By the end of the game the field look more like the raining golf scene from Caddyshack but the heavy stuff came down before the rain as Indy Eleven drop two goals in a win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The eleven day break between the blow out loss against Ottawa Fury at home for the Eleven proved to be enough to develop the chemistry and erase the slump the team had been in for the previous five games.
Midfielder Daniel Keller spoke on the 11 day break after the game saying “It was good. It gave us a chance to look at what we were doing wrong as well as to realize what we were doing right. We didn’t need to fix everything, just a few minor details, but those minor details can be the difference between a win and a loss. I think tonight we were much more organized with those details.” The break provided Indy the chance to really look back and get back to the student mentality of the game and gave Tim Regan and crew the chance to learn from previous mistakes. Between the positive play on the wings by Duke Lacroix, Kyle Hyland, Marco Franco, and Dragon Stojkov Indy Eleven was poised from the beginning to get goals on the board tonight.
11 day break brings Indy Eleven three points against Rowdies
One of the biggest storylines of the past five weeks is the large amount of signings Indy Eleven made to offset the injuries and knocks facing the midfielder with Sergio Pena, Brad Ring, and obviously Jose Kleberson. This large influx of new players that came in and in the first week got the start completely threw off the team chemistry. While Marvin Ceballos, Dane Richards, Zach Steinberger, as well as Duke Lacroix all have slid into their roles on the team but the first-game starts damaged a lot of the progress that had been made.
After the match though, Interim Head Coach Tim Regan spoke on the “new kids” on the team (more so with regards to Steinberger and Richards tonight) “I’ve said it all along that the questions come from the beginning in terms of these new guys coming in. It just takes time. You can’t put an exact number of days on it, and both of them showed tonight that they’re getting more comfortable in their role and with their teammates.” The break gave the new guys ample amount of time to integrate and build that team chemistry that came across in the form the team put together.
The other part of the game that stuck was the positive vibe Indy threw out there. Indy had played unconfident and after terrible performances home and away against Ottawa Fury FC the break in the schedule couldn’t have come soon for both fans as well as the players. Indy’s performance showed that even the run of poor results Regan prepared them for what was ahead. Coach Tim Regan said on the match, “You look at this point in the season and you realize that you need wins because three losses in a row is bad for any team. It was a good response from the group [tonight] and I’m really pleased.”
From the backline to the forwards each one of those players looked like they were enjoying the game and were playing each pass and touch with confident. Dane Richards, who is on loan from MLS New York Red bulls got his first goal off of that confident play. “I saw [Daniel] Keller with the ball and I just got myself some space from the defender. Once I got the ball, I took a good first touch and put the ball on target.” This is first goal since joining the boys in blue on loan and capped off a fantastic performance offensively shared with Erick Norales.
Indy Eleven have little time to enjoy the result as they travel to Hotlanta to tackle the Atlanta Silverback Saturday at 7:30 pm on ESPN 3. This begins a three game road trip and Indy Eleven return home September 5th when they bring in the Jacksonville Armada to shore at Michael A. Carroll stadium.
