Indy Eleven vs Chicago Fire - 2016 U.S. Open Cup

- Opponent: Chicago Fire
- Location: Bridgeview, Illinois
- Attendance: 5,543
- Final Score: 1-1 (4-3) L
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Janicki, Vukovic, Mares, Ring, Paterson, Lacroix, Zayed, Braun
- Substitutions: Youla 69' (Mares), Keller 81' (Ring), Ubiparipovic 97' (Lacroix)
- Unused: Cardona, Shaffer, Palmer, Miller
- Goals: Braun 105'
- Bookings: Braun 27', Paterson 72', Youla 90+2'
- Adage goals: None

There's a lot to like about this game. The result isn't one of them. The Eleven fought hard, played to their strengths, took the lead in extra time, but ultimately fell to the Chicago Fire 4-3 in penalty kicks. Before I get into the game details, let me also congratulate the couple hundred Indy Eleven fans that were able to make the mid-week trip up to Bridgeview for this game. You were loud and could be heard through the online stream of the game. Great job!

The halftime stats showed this as a very close game. Possession was 55%-45% to the Fire, but as can seen from the stats on the left, both team's distribution stats were also extremely similar. They stats look like two teams playing very similar styles of play. About the same for long passes, with similar accuracy, and similar crosses. The advantage actually goes to the Eleven here as they were much more successful in those crosses.

It's after halftime where I think the two teams' break between games came back to hurt the Eleven. The Eleven played an all-out effort on Saturday against Carolina to win the Spring Season in 90-degree temperatures at game time. The Fire hadn't played a competitive game in two weeks due to the Copa America international break. The game shifted as the Eleven's weary legs began to struggle to keep up with the Fire's quick, and much more rested, legs. The Eleven's DNA of playing stout defense was extremely effective until the 111th minute of the game when Accam managed to pull two Eleven players into sliding positions as they tried to overcome their positioning, crossed over the ball, and slotted the ball past an outstretched Busch after taking a deflection off of Janicki.

Their legs just weren't there at the end.

Even before the game started, there was a thought that this game could go to extra time and penalty kicks due to the Fire's lack of form in the start of their MLS season and the Eleven's strong showing in the NASL Spring season. The Eleven's legs just couldn't keep up and a late game injury to Braun is likely why he wasn't one of the players taking PKs. The team fought hard, but just couldn't overcome the short turnaround.

The defense of Franco, Falvey, Janicki, and Vukovic once again proved that the Eleven defense is nothing to trifle with, especially considering they were going against a very speedy front line for Chicago. They maintained shape, went forward well, and tracked back. A couple of poor touches created some opportunities for Chicago, but in 120-minutes of action, I can only recall a half dozen of those.

Until Braun looked to injury his thigh/groin late in the game, his work was typical. Zayed would like to have at least one of his headers back, but otherwise, he too played a great game. Braun's turn and shot on goal after the pass from Ubiparipovic was thing of beauty.

The midfield. Ring and Patterson make a great pairing in the midfield, particularly when the team is set up tactically with them both playing a more defensive roll, which was necessitated for this game. Keller looks to be turning into a great substitute for them, which is good since he had to put in a 40-minute shift due to the extra time. Ubiparipovic came on and made an impact by getting the ball to Braun for go-ahead goal.

This brings me to Mares. I said it after the Carolina game and I'll say it again. That guy needs to see a ball go into the back of the goal. He's been so close so many times and until one of those goes in, the shots that sky over the crossbar look even worse. I have this gut feeling that when it does go in and his confidence on his shot comes back, it's going to be nice to have another threat to score from the midfield, which will only help Zayed and Braun.

Last, but not least, is Busch. I don't want to harp on his age, because he gets enough of that from the TV guys, but there's a reason he's been playing for as long as he has been playing. The guy is cementing himself as legend here in Indy. In a game where all 11 (+3) players were needed, Busch came up with 7 massive saves to help take this game into extra time and penalty kicks. Oh, and in case you missed it, Buschy went the correct direction on EVERY. SINGLE. FIRE. PK. They were all well struck and out of his reach, but he seemed to know where they were going. And that weird as hell run-up by Accam on the last one might have worked on a lesser goalkeeper, but Busch made Accam make the first move. That's a veteran keeper.

The Eleven lost, but fans should be proud of their effort and their fight tonight against a much more well rested team. They may have come out on the wrong end of the penalty kicks, but this team showed tonight that fans shouldn't be worried about a drop off in the Fall Season. This team fights to the end no matter that circumstances.

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs RailHawks - 03.10

- Opponent: Carolina RailHawks
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Attendance: 9,341
- Final Score: 4-1 W
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Janicki, Vukovic, Mares, Paterson, Larrea, Gordon, Zayed, Braun
- Substitutions: Lacroix 63' (Paterson), Ubiparipovic 76' (Falvey), Ring 89' (Larrea)
- Unused: Cardona, Shaffer, Keller, Miller
- Goals: Zayed 16', 65', 85', Braun 45+1'
- Bookings: None
- Adage goals: None

As I prepared to head to the game tonight, on a night when minutes before the start of the game the air temperature was a little more than 90-degrees F, I wondered if the Eleven would be physically able attack this game in a way that would be able to produce enough goals to overcome the deficit behind the New York Cosmos and win the Spring Championship. Short bursts in that kind of temperature take a toll on the body. Would they have enough energy to be able to sustain the pressure through 90 minutes to score as many goals as the team has been able to do only once? Further complicating the issue is that the on-field temperatures are usually higher than the air temperature. So armed with a normal thermometer from the house, I did a little field investigation.

Yes, folks, that says 106.1-degrees F. Though, it was so hot (and admittedly not using a device designed to do what I was asking it to do), it went up to 106.8-degrees.

I also took a measurement in the shade, which minutes before the start of the game, was basically non-existent. 101.8-degrees F. Still hot!

Yet, despite the heat, the team came out with their collective foot on the gas and put Carolina on their heels from the very beginning. The final possession stat indicates a slight edge to Carolina, but this game was about Indy seeing a chance to collect some hardware and going after it. Average Position stats and Heat Map are much more heavily skewed towards the offensive end of the field, which is something that we haven't seen often from the Eleven. 

I started this graphic this season and have been updating it in the sidebar, but wanted to bring it out into the main article after this game. With this game, the Eleven have scored 15 goals on the season; 12 at home and 3 on the road. What's interesting to me about where the Eleven are scoring their goals is that only two of them are outside of 12-yards from the goal and only one has been outside of the 18-yard box. This was not the case last season where we witnessed a number of long range goals. This team is finding success inside the 6-yard box and today was no different. Three of the four goals were within that area and the fourth was just a yard outside of it. They are still taking shots outside the box, but the ones going into the goal are from close range. (Sidenote: Anybody remember how we thought that Zayed and Braun would start scoring goals once they got their first one? That player for me, now, is Dylan Mares. He is without a goal nor an assist on the season, but it's not for a lack of effort. Some of his shots have been on the high side, but he's not been afraid to take the shot when it becomes available. Dylan needs to see one find the back of the net, and soon.)

This team believed they could put 4 goals on the board and played that way. In a change from normal, there was a more offensive game plan. As the game neared the end and they were chasing that final goal, Coach Hankinson made good on his Soccer Saturday comments of going for the title. Paterson was subbed for Lacroix, creating a more offensive presence. On more than one occasion, Gordon was up top with Zayed and Braun. Then when Falvey needed to come out due to his injury (leaving Busch as the only ironman left on the team to play every single minute of the season), Coach Hankinson brought on Ubiparipovic, definitely not a like-for-like substitution. At that point, the Eleven were, in essence, playing a 3 man back line, 5 midfielders, and 3 forwards. They were up by two goals with a win well in their sights and they chose to go for the title too. While this is still to be determined as of this writing due to the Edmonton versus Fort Lauderdale game tomorrow, if a 4-1 win by the Eleven has already been labeled as the "Miracle at the Mike," the SIX goal margin of victory needed by the Strikers would go down in the NASL history books as one of the greatest wins of all time. So the Cosmos were the first in the clubhouse with the title in their grasp only to watch the Eleven come in behind them and take the Spring Season title away. Later on Sunday, the Eleven will know if it will remain theirs.

I said recently that nothing would surprise me about this team any longer. I said that this team could be special, it just might not happen in the Spring Season. As a joke, I said I wanted to see a 3-5-3 tactical formation out of this team for this game.

This team believed.

This team achieved.

"Mr. Hat-Trick" did nothing to diminish his legend, but rather grow it more. 

I hope Gordon is ok. He looked like he might have been dehydrated after the game...

What a way to go out Peter!

Congratulations Eamon on the Player of the Week selection! Twice in 10 games!

Congratulations Eamon on the Play of the Week Nominee! Vote here!

And Play of the Week selection!

Congratulations Team of the Week honorees: Vuko (6th time), Zayed (2nd time), and Falvey (well deserved)

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Miami FC - 03.09

- Opponent: Miami FC
- Location: Miami, Florida
- Attendance: 1,837
- Final Score: 0-0 D
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Janicki, Vukovic, Mares, Paterson, Larrea, Gordon, Zayed, Braun
- Substitutions: Lacroix 74' (Paterson), Keller 90+2' (Zayed)
- Unused: Cardona, Shaffer, Ubiparipovic, Miller, Reinoso
- Goals: None
- Bookings: Larrea 83' (Yellow), Franco 90' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: None

The goal seemed simple. Head down to Florida for the fourth time this Spring Season, win against one of the teams in the lower tier in the league, and go into the final game at Carroll Stadium against Carolina in complete control, provided that Fort Lauderdale help out by beating the New York Cosmos. Fort Lauderdale was the only part of that scenario that did their part. In another week where the results of the other games benefited the Eleven, the team didn't take full advantage.

I find myself in a rare and awkward predicament. I find myself disappointed with a road draw in a league where seemingly anything can happen on any given week. At the start of the season, if you told me that the Eleven would be going into the final weekend of the Spring Season with a chance to win it, I would have been ecstatic. If you told me that they would be in that position and be undefeated, I would have laughed at you. Yet, the two draws this week against Jacksonville and Miami seem like points lost that could have already put this Spring Season to bed.

So when a team finishes in a draw with one of the bottom dwellers, there tends to be some negative aspects of their play. I'm going to stop talking about losing the possession battle, the duel battles, and the long ball percentage, because those are just a function of the way this team plays. However, 9% shot accuracy and 0% successful cross statistics indicate an offense that was never really that threatening to Miami goalkeeper Vega. Indy was credited with 1 shot on target and that happened in the first half. For a team that has created a reputation for getting chances late in games, they never really threatened.

Despite the slight disappointment that the Eleven didn't make a much larger step towards securing the automatic bid into The Championship, there were some good things to see. While I love me some Cory Miller defensive headers, there is a good connection between Falvey and Janicki and the backline seems more stable with them together. Despite having to play 90 minutes on Wednesday, Gordon's, Mares', and Franco's energy levels were still very high. Mares, in particular, had some great passes and defensive effort in the midfield, even if his shot selection wasn't the best. Busch was credited with three official saves, but wasn't really tested all game.

This was a game that had the potential to be so much more for the Eleven in terms of the league standings, but neither team was ever really that threatening. A game where the Heat Map is an accurate depiction of the game; very heavy in the middle of the field, but nothing too substantial in the offensive third for either team. So the Eleven finish their Spring Florida tour with a single goal and four draws, but still with a chance to win the Spring Season with a win and a goal heavy output against Carolina next weekend. The Eleven need to overcome a 3 goal differential next weekend to secure the spot, but at least they will be playing a Carolina team that is not in the good form they were in to start the season. Carolina has given up 3 goals this season and Indy has scored more than 3 goals so as we've seen all year, anything is possible.

Hopefully, that "anything is possible" is a 4-0 win by the Eleven (a 3-0 win still gives the tie-breaker to NY, while a 4-1 win gives it to Indy since they have the head-to-head on the 3rd tie-breaker).

Congratulations to Vukovic for his 5th Team of the Week selection!

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Louisville FC - 2016 U.S. Open Cup

- Opponent: Louisville City FC
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Attendance: 2,145
- Final Score: 2-1 W
- Starting XI: Cardona, Franco, Miller, Vukovic, Shaffer, Smart, Mares, Keller, Lacroix, Gordon, Reinoso
- Substitutions: Braun 41' (Reinoso), Zayed 45' (Smart), Larrea 82' (Lacroix)
- Unused: Busch, Falvey
- Goals: Gordon 58', Zayed 68' (assist Lacroix)
- Bookings: Zayed (Yellow 81'), Keller (Yellow 84')
- Adage goals: None

With Janicki on the bench, I believe there were 8 players from each team that were involved in last year's game. So while there has been a lot of change for both teams, that's a majority of the players who remember the Eleven's loss in last year's U.S. Open Cup. Combined with Louisville FC's wins over the Indy Eleven in preseason matches, LCFC came into Carroll Stadium with a ton of confidence. With some injuries to Ring (MCL sprain), Janicki (facial fracture), Ubiparipovic (hip), and Lovel (leg), and a three-games-in-eight-days stretch, Coach Hankinson was forced to play a different lineup than we've seen this season. Even with the players that we have seen regularly, they were in different positions. Vukovic was moved inside to left central defense and Gordon was up top alongside Reinoso.

What is different about this team than in the past is the depth and the player's ability to play multiple positions. Despite all that depth, with the other injuries, the team only fielded 16 players for this game, with two of those being the goalkeepers. So Coach Hankinson's in-game adjustments were tested early when two of the Eleven were hit with knocks. Where the Eleven lined up to start is not how they finished.

By my recollection, Reinoso appeared to be limping somewhere around the 15-minute mark. He never looked like his normal quick self after that and Coach Hankinson was forced to sub him out at the 41-minute mark for Braun. There was a noticeable difference in the effect of Louisville passes back to the goalkeeper with Braun's increased pace after he was inserted. Then Smart took a hard challenge around the 26th minute and was out for a few minutes as the trainers re-taped his ankle. Smart made it to halftime, but then he was subbed out for Zayed immediately after halftime.

Both Braun and Zayed spent the entirety of the halftime out on the field instead of in the locker room as the Eleven found themselves down a goal as a defensive breakdown for the Eleven let Louisville's Hoffman get behind them for a goal in the 21st minute. I'm guessing both players had been hearing what Hankinson had been saying on the sideline and were better served getting physically ready due to the early substitution pattern. Zayed for Smart was not a like-for-like substitution and Coach Hankinson couldn't have done a like-for-like if he wanted. So he placed Zayed in his normal forward position alongside Braun, and moved Gordon back into the midfield, more his recent position. At some point, and I can't recall exactly when it happened, Vukovic and Keller switched giving Vuko the ability to push forward in the midfield and allowing Keller to remain defensive.

The moves created a drastically different dynamic for the Eleven in the second half. Louisville still had chances of their own in the second half, but the in-game adjustments by Hankinson seemed to create a much more settled midfield. That helped create more chances going forward and with that midfield and forward lineup, I don't recall seeing Shaffer pushing forward as much as he did in the first half. During the first half, there were times when he was even with the forwards, attempting to not get called offsides.Vuko has arguably been the best player for the Eleven this season (though I would argue that Falvey's leadership has been just as important...and was missing on Wednesday) and his insertion into the midfield was vital and may be the one decision that helped swing this game.

Death, Taxes, and __fill in the blank__. I'm going to settle the "fill in the blank" once and for all. Death, Taxes, and a Defensive Aerial Duel won by Miller. After Cory Miller's first defensive header, I decided to keep track of how many times he didn't win one. Zero. Every single time a ball comes to Miller, he seems to take it as a personal challenge to send it back as far as possible. He's also going to make sure that the guy he's defending starts thinking about it every time future balls come their way. You may want the ball, but he wants it more. I guarantee it.

The Zayed goal was gorgeous. It was one of those moments when you can see it developing from the seats in the stands and just hope that it all gets rewarded. This time it did. Mares stole the ball near midfield and immediately looked to attack the goal. He found an open Lacroix on his left, who calmly slotted it towards the middle for Zayed to run onto for a one-touch shot on goal. Gorgeous soccer.

LCFC provides something that none of the NASL team's can provide for the Eleven and that's something that resembles a regional rivalry. They may be in different leagues, but the team's records and close proximity are starting to create something that could be interesting moving forward. The short distance also allows the LCFC supporter's section to make the trip to Carroll stadium and make their presence known. I don't have any major complaint about the LCFC supporters, but you might want to rethink chanting "we can't hear you" as you're doing so with a megaphone. To the BYB's credit, they followed that up a short time later with "we don't need a megaphone." Well played BYB, well played.

One last comment.about a topic that I don't normally discuss. Both supporter's sections were vocal from start to finish and both sections chanted "THE GREEN TEAM SUCKS!" within the first 30 minutes of the game. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Great game. Great result. The Chicago Fire await in two weeks, during the break between the Spring and Fall Seasons. That's a great time to take a U.S. Open Cup match seriously.