passes, or what Rendon and Mesanvi can accomplish after they run onto the balls. If a team remains solid defensively against Indy's speed up top, the opposition just needs to limit the shots that Indy gets, be strong on Indy's set pieces, and bank on the clinical finishing that happened against Monterey to not happen every game. Tonight, Omaha did all that...again.

The good news is that the result tonight doesn't affect the league standings, where Indy is entrenched in the crowded middle of the table. Indy return to league play next week in Tampa Bay, but it's starting to feel that this season, while early, is going to be even more of a slog than my pessimistic self had allowed my optimistic self to believe. Indy has now lost twice to a League One team in tournament action and didn't look the better of the two teams for large chunks of either game, while also conceding late goals in half of their league goals to take promising results to mediocre results. McAuley is a process-based coach, which I can respect, but in a results-based business, at some point it's really important that the results match the process when you play well. At some point, Indy is going to need to good performances and good results if there is any chance that this version of the revolving and rebuilding roster will make progress.

Indy Eleven vs Greenville Triumph - 2025 Jagermeister Cup Quarterfinal

Summary

- Opponent: Greenville Triumph SC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 4,043
- Final Score: 1-1 D (6-5 Greenville in Penalty Shootout)

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

- Substitution: Kizza 45' (Blake); Bryneus 71' (Murphy); Amoh 72' (Williams, R.); O'Brien, J. 85' (Lindley); Soumaoro 85' (Rendon)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Collier

Scoring Summary:
IND - Williams, R. 55' (assist Rendon)
GVL - Own Goal 90' (Quinn)

Penalty Kicks:
GVL - Evans (Goal) 1-X
IND - Foster (Goal) 1-1
GVL - Fricke (Goal) 2-1
IND - Amoh (Goal) 2-2
GVL - Herrera (Goal) 3-2
IND - Hogan (Goal) 3-3
GVL - Zakowski (Goal) 4-3
IND - Ofeimu (Goal) 4-4
GVL - Patti (Goal) 5-4
IND - Quinn (Goal) 5-5
GVL - Soto (Goal) 6-5
IND - Bryneus (FAIL) 6-5

- Bookings:

IND - Blake 12' (Yellow)
GVL - Evans 21' (Yellow)
IND - Foster 68' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 76' (Yellow)

- Referee: Elvis Osmanovic

- Adage goals: One. One massive adage goal.

Thoughts and Opinions

I don't have an official stat to back this up, but it feels like soccer in this country is littered with examples of teams who have won the Supporters' Shield (or their league's version of it) only to finish the season without any Cup or Playoff hardware. While Indy have absolutely zero chance of having the best record in the league, and dropped out of the U.S. Open Cup awhile ago, the Jagermeiser Cup stood as a chance for the team to play for some hardware. Standing in their way in tonight's quarterfinal match was Greenville Triumph, the surprise team from Group 6 that included USL Championship sides Charleston Battery and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Greenville continue to sit as the lone League One side in the competition after a late goal pushed the teams back to level and then to the Penalty Shootout, which the visiting side won 6-5 to advance in the tournament.

As I said last week, Indy holding a possession advantage over any team in league play has been a rarity. To see a 60/40% disadvantage to a League One team is still a bit unexpected. In the first half, Indy could not hold onto the ball in any way and Greenville spent a large portion of the first half in Indy's defensive half of the field. Indy looked overmatched until around the 30th minute when they finally looked like they might get a foothold on the game. Not a strong foothold, but they did manage to get themselves into some dangerous locations. The plethora of whistles added another level of ragged play from both teams. Only 1 shot on target in the first half combined between the two teams and the half mercifully came to an end in a 0-0 draw. There were 25 fouls called, so there's that. 

Coach McAuley made no qualms about his feelings of the first half. He immediately subbed out Blake for Kizza after the halftime break. I wouldn't have wanted to be a player in the locker room, because I heard McAuley say that in his 1 and 2/3 seasons in charge, the first half was the worst effort he's seen from any team he's selected. Coach didn't say it, but from my perspective, only Lindley seemed to play with any kind of urgency required in a quarterfinal of a Cup game, and even he looked out of sync at times. I don't know if the team was overlooking their League One opponent, but it was definitely not good enough.

Tactically, McAuley had the team press the Greenville defense more and higher up the field, forcing the defenders to make quicker decisions than they had the entire first half. The press flustered the Greenville defense and the game became tilted in Indy's favor. In the 55th minute, Foster, who had moved into the position that was vacated with Blake's substitution, turned and drove at the GVL defense. Foster laid the ball off to Rendon, who one-timed a cross that Williams one-timed into the goal. The goal was met with a simultaneous roar of applause and a sigh of relief from the Indy fans. 

Then Indy did what Indy has done all season. They couldn't hold onto a lead as a 90th minute Own Goal pulled the game level. In this competition, there are no Extra Time minutes, so the game went straight to a Penalty Shootout. The first five players for both teams scored. Soto then scored for Greenville while Bryneus had his shot saved by Rankenburg. In the span of about 15-20 minutes of time, Indy went from a spot in a semifinal game of a Cup tournament in back-to-back years to watching a League One side celebrate their victory in front of the goal immediately in front of the Brickyard Battalion.

Indy had the most points of any team in the Group stage and never actually trailed in the competition, including tonight, but find themselves wondering what might have been as they headed home. They were facing the lone remaining League One team. They were playing at Carroll Stadium after Greenville, who was originally scheduled to host tonight's game, couldn't acquire either of the two locations where they play. They were given two gifts before the game ever started. Somehow, they managed to go into the halftime locker room at 0-0 despite playing one of the worst halves of soccer they've ever played. They were ahead until the 90th minute when an Own Goal saw it all unravel. The penalty shootout occurred in front of the BYB. You almost have to try on purpose to not come out on top.

I honestly can't look at the schedule for the rest of the season and point to a game that I think should be an Indy win. Could they? Sure. Will they? Not in their current run of form with the mistakes that keep happening. They'll get their first chance to try and turn things around with a game this coming Saturday at home against Miami FC. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Lindley and it's not even close. Sure, Foster made the run, Rendon made the cross, and Williams scored the goal, but what I wrote earlier during halftime I stand by it postgame. For moments of the game, Lindley was the only one who showed any sense of urgency and effort. I don't know what kept him out of Coach McAuley's lineup for so long at the start of the season, but I would take 11 Lindleys every day of the week and twice on game day. 

There was a moment when an Indy counterattack stifled and the ball found its way to Lindley. He picked up his head, ready to start the second wave of the counter before Greenville could get reset defensively. Up field was Foster, 15 yards offside. Walking. He had a moment where he could have done a u-pattern to get back on side and start back up field before the defense was at his speed because Lindley was ready to get it to him. Instead, as he was lollygagging back on side (tonight's first but not last reference to the movie Bull Durham), Lindley was forced to recycle the ball around the defense and midfield. Greenville regrouped and everything had to start over again. 

Unfiltered Thoughts

Tonight was my 200th official game in attendance. There are some preseason games and an NPSL game that don't count that would get the number a bit higher, but my official number is 200. Between the men's team and the women's team, the club has played 442 games. That includes league games, playoff games, Cup games, and a few friendlies against Mexican teams and Detroit (which technically aren't "official" games, but if you sat in that heat for the game against Pachuca, it should count). I have written an article for every single one of those games, plus numerous articles about the stadium, and two different series (Top 5 Moments and The Soccer Life) that spotlighted players and fans. As such, this article will be my 605th article on this site. I have written millions of words about soccer and mostly about the Indy Eleven. 605 articles divided by 12 seasons (which isn't even complete yet) equals 50 articles a year, or roughly 1 article per week. Given that I more or less take most of Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb off, that's a lot of dual article weeks. There was a stretch this year in June during the W League season where I attended 4 games and wrote 6 articles in a 9 day span (Friday to following Saturday). This isn't my full-time job.

I'm fucking tired.

If you haven't seen the movie Bull Durham, I'm about to spoil the ending for you, because you should have already seen Bull Durham by now. At the end, Crash turns up on Annie's porch and she asks him "what happened?" He responds with, "I quit. I hit my dinger and I hung 'em up. ... but now I'm tired and I don't want to think about baseball and I don't want to think about quantum physics and I don't want to think about nothin'. I just wanna be."

I have been eyeing this 200th game milestone for awhile now as maybe my version of a "dinger." I have toyed with it for seasons, but I might be getting closer to stopping writing full-time on this site. I don't get paid for this site in any way. There are no ads. No paid subscriptions. I get press credentials, but I still buy season tickets; have since the first season. This was always intended to be a hobby. And you're hobby is supposed to be more enjoyable than what this is bringing to me right now.

I have listened to the team talk about a stadium since before they ever kicked a ball. I drove by the site of what was supposed to be Eleven Park before tonight's game and I saw an excavation crew working the construction site south of "Eleven Park," but the only visual activity that's happened on Ersal's site is that the massive piles of dirt have been leveled. I have listened to the team say they want to be a premier team in the country, not just this league, and yet stadiums are going up for teams around the country that have been around less time than Indy. Rhode Island. Colorado Springs. Lexington. You can keep going. Not to mention Detroit's building a stadium. Sacramento is building one. Pittsburgh is expanding theirs to 15,000 seats, presumably so that they will be able to play in the USL Division One (or whatever they end up calling it...I assume USL Premier League). All while Indy continues to play in the "Greatest Dive Bar in American Soccer" with absolutely zero public word on a status of a stadium after the Mayor of Indianapolis killed Eleven Park.

I watch the team fail year after year. The team has never made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, and I honestly don't see them making the playoffs this year.

I watch good men, good managers, leave every couple of years.

I watched the team lose to a lower league team at home in a penalty shootout after conceding in the 90th minute and was unfazed. I almost expected it.

It just feels like I'm not doing this for the fun of it anymore, and even in the good moments, it has become more of a job than I intended or wanted. I'm definitely finishing out the season, because that was what I agreed to do when I requested season credentials, but this off-season is going to get a hard look from me on what next season looks like.

Because I'm fucking tired.

Photos: Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs FC Tulsa - 2025 Jagermeister Cup

Summary

- Opponent: FC Tulsa
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,065
- Final Score: 2-1 W

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

- Substitution: Foster 62' (Collier); Neidlinger 76' (Murphy); Kizza 77' (Williams, R.): Hogan 84' (Lindley); Soumaoro 84' (Blake)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, McRobb

Scoring Summary:
IND - Williams, R. 38' (assist Rendon)
IND - Own Goal 51' (Batista)
TUL - Colli 72' (assist Webber)

- Bookings:

TUL - Seagrist 7' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 33' (Yellow)
TUL - Batista 35' (Yellow)
IND - Murphy 73' (Yellow)
TUL - Stauffer 90'+1' (Yellow)
IND - Rendon 90'+5' (Yellow)

- Referee: Gerald Flores

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

As an Englishman, Coach McAuley values Cup wins and understands how success in a Cup run can help mitigate an otherwise frustrating season. Indy's last Jagermeister Cup game against Birmingham resulted in a draw in regulation but Indy picked up an extra point from the penalty kick shootout afterward. The extra point, thanks to a Hunter Sulte save, put Indy's advancement in the tournament in their own hands. With the Western Conference leaders FC Tulsa coming to town for the final game of the group stage, a win or draw (plus shootout win) was not going to be easy. Indy knew coming in that they were going to have to match or better Birmingham's result on the night with BHM at home against Forward Madison. Birmingham took care of their business, which might get them a Wild Card to the knockout rounds, but Indy also took care of their business with a 2-1 victory over the visitors from Tulsa.

Indy wasn't necessarily the dominant team in the early stages of the game, but they did tilt the game towards the Tulsa goal. However, as the game inched towards the 15th minute mark, Tulsa rattled off a series of corner kicks, the third of which forced a goal line save from Sulte who had made himself big at the post. The rest of the Indy defenders managed to get to the spilled ball and send it up the field to avoid an early deficit. The game was fairly even after the chance. Indy had a couple of reasonable chances and Tulsa found their own chances. The opportunities came through different styles of play, with Indy getting theirs through deliberate combination passing around the Tulsa defense, while Tulsa's seemed to come more through long balls and corner kicks.

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

Indy found a goal through a transitional moment as the ball quickly made its way through the Indy midfield until the ball made its way to Rendon via Murphy. Rendon took the opportunity to attack the Tulsa backline until he found a moment to get the ball to the middle of the box. Williams took two touches, the second of which was a toe-poke between three defenders and out of reach of a sprawling Penaranda. The goal, surprisingly, opened the game which became an end-to-end affair in the final 7 minutes (+ 4 minutes of stoppage time) of the half. Indy held onto the lead to go into the halftime locker room with a 1-nil lead. The halftime stats showed a fairly even game, and if it hadn't been for Williams' moment of brilliance for the goal, a nil-nil draw would have felt like a reasonable score line.

Indy found a second goal within the first 6 minutes and nearly a third within two minutes after that to put the game, and the group, squarely in Indy's favor. Coach McAuley clearly told the team at halftime that they needed to step up their effort and the Indy players took head of the coach's desire. While the first half finished with a flurry of end-to-end action, the second half took that style of play to another level. A second goal on the books changed Indy's tactics, and Tulsa began to tilt the field to their own advantage. Just after the 70th minute mark, Tulsa found a goal for their effort to give themselves some life and a potential to spoil Indy's win of the group. Indy had had chances and couldn't find the goal. As Indy has seen all season, if you let a team stick around, bad things can happen.

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

Despite the late drama and effort required from Indy to close out the game, they did in fact close out the game. The win, regardless of the result of the Birmingham vs Forward Madison game, clinched the group for Indy, allowing them to move on into the quarterfinals of the Jagermeister Cup. The topsy-turvy results of Group 6 means that Indy will play Greenville Triumph later this morning with a spot in the semifinal on the line. The win also means that Indy finished group play with a total of 11 out of a possible 12 points from their four games, and were it not for a 90'+4' equalizer from Birmingham, Indy would have achieved the maximum points from the group stage with 4 wins. The 3W-1D-0L record and the 11 points was the highest point total of any of the group winners. Helped out by the 4-nil victory in the first game against Forward Madison, Indy also finish with the 2nd best goal differential of all the teams in the tournament. After Indy's run in the U.S. Open Cup last year and their results in the Jagermeister Cup this year, Indy seem to have a knack of getting good results when there is a trophy on the line that isn't connected to the season-long league results. 

Indy return to league action next week against the struggling Tampa Bay Rowdies who found their own victory tonight in the Jagermeister Cup in the aforementioned Group 6 to finish 2nd in their group behind Greenville.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

If they gave assists to Own Goals, Rendon would have finished with a brace of assists tonight. His touch left him a couple times throughout the night, but his effort directly led to both of Indy's goals. There were some other good efforts tonight, but Rendon's contributions to the goals gives him the edge for the GBGB.

Photos: Don Thompson Photography

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. 

Indy Eleven vs Forward Madison - 2025 Jagermeister Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Forward Madison FC 
- Location: Breese Stevens Field
- Attendance: 3,748
- Final Score: 4-0 W

- Starting XI: Sulte, Stanley, Musa, Ofeimu, White, Rendon, Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Foster, Kizza

- Substitution: Amoh 57' (Kizza); Collier 57' (Rendon); O'Brien, J. 80' (White); Lindley 90'+3' (Foster)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Hogan, McRobb

Scoring Summary:
IND - Quinn 69' (unassisted)
IND - Blake 72' (assist Collier)
IND - Amoh 84' (unassisted)
IND - Amoh 90'+3' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - Rendon 20' (Yellow)
IND - Murphy 50' (Yellow)
MAD - Murphy 59' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 60' (Yellow)
MAD - Sousa 70' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Hassan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Longtime Indy Eleven fans are no strangers to tonight's opponent Forward Madison. The first President of the Indy organization was Peter Wilt, who helped bring the team to Indianapolis with Ersal Ozdemir. Under his leadership, Peter helped cultivate the fan-centric culture that has permeated Indy Eleven since the beginning. He was such a part of Indy, that like fans of probably all of his teams, Indy fans wanted to keep track of the activities of their first leader. When Peter Wilt stepped down from his role with the team to take a role with the burgeoning NISA league, Indy fans lost a key cog of what made Indy Indy in those early days. So when they heard that Peter was leaving NISA to help start yet another club, they knew that there would be a good chance that the team would have a similar culture. As Forward Madison hit every right note with their early marketing and kit reveals, Indy fans knew this was going to be an unofficial "sister" club that they would want to follow. Since their entry into USL League One, several former Indy Eleven players have found their way to Madison, including "Mr. Indy" Don Smart, and Forward Madison's current captain, Mitch Osmond (Drew Conner, Paulo Jr., Wojciech Wojcik, and Allen Torres are others). 

Club histories aside, Coach McAuley has repeatedly stated that winning trophies needs to be something that Indy prioritizes, and paraphrasing a repeated statement from him, "you can't win trophies unless you win the first game." While that's not exactly true in this group stage format of this year's Jagermeister Cup, getting off to a good start in the competition is vital. While last year's inaugural version of this Cup competition included only the USL League One teams, Forward Madison was last year's runners-up so they also wanted to duplicate last year's run. At the end of the game, it was the visitors that kicked off their Jagermeister run with a victory, with a 3-nil win thanks to three 2nd half goals from Quinn, Blake, and Amoh (x2). The first tiebreaker in the group stage is goals scored, so Indy's four goals, and +4 GD, could come into play later depending on the rest of the group results as the Cup progresses.

Forward Madison - 1st Half Heat Map

The first half looked much like fans of both teams have come to probably expect. Forward Madison controlled the ball, but Indy let them control the ball in non-dangerous locations on the field. Most of their touches, as can be seen from their first half touch map were in their own half of the field. That's exactly where Coach McAuley and Indy Eleven want their opponents to have the ball. While not impossible, scoring from your own half is difficult. Indy regularly sent balls into Forward Madison's half, yet another trend from a Coach McAuley led team. Balls away from your own goal help keep balls being scored in your goal. Indy turned their possession into 8 shots, 2 on target to Forward Madison's 3 (2 on target). Yet, the teams went into the halftime locker room in a nil-nil stalemate. 

I would never claim that Indy is a "tall" team. Depending on which players are on the field at any given time, the average height might be hovering just around 6'-0", assuming you take Sulte out of the equation. Perhaps that is why Indy continues to work the short-corner. Whatever the reason, Indy continue to utilize that option versus sending corner kicks directly into the box. It's interesting to me that Indy's latest goal in team history came from the traditional corner kick into the box from Lindley to White in Indy's last Cup competition game.

Second Half - Shots

Around the 70th minute, Indy's veteran presence unlocked the stalemate and never looked back. Quinn picked the pocket of the Forward Madison defender as they tried to build-out from Schipmann. Once the had the ball, Quinn toe-poked the ball under Schipmann and Indy had their opener. Just three minutes later, Blake demonstrated a moment of class as he drew three defenders to him, stopped on a dime, and put a short pass to Collier. The two players proceeded to run a give-and-go drill straight from the training pitch, and Blake pushed the ball out of the reach of Schipmann to double Indy's lead. A lead that was further extended in the 84th minute when Collier got his defender spinning, put a shot on goal that Schipmann spilled as far as Amoh who poked it past the sprawled goalkeeper. Indy put a nice tight bow on the game in the 90'+3' when Foster's speed was able to track down a ball up the right side and put in a cross along the 6-yard box for Amoh. The very 2nd half busy Schipmann stopped the first attempt, but couldn't hold onto it, and Amoh poked yet another ball into the goal to get Amoh's 3rd goal in two games and Indy's first multi-goal game from a player. Maybe just as important, Indy closed out the game without conceding giving Sulte his first clean sheet of the season.

Tonight's four-goal second half is the third time in team history that the team has scored that many goals in a half. The last time was last year when Blake and Augi Williams (x3) scored 4 in the second half of a September game against Miami FC in a 4-nil victory. The time before that was a June 2022 game against Charleston when Pinho and Arteaga (x3) scored 4 goals in the first half before holding on for a 4-3 win. It's interesting that each of Indy's four-half games have resulted in multiple goals for an Indy player, including 2 of Indy's 5 hat trick games. 

With the win and the 4 goals, Indy sits atop of the Group 3 standings, but Birmingham and Chattanooga don't play until tomorrow. It was as good of a start as Indy could have hoped to achieve as they look to work towards hardware in their second Cup tournament of the year. They were different kinds of wins, with the USOC requiring about as much time as feasibly possible, and the Jagermeister Cup getting four goals in a half, but both games had clean sheets and victories. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

There was a lot of good play from multiple players. That's generally the case when you get a 4-nil win. White had a good game. Quinn had the game winner. Blake got on the score sheet. Musa defended well. While I don't like to give the a player the GBGB in back-to-back games, Amoh did everything that you want a second half sub to do in their limited minutes. He affected the game with very minimal touches. In just 14 touches, he had 4 shots, 3 on target, and 2 goals. That's a good way to spend 30-minutes of game time. You can argue that goal scorers get the glory, but Amoh still just edges the other good performances to get tonight's GBGB.