Indy Eleven ended their home opener with New York Cosmos on Saturday with all three of their streaks intact. Another sellout at home, six matches unbeaten carried over from last season, and thanks to a 1-1 draw against the Cosmos another draw to add to the series between New York and Indy. Much is left to be said for the two teams, but what it can be constructed to is a tale of two halfs.
Indy Eleven Recap: Indy Eleven hold out for a draw in home opener
With over 10,000 fans ringing the cheers of the Brickyard Battalion for all to hear, Indy went in with nothing short of a tidal wave of momentum and positivity to tackle the New York Cosmos.
Half one:
Indy looked like they hadn’t stopped playing since the 55th minute against Atlanta last week. Strong, smooth, and developing attacks kept the offense working. The midfield battle was all but dominated by the Boys in Blue and the defense managed to prevent space to form for New York as they held New York clean in the first half. All things were clicking.
Indy struck first in the early going thanks to a goal from forward Brian Brown, who lobbed a shot over Jimmy Maurer in the 12th minute. Indy kept the tightness and intensity together through the first half. It was interesting to see Rugg and Brown out front instead of Woj. A different combination that during the entire 90 minutes proved to be a valuable asset on the counter as Rugg could get the ball up to a fast Brown Brown. This was a shift from how they played last week in Atlanta, which was a team that was less open and more responsive in their play style.
The positive of the first half was seeing Indy play this quick, wider, and more expressive game. That was an improvement from last week as they kept the ball slow and forced the build up from back to front.
Defensive aggression:
With your defense, no matter the players, you want intensity and passion. You need a strong backline that can keep the ball from going past them, but also can get in the face of the opposing forwards so they don’t get comfortable. Greg Janicki does that, but this game saw him give three key free kicks or corners to a Cosmos team that has done well with set pieces.
Janicki’s actions led to a number of mistakes on defense. Indy gave New York 22 free kicks as well as 12 corner kicks. These actions are the equivalent to turnovers in a basketball game. While New York didn’t solidified those chances, the large amount of blown and overly aggressive moves by Indy Eleven gave New York plenty of chances to even the score.
Half two:
The talk the Cosmos got in the break was enough to see them come out very aggressive and play like one of the top teams in the North American Soccer League. New York came out swinging, being pushed back to their goal initially, but otherwise dominating the possession during the half. New York carried a 60% possession by the end of the match, thanks in large part to the second half play of Raul for the Cosmos.
Indy struggled to maintain their defensive shape and one might worry whether or not fitness issues could be hitting Indy Eleven as by the 77th minute the team looked strained getting back on defense.
Raul scored his first goal of the season in the 65th minute. Indy just lost all of the momentum during the second half, not showing a spark until late in the 84th minute.
Bottom line:
Overall, it was an improvement from the Atlanta game. We didn’t have to wait for Don Smart to show up in order to see productivity and intensity. Indy looked like a mid season form team in the first half, choking down the opposing attack, countering like they know they can, and winning the ball in the mid field.
The team will look entirely different when Jose Kleberson, who has been battling hamstring issues, hits the field for the first time. This game saw the return of Brad Ring as well, who gave a spark.
Jamie Frias’ injury in the second half may have played into the momentum shift for the Cosmos when he went down around the 64th minute. Charlie Rugg’s performance as a leader on attacks helped and should improve over time.
The thing that Indy will need to work on is playing a full match. It’s incredibly difficult to win matches in this league when you don’t play the same way in the first half as you did in the second half.
The squad needs to improve on fitness and carrying one half of a performance to the next. Overall the quality of play from the first game into the second game improved, and it looks like Indy is poised to do much better in the Spring compared to their performance last season.
Next week Indy Eleven hits Texas, as they take on San Antonio in San Antonio at 8:30 pm on ESPN 3
Main Photo: April 11, 2015 – NY Cosmos and Indy Eleven battle to a 1-1 draw in front on another sold out crowd at The Mike. Courtesy of IndyEleven.com
