Pleasure And Pain Aplenty, Parting Shots From A Rough Ride - Indy Eleven V FC Cincinnati REVIEW

Ayoze from the spot gets his first goal for Indy Eleven (Photo: Clyde Townsend)

By: Rebecca Townsend

Minute 5, Cincy’s Corben Bone is not shut down as he streamed into Indy’s left defensive channel and launches a cross into the box where his striker Emery Welshman escaped a brief interaction with Brad Ring, somewhat akin to a do-si-do, before what looked from the press box to be rather incidental, off-balance contact with Carlyle Mitchell. To the ref it looked like a PK. Cincy midfielder Kenney Walker nails his shot. 1-0.

The hosts redoubled their efforts to regain the upper hand. It did not take them long.

Hungry Indy striker Jack McInerney worked for his meat, feasting on his interception of a Cincy pass in the 24th minute, Cool Jack Mack drives a shot toward Spencer Richey that sent the visiting goalie into full panic mode. In diving to block McInerney’s first effort, Richey set his rival up for a rebound shot. McInerney, a veteran of MLS and the U.S. Men’s National Team, embodied cool, calm, collected focus and, with ease, guided the ball into the net. 1-1.

The loins of Indy’s collective fan base grew moist because in that moment Cool Jack embodied such a lovely balance of hard and smooth, a truly delicious combination for a striker. Yummy!

McInerney’s example can serve as inspiration as the team reflects on moments when more patience is warranted once control and possession are established.

Soony Saad awarded the penalty that would put Indy Eleven a goal in front (Photo: Clyde Townsend)

Salivating hunger for goals and the willingness to work for them is a trait shared by Indy’s entire strike force. Justin Braun looked hungry Wednesday, as did Soony Saad, who managed to draw a PK in one of his drives into the Cincy box.

Indy defender Ayoze took the shot and launched Indy ahead 2-1.

The host’s euphoria did not make it to halftime.

Welshman (the same one who headed in a goal for FC Cincy the last time they were in town) set up Corben Bone’s sweet chip to a speedy, wily Jimmy McLaughlin who opened Indy’s defense with an arching run across the 18 from left to right, only to demonstrate artful control by receiving the chip and executing a decisive, one-touch strike from back across the face of goal, past all of Indy’s defense and into the far, left net. Plenty of material for the team to review in terms of marking strategies on this one. 2-2.

Around minute 55, Mike Lahoud’s dish to Corben Bone yields an undeniable cannon of a shot into Indy’s lower left corner for the game-winning strike. The Bitch congratulates Cincinnati, as abhorrent as it may feel. Indeed, Indy deserved it. When all the video review is said and done, it’s likely Indy will find that it has the potential to stop goals like Cincy’s. 3-2.

Marking strategy is something worth considering in greater detail. Several examples could be seen Wednesday of the team communicating about marking needs, which, in short order upgrade from low to high priority. Perhaps the “bitch” of the night could involve the dissatisfaction felt when one witnesses - on at least two occasions - the communication becomes a distraction, meaning players are pointing fingers about who should be where while, meanwhile, those very opponents slide by.

Here’s coach Townsend’s golden rule: the pecking order starts with the goalie, whose word trumps everyone else’s on the field. The defensive line has the second most power: when a defender points to a player and tells a midfielder or striker to get there, the recipients of that message need to shut up, listen and move to shut down the identified opponent.

Soony Saad and Jack McInerney now both have 2 goals for Indy Eleven (Photo: Clyde Townsend)

Wait: one more bitch. This one for the refs. If I were to choose one goof, perhaps it would be that time around minute 75 when you called a foul against Jack McInerney. From the press box, it’s a bet that McInerney was the victim of that altercation.

Notes from the game’s final minutes: “Saad could be concussed from the whiplash he's probably getting from being pushed in the back so hard. Justin was taken down from behind…”

To counter the bitchiness, some positive notes:

High five to Carlyle Mitchell for a nice, hard committed tackle to prevent a Cincy one-on-one against Fon Williams in the 74th minute. Also to Matt Watson for great presence in stopping a threatening counter-attack as the game was winding down.

The Pitch Bitch once soaked up some wisdom from a dear friend with a lifetime of professional soccer playing experience that pertains to the next few days for Indy. It’s about holding your head up and moving forward.

“What do you do to help keep your head up in hard times?” she asked, as they commiserated about the heartlessness of the business of soccer — of deals made and broken — of salary dreams and salary realities.

“Win,” he said. “It always helps to win.” Indy lost this battle, but the war is not over. To win, when we are knocked down, we get up and keep fighting harder. Even though the Pitch Bitch has confessed an irrational expectation that her teams win all games, she accepts reality — for the most part. So, if games must be lost, let one (or two) be lost early on — and let the victories come later. We have one more regular season match against Cincinnati — and they will host it at 7:30 on Sept. 29. (Road trip anyone?)

Indy Eleven has 28 games remaining in 2018, 14 at home. We've got what has to be one of the greatest stadiums in the league. We've got 70,000 seats. Let's party like soccer players and win a damn championship! Then maybe the powers that be will deem it feasible to give Hoosiers the world-class grass they deserve for the world-class players performing for our entertainment and education.

Thanks to the Indy Eleven communication team for the following information:

“It's always disappointing to lose,” said Indy Eleven head coach Martin Rennie. “I think it's a little bit frustrating that we lost goals at the start of each half. It was certainly an exciting game for the fans. From a coaching perspective, I would expect that it'll be an improved performance when we come back to it on Saturday.”

Indy Eleven will finish their three-game stretch this Saturday at 12:00 p.m as defending USL champions Louisville City FC travel to Indianapolis. Fans cans grab tickets to the early afternoon match for as low as $15 at Indy Eleven Tix or by calling (317)685-1100.

If you would like to stand in the supporters section and support the BYB you can buy General Admission tickets with no service charges at BYBTIX and $1 from each ticket helps the supporters group with game day and tailgate finances.

USL Regular Season

Indy Eleven 2:3 FC Cincinnati

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis, IN 

Scoring Summary:

CIN – Kenney Walker (PK) – 7'

IND – Jack McInerney – 24'

IND – Ayoze (PK) – 30'

CIN – Jimmy McLaughlin (Corben Bone) – 41'

CIN – Corben Bone (Michael Lahoud) – 54'

Discipline Summary:

CIN – Forrest Lasso – 60'

CIN – Emery Welshman – 72'

CIN – Kenney Walker – 75'

IND – Ayoze - 88' 

Indy Eleven lineup (4-2-3-1): Owain Fôn Williams (GK); Brad Ring, Ayoze Garcia. Carlyle Mitchell, Karl Ouimette; Tyler Pasher, Ben Speas (Matthew Watson 60'), Juan Guerra (Justin Braun 78'), Zach Steinberger (Nathan Lewis 60'); Soony Saad, Jack McInerney

Indy Eleven bench: Jordan Farr (GK); Brad Rusin, Kevin Venegas; Nico Matern, Matt Watson; Justin Braun, Nathan Lewis

FC Cincinnati lineup (4-4-2): Spencer Richey (GK); Matt Bahner, Paddy Barrett, Forrest Lasso, Blake Smith; Michael Lahoud, Kenney Walker, Corben Bone (Will Seymore 81'); Jimmy McLaughlin, Daniel Haber (Manu Ledesma 67'), Emery Welshman (Tomi Ameobi 86')

FC Cincinnati bench: MarkVillage (GK); Sam De Wit, Lance Laing; Will Seymore, Russell Cicerone, Manu Ledesma; Tomi Ameobi

Indy's Home Opener A Great Success But Without Points - Indy Eleven V FC Cincinnati REVIEW (3/31/2018)

New stadium, new players, new league. Tifo game on point!

By: James Cormack

Indy Eleven kicked off their first home game of the 2018 USL season against FC Cincinnati at their new home Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a new beginning for everyone, from tailgating to the final whistle. Despite the scoreline, everything was a huge success for the team, the supporters, and the city.

As we mentioned in the run-up to this game it was always going to be a difficult game to call, I felt that Indy Eleven could have and probably should have come out of this game without losing, a draw would have been a fair result, we had our chances but didn't take them. FC Cincinnati did and finished the match with a 1-0 victory over the Eleven.

Indy had opportunities to be first on the board early in the game, with some silky skills from Tyler Pasher on the left Indy's number three made a great solo run all the way to the goal line and looped a cross beyond the goal and found Jack McInerney at the back post whose header came off the upright. A couple inches to the left and there was no saving that one.

Cincinnati scored the goal that would win the match in the 26th minute. A crossfield pass from left to right found Emmanuel Ledesma with time to control before sending in a cross towards the penalty spot that probably could not have been any more perfect and found Emery Welshman between Ferreira and Mitchell who nodded the ball past Fôn Williams to open the scoring. As the wonderful Greg Rakestraw was pointing out Fôn Williams to be the first Welshman to play for Indy Eleven, Emery became the first Welshman to score against us. (ah ha)

Tyler Pasher had another outstanding 90 minutes for Indy Eleven

People love to argue penalties and pour over replays, I didn't need to, the replay on the big screen once was enough for me and I have watched it again since it was a clear penalty. With the ball already out of his reach, Newton brought both hands to McInerney's feet and brought him down. Last man tackle, could have been a red card on any other day but referee Badawi decided it didn't even warrant a yellow. Fair enough?

With around five minutes to go before the half Indy had a great opportunity to tie the game up. Jack McInerney went for placement rather than power to the right side of goal but Newton guessed right and pulled off a fine save followed by a second block on a Speas shot to deny Indy an equalizer.

During the full ninety minutes, Indy Eleven had plenty of opportunities to find the net which is encouraging, but it was not going to be our day. Shots from McInerney, Watson, Starikov, Saad, and Speas were all kept out. It's early, it's our second game of the season against one of the championship favorites, if we keep creating those chances we will score them and nothing about this game really indicated that Indy Eleven was in any way the weaker of the two sides.

Not even the BYB could get that ball into the net, McInerney denied by Newton.

One concern is that Indy appears to be having injury issues early in the season. Saad was unavailable to start because of a knock, Ayoze and Kevin Venegas have still not made a bench in the first two games meaning we are thin on left and right back cover. An unfortunate ankle injury for Reiner Ferreira saw him leave the field in the first half with Brad Ring coming in to cover at right back and Ouimette moving into center.

It's not a huge concern at this moment and luckily it's coming at the beginning of the season. Defensive depth is critical to any team so hopefully, we don't have any more early casualties and Ferreira's injury is not too serious.

It does no harm to take a beating early and move on, Rennie and the coaching staff have plenty to look at and a week to repair and prepare before heading to North Carolina FC to renew a rivalry started in the NASL. Richmond Kickers who fell to Indy in our opening game achieved their first win this weekend defeating NCFC 2-1. North Carolina will be looking for their first win, maybe Indy Eleven can find their second as Rennie returns to face one of his former clubs.

Never a good sight. Reiner Ferreira departed the back line in the first half.

So what about that game day experience?

Considering the short space of time the club and the supporters have had to prepare for a new league in a new stadium I am pretty sure I was not the only person walking away from the match suitably impressed.

The Brickyard Battalion, Slaughterhouse 19 and all supporter groups deserve a round of applause for the gameday setup. The choice of Gate Ten facilities and parking for tailgate setup was top notch with outdoor and indoor space available. The main parking was also easily accessible and myself like others got in before the allotted opening time and there was no real difficulty in leaving the stadium, nothing more than you would expect from a large event. The supporter display of tifo was incredible, the best we have seen and the Brickyard Battalion were as loud and as passionate as ever AND considerably bigger.

The front office staff must be worn out, I hope they were treated to several adult beverages after the match because they thoroughly deserve it, there were a lot of unknowns and all you can do is the best you can and see how it goes. From what I saw they exceeded all expectations not only on game day but in the weeks leading up to the game. I cannot imagine how much hair was lost and how many fingernails were bitten off. Everyone did an outstanding job. Everything gets easier from here. Take a bow Indy Eleven Staff.

FC Cincinnati brought a large following to the first meeting of these teams in USL.

The attendance is very encouraging, I had thought if we made 16,000 and filled the original advertised space it would have been amazing, to exceed our previous largest attendance by 6000 was incredible. This bodes well for the team and puts weight behind the need for a soccer-specific stadium in the city. I think this support will continue to grow as the team itself evolves more on the field more people will come to games. The officially announced attendance was 17,535.

Kudos and respect to the traveling Cincinnati fans who brought around 1500 supporters to the game and put in a solid ninety minutes of support for their team who rewarded them with three points. Hopefully, we can bring the same to Cinci and take those three points back.

Thoughts from Brandon Cockrum

Indy Eleven were unfortunate to come away without a point from Saturday evening's electric match against FC Cincinnati. Indy was superior in most statistical categories, except for the one that matters most - the final score. Martin Rennie's squad clearly needs some more matches to become a truly cohesive unit and it is fun to watch the team's style of play and connections between players develop.

On Saturday the team played very compactly at times, probably by design to take command of the midfield. However, there was time and space available for players on the wings and Tyler Pasher was the only Eleven player that took advantage of it. After getting the ball taken off his foot trying to dribble out of the 18 and a wayward cross in the match's early minutes, Pasher put in a man of the match performance for Indy with numerous attacks up the left side and dangerous balls served into the box. In the first half, Jack McInerney nearly finished one of those crosses but was denied by the frame and others narrowly missed the heads of attacking teammates.

Jack Mac checks the replay after Saad's free kick is tipped over by Newton late in the game.

It's interesting that after two matches fullbacks Ayoze or Kevin Venegas haven't been on a match day roster and we've had only a 20-minute runout from Juan Guerra in the first match. All three players were among the best at their positions while in the NASL. Coach Rennie appears to be favoring a defense-first approach, which makes sense early in the season as the team learns to play together and against a tough Cincinnati side. 

It's not that the players in front of them have played poorly, however, I have to wonder if Venegas would have been able to get forward, like Pasher, and cause more problems for Cincy than Karl Ouimette or Brad Ring did. Guerra has proven that he can unlock defenses at this level; might he have delivered a moment of creative inspiration that Nico Matern was unable to provide? Coach Rennie has a lot of capable tools on his belt this season and I suspect he will soon start trying more of them out.

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If you are interested in being involved in supporter media with Bloody Shambles Soccer, possibly you have an idea for a supporter related article about your experiences or the team or you have an idea for a podcast please email james@bloodyshambles.com or contact us through Twitter. 

Indy Eleven needs more supporter driven content and we are more than happy to give fans a platform to express their opinion on the team or just relate their experiences from match days, road trips, community events etc.

Indy Eleven Face Strong Test In Home Opener - Indy Eleven V FC Cincinnati PREVIEW (3/31/2018)

Enough Talking! Let the game begin! Okay we talked too much.

By: James Cormack

The moment everyone has been waiting for is finally here. Ticket sales are rocketing and Indy Eleven look set at least to break their highest ever attendance for a home match and probably even smash it. New areas have been opened up due to demand and the entire lower bowl of Lucas Oil Stadium is now available for supporters.

Earlier this week it was announced the south end had been sold out and more seats would be opened, the visitor allocation has been sold and we believe more tickets for traveling support have been made available and their section has been moved and expanded along with the opening up of the east side of the lower seating.

While for me attendance is secondary in priority to the product we put on the field, it is very exciting and important for the future of the club. Indy's highest ever attendance at Carroll Stadium was somewhere around 11,500 and this looks set to be smashed. Anything above what we have done previously is a step in the right direction and the higher we go the more Indianapolis as a city can see that Soccer is not going away and is very much a part of this city and state, and it's growing.

Come On You Seats In Blue! Lucas Oil Stadium prepares the field for Indy Eleven (Photo: Jeff Belskus)

Our team is as prepared as they can be for this game. We have one game and a win under our belt and enough evidence for Martin Rennie to pour over and see where we can improve on the field. We face a stiffer challenge this Saturday, but we will play in front of our own support, it is early in the season and while the result may not give an indication of where we are in terms of playoff quality, a positive result could certainly turn a few heads.

So what about FC Cincinnati...

It could be argued that they are one of the poster boy teams for the USL, they are breaking attendance records and turning heads by themselves since joining the USL in 2016, but are they matching this with their product on the field? By all accounts reading through some of the USL articles we seem to have been placed as underdogs for this game, we got that a lot in NASL when we played the Cosmos for example, but it didn't seem to give them an edge when playing us.

In their inaugural season of 2016, FC Cincinnati finished 3rd in the regular season and came up against Charleston Battery in the first round of playoffs losing 2-1 at home. In 2017 FC Cincinnati scraped into the playoffs finishing 6th in the regular season and losing out again in the first round by 3-0 to Tampa Bay Rowdies. What should be noted from this is a new team has made the playoffs in their first two seasons and made a great US Open Cup run, not the fact they have failed to win silverware. It's impressive. 

I was fortunate enough to attend FC Cincinnati's home opener last season against St Louis and I was very impressed firstly by the huge attendance and the atmosphere, not going to lie it's always incredible to see the continued growth in teams and support in this country. I was also impressed with the product on the field.

FC Cincinnati won that game by four goals to nil and all four were scored by Djiby Fall, I was impressed with how he and Victor Mansary were causing the St Louis defense no end of trouble on both sides of the field. Neither of those players is there anymore. Mansary is now with Charleston Battery and Djiby Fall is as far as I know without a team. Djiby collected a rather lengthy ban in 2017 and despite scoring 12 goals for the year appears to have fallen out of favor with the team.

Ledesma scores for Cosmos in a 2-1 Indy victory in 2017 (Photo: Bloody Shambles)

The 2018 Cincinnati roster is strong, is it as strong as previous years, this remains to be seen. Familiar names to Indy Eleven fans such as Blake Smith, Lance Laing, Nazmi Albadawi, Richie Ryan, Emmanuel Ledesma, Tyler Gibson, and Tomi Ameobi have been added, all previously played in NASL. Among the notable returning players for FCC is Danni König who scored 11 goals for Cinci in 2017.

Ledesma had a good year in 2017 with Cosmos scoring 10 for the season, for several years before he was getting very little game time at clubs like Middlesborough and Rotherham, Emmanuel is a great player who was never given enough opportunity. He is definitely a player who will be a danger to Indy, he scored twice against us last year for New York.

Blake Smith is well known to Indy and played for the Eleven in 2014 on loan from Montreal Impact, his most notable match was our first US Open Cup game against Dayton Dutch Lions where he scored the clubs first ever hat-trick in a competitive match, a tie that ended 5-2 in favor of Indy Eleven. Smith also scored against Columbus Crew in the following round.

Blake is a versatile player who can cause danger in any part of the field. After returning to Montreal and failing to become a part of the first team plans Smith was picked up by Miami FC in 2016 as they commenced life as a new franchise in NASL. Blake was a regular starting player at Miami and scored four goals in two seasons. He is one to watch for Indy and scored FC Cincinnati's opening league goal in a 1-0 away win at Charleston.

Lance Laing working the left for North Carolina in Indy 2017 (Photo: Bloody Shambles)

There is one former FC Edmonton player in Cinci's roster that worries me and it's not Tomi Ameobi. Lance Laing has a great scoring average and is dangerous not only in attacking build up but also from set pieces, he will no doubt be a part of any creative attack from Cinci if he plays and is another player who can change a game very quickly.

I am only touching on a few players, and mainly because they are known to me, but if I were to sit on the outside and look at Indy Eleven's roster I would be equally as worried or perhaps more. There is really nothing that stands out between these two rosters that give me a reason to label one team as a favorite in this match over the other. On paper, it looks very finely balanced.

So are Indy Eleven the underdogs in this game?

It would seem so, and although most of the spin appears to be coming from USL's own punditry and maybe a little favoritism towards a team that has made USL playoffs in two consecutive seasons, it's not really surprising.

Former NASL teams should not be underestimated, but to be fair Indy Eleven's 2017 was possibly the worst season we have ever had. It's an entirely different squad, less returning players than FC Cincinnati but it is probably the strongest team and the most depth we have had in a roster to date.

Both teams have had seven preseason games and both suffered only one loss. Cincinnati beat Indy in our first preseason game without a full squad and also lost their last preseason match against Sacramento. Those games mean nothing at the end of the day, both Indy and Cincinnati have played one league game and both won 1-0 on the road.

Formidable. Indy coaches Dave Dixon, Martin Rennie and Phillip Dos Santos (Photo: Bloody Shambles)

In all fairness I would rather be the underdog, pundits are already putting a check in the win box for Cincinnati so all the pressure appears to be on them if we are expected to be the losers, I doubt very much that Alan Koch will be taking anything for granted and pretty sure Martin Rennie is prepared for any challenge.

It is going to be a spectacle between two well-supported teams in a great venue in front of a large crowd. There are no stats or theories or any evidence out there that is going to help you call the winner in this game, we'll find that out in reality somewhere around 9pm on Saturday night, everything else is just speculation.

How different will this game be to the opener in Richmond?

It will most likely be much more intense, Indy Eleven will have to deal with a more technical and clinical attacking build up from Cincinnati. The defensive line and midfield in Richmond worked very well and certainly look like they could handle a tougher challenge, they will have to defend more and this can affect stamina over the 90.

If anything could have been better in Richmond it probably could have been our overall attack, Cincinnati will probably provide us with fewer opportunities at goal so it will be important that we not only create more but put more of those chances on target. 

The work rate and area covered by our attack were not in question but more opportunity in the final third needs to be talking point for this game. As mentioned in our review you can't just expect this to happen in the first game of the season but you can improve upon it match by match.

'SAS' Soony and Starikov were a handful in preseason, turn it up a notch and more goals will come.

Our center backs will be called on more in this game, how much work they have to do will depend on the combination of players (if those players start) that I mentioned earlier this week. Ouimette, Pasher, Matern, Watson, and Steinberger. Breaking down Cinci's attacks without losing our shape will be critical, players will need to support and cover each other much more in this game.

Defending will be critical, this doesn't mean we need to worry about a "Park The Bus" scenario, but how cleanly and clinically we defend will have a significant bearing on how quickly and effectively we overturn possession and switch to attack. Sloppiness will not cut it in a game like this at all, so better to be patient than frantically chasing everything that moves.

I won't make a match prediction although I feel Indy Eleven will not lose this game. I am envisioning an opening period of frantic jostling before settling down to what could become an intense chess match, and if it comes to that it will be all about Rennie versus Koch. So bring it on Cincinnati.

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We already know we are going to surpass attendance expectations for tomorrow's game if you are still sitting on the fence about coming along it's really a no-brainer. The Brickyard Battalion need as many wild and crazies in their section as possible so if you want a great deal, a crazy day and be right up on the action fork out $15 and buy yourself a ticket without added fees by following THIS LINK! DO IT NOW, RIGHT NOW!