Keep Calm and Carry On! (Indy Eleven v FC Edmonton 6/13/15 Preview)

MARK IT ZERO EDDIES!

It's the final week of spring season and Indy play host to FC Edmonton. It's been a bit of a roller coaster for the team and the supporters, we have been in the position of coming home after an away win with an air of expectancy before, not that I want to heap pressure on the team, but it would be really nice for the supporters to see their team win a game at home. Regardless of where the game is played, gaining another three points is very important right now, especially looking ahead to the combined spring/fall table and potential for making the NASL playoffs. I mentioned before that 10 points is probably the lowest you would like to be before making a run at a playoff spot, Indy have a chance to go for 13 points before the break.

If Indy can defeat Edmonton this weekend and Jacksonville and San Antonio fail to win then we could potentially finish Spring season in 5th place, had someone told me that before the season started I would not have considered that too disappointing, but you can't help wondering where we would be if we had not dropped points in some of the games we should have won, but it's much better to look forward than to look back. Last spring we finished bottom with 4 points from four draws and no wins. Edmonton gave Indy it's first ever defeat in front of it's home fans, now perhaps we should make sure we use them as a means to get our first home win of 2015.

Let's get ready to rumble! ...

On May 10th 2014, FC Edmonton gave Indy Eleven their first ever defeat at home. Of the starting lineup for Indy that night, only six players are currently still available to play (excluding Kleberson through injury) Nicht, Ring, Norales, Frias, Hyland and Mares. Don Smart played off the bench and Dawson was reserve keeper. A lot has changed since then and as it stood that was the only time Edmonton has beaten Indy. In the fall season Indy pulled off a 1-0 win in Canada thanks to an opportunistic shot from Kleberson in a very scrappy game. Indy drew the home fall game 1-1. Interesting to note in those last two games against Edmonton where we did not lose, Victor Pineda started both of those games and scored in the 1-1 draw and played the full 90 minutes in both games.
Recent form shows Indy with 4 pts from their last four NASL games (LLDW) and Edmonton also have 4 points from four games (LWDL). Edmonton's most recent defeat was 2-1 to Tampa, who were missing three of their key players thanks to the red cards they picked up in the 2-2 draw in Indy the week before. 

Like Tampa, Edmonton will miss a trio of key players themselves this week, Lance Laing has been called up for international duty for Jamaica and Tomi Ameobi is likely to miss the rest of spring through injury, defender Mallan Roberts has also been called up for international duty with Canada. Edmonton have extended their stay in Florida a little this week to train. Ameobi and Laing have combined for 7 goals this season, and six assists, they still have serious attacking threats like Nyassi who loves to take the ball and run at defenders, but this may be as good a time than any for Indy to take advantage of a depleted Eddies team. Edmonton love to score goals, but they let a lot in as well, so far they have scored 16 and conceded 19. Indy's defense will be key to winning this game, provided we can again find the net, we now have 4 goals in 2 games.

Who has a sick note and who doesn't?

As well as Kleberson being a long term injury, Sergio Pena will remain out for the Eleven, Daniel Keller (concussion) and Judson McKinney (ankle bone chip) remain questionable and will likely not feature. I expect Indy will start with roughly the same lineup as last week, Regan has pulled out a win after his first game and I doubt he will be tempted to tinker too much. Likely starters and reserves - Nicht, Franco, Norales, Miller, Hyland, Stojkov, Ring, Mares, Pineda, Rugg, Brown. Bench: Wojcik, Cardona, Frias, Janicki, Smart, Lacroix and Melgares.