Indy Eleven vs Philadelphia Union - 2025 U.S. Open Cup Round of 32

Summary

- Opponent: Philadelphia Union 
- Location: Subaru Park
- Attendance: 8,633
- Final Score: 1-1 D (5-4 Philadelphia after extra time)

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, White, Ofeimu, Musa, Stanley, Foster, Murphy, Quinn (C), Rendon, Blake, Amoh

- Substitution: Williams, R. 73' (Amoh); Collier 73' (Collier); O'Brien, J. 90' (Rendon); Lindley 90' (Murphy)

- Unused: Sulte, Hogan, Kizza

Scoring Summary:
PHI - Bedoya 6' (assist Mbaizo)
IND - Amoh 48' (assist Foster)

Penalty Kicks:
1 IND - Williams, R. - Success (to right) 
1 PHI - Vassilev - Success (to right)
2 IND - Blake - Success (down the middle)
2 PHI - Baribo - Success (to the left)
3 IND - Quinn - FAIL (to the right)
3 PHI - Westfield - Success (to the left)
4 IND - Lindley - Success (to the right) 
4 PHI - Rafanello - Success (down the middle)
5 IND - Stanley - Success (to the right)
5 PHI - Lukic - Success (to the right)

- Bookings:

PHI - Vazquez 55' (Yellow)

IND - Murphy 69' (Yellow)
PHI - Makhanya 88' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 90' (Yellow)
IND - Stanley 90'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matthew Corrigan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Here's the thing. Indy wasn't going to sneak up on any MLS teams this year. A run to the semifinal last year catches everybody's attention. Philadelphia wasn't going to overlook a semifinalist, no matter what league their opponent originated. Philadelphia did still seem to think that it wasn't going to take their top players to do it based on their starting lineup. Giving a 15-year in Sullivan first-team minutes gives some indication of that. In the first half, that proved to be the correct mentality. Indy played timid and passive. No, not passive. Reactionary. From the jump, they looked like a team that was content with seeing getting the game to halftime to try and win it late. Defensively they were chasing. Offensively, they were chasing. Very few times did they ever look like the team that had a game plan, other than "let's not lose it in the first half." Something they, in essence, looked like they did when the conceded a 5th minute goal. Indy Eleven eventually succumbed to the Union 5-4 in penalty kicks, but they overcame their early mistake to make a good showing for themselves.

Much of the first half of this game reminded me of the U.S. Open Cup game last year against Sporting Kansas City. Same as last year's game, Indy came out in a bunker, providing at least on the surface more respect for their opponent than maybe necessary. In Kansas City, Indy proceeded to concede a goal within the first 15 minutes, forcing them to play from behind, just like tonight's early goal forced this version of Indy to do. Against Kansas City, the team then conceded a second goal before halftime, making it vital that they play a different style of soccer in the second half. Indy still lost last year's game, but they gave a better showing of themselves. Indy managed to make it to halftime this year still just down by the single goal, but they were playing the same style of soccer. 

Indy Goal Locations (Across All Competitions)

In this game, Indy found a goal nearly immediately coming out of the halftime break. Not surprisingly, it was the most in-form striker for Indy in Amoh. The first half and second half tactical plan seemed to be the exact same from the 2024 semifinal to the 2025 Round of 32 game. The difference was that Indy didn't concede the second goal in the first half and found an equalizer early. 

Indy's confidence increased in proportion to Philadelphia's frustration level and the game became a game where both teams looked like they wanted to win instead of one team wanting to win and the other not wanting to lose. I think it was always the plan for Indy to play the way they did, but I'm just not sure it was necessary against Philadelphia's starting lineup.

Indy started looking gassed when the game finally found its way to extra time after neither team were able to get the winning goal in regular time. Indy's effort in the second half can't be argued, but it took a lot out of them to get to the extra time. As a result, Indy began to bunker again and absorb pressure and absorb attack after attack from the Union. That bunker continued into the second half to extra time, but it certainly looked like the team was following the coach's plan.

Penalty kicks can go either way. Indy fans don't expect it to go poorly for Quinn, but getting his shot stopped by Andrew Rick proved to be the difference between the two teams. Indy had their 2025 U.S. Open Cup journey ended in the Round of 32 by the Philadelphia Union, but the team once again showed the fight that Indy fans want to see from this team. Indy have now faced 5 full-fledged MLS teams in the U.S Open Cup in their history and have taken two of them to extra time (one to penalty kicks), defeated a third, and lost to a fourth in the semifinals of the tournament. So only one win, but I think Indy fans can take solace in knowing that the club makes a good showing of itself against the MLS sides (even if those sides are sending out some of their 2nd string players).

The minutes on the starters' legs is worrisome as the team travels directly from Philadelphia to Sacramento (I was told they won't be stopping in Indy between the games) to face one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but Coach McAuley has always said that his teams will go after trophies. To beat a team like Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park requires a complete effort from all your players, and Indy's starters put in a shift, particularly after the halftime break. When it comes to trophies on the line, Coach McAuley has taken the opinion that he will play the players that he thinks give the team the best chance to win and then he'll deal with the ramifications for the league games once the game is finished. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Charles-Cook. No doubt and no other option. There's a reason Indy took it to penalty kicks, but Charles-Cook kept Indy in this game as he made 10 saves on 33 shot attempts and 11 shots on target. Teams have 11 players and Charles-Cook showed that sometimes it takes all of them to win games. Yeah, he wasn't able to get to any of the penalty kicks, but he had good reads for all of them, but the shots were just better. If not for Charles-Cook, this game doesn't get to penalty kicks. RCC is the GBGB winner.

Indy Eleven vs Detroit City - 12.06

Summary

- Opponent: Detroit City FC 
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,738
- Final Score: 2-2 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, Musa, Ofeimu, White, Stanley, Foster, Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Amoh, Kizza

- Substitution: Rendon 45' (Kizza); O'Brien, J. 66' (Foster), Collier 67' (Blake); Williams, R. 67' (Amoh); Hogan 80' (Stanley)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Lindley

Scoring Summary:
DET - Rutz 2' (assist Yamazaki)
DET - Smith 15' (assist Chapman)
IND - Amoh 27' (unassisted)
IND - Amoh 66' (assist Quinn)

- Bookings:

DET - Williams 4' (Yellow)
IND - White 32', 60' (Yellow, Yellow - RED)
IND - Musa 55' (Yellow)
DET - Yamazaki 58' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 64' (Yellow)
DET - Chapman 65' (Yellow)
DET - Bryant 72' (Yellow)
DET - Amoo-Mensah 85' (Yellow)

- Referee: Elijio Arreguin

- Adage goals: One.

Thoughts and Opinions

Counting tonight's game, Indy and Detroit have played each other 5 times in the past two seasons when you also include the preseason game and the U.S. Open Cup matchup. In the USL Championship, players move around quite a bit with some rosters completely flipped from one season to next so it's not a given that two teams that faced each other 4 times last season can take much stock in thinking they know how a team is going to play this year based on how they played last year. That's not the case with these two teams who both returned a strong core from last year's rosters. Add the fact that Indy have two players from Detroit's last year roster (Amoh and Murphy), and Detroit has one player from Indy's last year roster (Guenzatti), and a good portion of the rosters remember last year's meetings. 

It didn't take long for Detroit City to put their stamp on this game. Indy's defenders lost sight of Yamazaki who had a ball sprayed out wide right to him with acres of space in front of him. Quinn made his best effort to catch Yamazaki, but the DCFC midfielder sent a ball between the lines to Rutz who had separated from Ofeimu on the left side of the box. A touch over an on-rushing Sulte and Detroit firmly placed themselves in the driver seat in just the 2nd minute of the game. A position Le Rouge wouldn't be able to hold onto with the game finishing in a 2-2 draw despite DCFC holding a man advantage for the final 30-minutes of the match.

After DCFC scored their second goal in the 15th minute, it looked like the game was done and dusted. Indy have now conceded multiple goals in all four of their home games. Indy is going to need to solidify their defense if there is ever going to be a chance of making The Mike any kind of fortress. In this league, it's important to get wins at home and at least a point on the road. At this point in the season, Carroll Stadium is looking more like a soggy pup-tent than anything resembling a fortress, despite the positive result tonight.

Thanks to some Quinn pressure on Williams in the 27th minute, the ball fell to Amoh's feet around the penalty spot with no other players but the goalkeeper anywhere in the vicinity, and the former DCFC player blasted a shot past his former teammates to pull one back. Indy's defensive pressure led to a goal to make themselves feel a little better about their early miscues. The goal re-energized the home squad and started tilting the bulk of the play towards the DCFC goal. The visitors still went into the halftime locker room with an advantage in nearly all the major statistics, including the one that matters the most, the score.

Coach McAuley made an immediate change coming out of the locker room by bringing in Rendon to Kizza indicating that McAuley wanted to provide more stability in the midfield. At the time, I might have made a different decision as I thought Foster's defensive effort in the first half was a liability. However, his pace and his increased effort (possibly as a result of a halftime motivational talk from McCauley) in the second half helped sway my opinion back to keeping him in the game. Moving him up top where he prefers to be probably helped his attitude and effort.

Down a goal and chasing the game, Indy exacerbated their struggles when White picked up his second yellow of the game in the 60th minute. It was described to McCauley as an "excessive challenge," but I think that many of the calls and cards in the second half were because referee Arreguin let a lot of physical play happen in the first half. When he decided to start calling the game tighter, White and players from both teams, had difficulty adapting to his new level of what constituted a foul. As a player, you want a consistent whistle, one way or the other; consistent between teams and consistent between halves. I don't think that was the case tonight, and the 7 cards in the second half reflected that change in how the game was refereed.

From Indy's perspective, the red card turned out to not hurt them. Amoh found his fifth goal in three games in the 66th minute to even the game at 2-2, despite the man disadvantage. Even after an abysmal start to the game and losing a player to a second yellow card, Indy found themselves back level with 20+ minutes to go. Detroit, realizing that they were in jeopardy of having lost a two-goal lead and went from walking away with the full points to just a point, and Indy, realizing that despite being down a man, had drawn the game level turned the game into a chess match of how much to press and when. Indy began to bunker a bit, making it difficult for Detroit to find any open lanes for their attack. Detroit still managed 5 shots, 2 on target, after the second Indy goal, but just couldn't crack the code of Indy's defense to duplicate the scoring effort that they were able to accomplish in the first half. 

Detroit would clearly like to have picked up the full three points given their early prowess and lead. However, once Indy took the early punch in the mouth, they settled into the game and had good chances of their own. Neither team will be happy with it, but a draw felt to me like it might be the right result based on the whole of the game. 

Both teams now turn their attention to their U.S. Open Cup games on Wednesday against Chicago Fire for Detroit and Philadelphia Union for Indy. Whatever squad rotation Coach McAuley had planned for the game knowing the teams travels to Sacramento next weekend, White's red card might change things slightly. If he wasn't going to play the full 90-minutes against the Union, he will now since he won't be able to make the trip out west. The Manager of Team Administration, Shelby Gilmore, conveyed to me that the team will travel to Philly and then will travel directly to Sacramento. So once the squad leaves Indy on Tuesday, they won't be back until Monday. 

The Boys in Blue won't be back in front of the home squad until May 28th unless they beat Philadelphia in the U.S. Open Cup and NYCFC beat Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Due to the draw, Indy would be the host team in that scenario. Assuming that doesn't happen, Indy fans can make the trip to Grand Park to support the Girls in Blue if they need their local soccer fix.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

If he keeps up this heater, I may have to rename this award from the Game Beckons Game Ball to the Elvis Amoh Game Ball. He was making an impact off the bench to the point where Coach McAuley felt Amoh deserved to be inserted into the starting lineup. Amoh proceeded to make an impact as a starter. Until this run-of-form slows down, the GBGB is his until somebody else absolutely takes it away from him.

Indy Eleven vs Forward Madison - 2025 Jagermeister Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Forward Madison FC 
- Location: Breese Stevens Field
- Attendance: 3,748
- Final Score: 4-0 W

- Starting XI: Sulte, Stanley, Musa, Ofeimu, White, Rendon, Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Foster, Kizza

- Substitution: Amoh 57' (Kizza); Collier 57' (Rendon); O'Brien, J. 80' (White); Lindley 90'+3' (Foster)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Hogan, McRobb

Scoring Summary:
IND - Quinn 69' (unassisted)
IND - Blake 72' (assist Collier)
IND - Amoh 84' (unassisted)
IND - Amoh 90'+3' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - Rendon 20' (Yellow)
IND - Murphy 50' (Yellow)
MAD - Murphy 59' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 60' (Yellow)
MAD - Sousa 70' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Hassan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Longtime Indy Eleven fans are no strangers to tonight's opponent Forward Madison. The first President of the Indy organization was Peter Wilt, who helped bring the team to Indianapolis with Ersal Ozdemir. Under his leadership, Peter helped cultivate the fan-centric culture that has permeated Indy Eleven since the beginning. He was such a part of Indy, that like fans of probably all of his teams, Indy fans wanted to keep track of the activities of their first leader. When Peter Wilt stepped down from his role with the team to take a role with the burgeoning NISA league, Indy fans lost a key cog of what made Indy Indy in those early days. So when they heard that Peter was leaving NISA to help start yet another club, they knew that there would be a good chance that the team would have a similar culture. As Forward Madison hit every right note with their early marketing and kit reveals, Indy fans knew this was going to be an unofficial "sister" club that they would want to follow. Since their entry into USL League One, several former Indy Eleven players have found their way to Madison, including "Mr. Indy" Don Smart, and Forward Madison's current captain, Mitch Osmond (Drew Conner, Paulo Jr., Wojciech Wojcik, and Allen Torres are others). 

Club histories aside, Coach McAuley has repeatedly stated that winning trophies needs to be something that Indy prioritizes, and paraphrasing a repeated statement from him, "you can't win trophies unless you win the first game." While that's not exactly true in this group stage format of this year's Jagermeister Cup, getting off to a good start in the competition is vital. While last year's inaugural version of this Cup competition included only the USL League One teams, Forward Madison was last year's runners-up so they also wanted to duplicate last year's run. At the end of the game, it was the visitors that kicked off their Jagermeister run with a victory, with a 3-nil win thanks to three 2nd half goals from Quinn, Blake, and Amoh (x2). The first tiebreaker in the group stage is goals scored, so Indy's four goals, and +4 GD, could come into play later depending on the rest of the group results as the Cup progresses.

Forward Madison - 1st Half Heat Map

The first half looked much like fans of both teams have come to probably expect. Forward Madison controlled the ball, but Indy let them control the ball in non-dangerous locations on the field. Most of their touches, as can be seen from their first half touch map were in their own half of the field. That's exactly where Coach McAuley and Indy Eleven want their opponents to have the ball. While not impossible, scoring from your own half is difficult. Indy regularly sent balls into Forward Madison's half, yet another trend from a Coach McAuley led team. Balls away from your own goal help keep balls being scored in your goal. Indy turned their possession into 8 shots, 2 on target to Forward Madison's 3 (2 on target). Yet, the teams went into the halftime locker room in a nil-nil stalemate. 

I would never claim that Indy is a "tall" team. Depending on which players are on the field at any given time, the average height might be hovering just around 6'-0", assuming you take Sulte out of the equation. Perhaps that is why Indy continues to work the short-corner. Whatever the reason, Indy continue to utilize that option versus sending corner kicks directly into the box. It's interesting to me that Indy's latest goal in team history came from the traditional corner kick into the box from Lindley to White in Indy's last Cup competition game.

Second Half - Shots

Around the 70th minute, Indy's veteran presence unlocked the stalemate and never looked back. Quinn picked the pocket of the Forward Madison defender as they tried to build-out from Schipmann. Once the had the ball, Quinn toe-poked the ball under Schipmann and Indy had their opener. Just three minutes later, Blake demonstrated a moment of class as he drew three defenders to him, stopped on a dime, and put a short pass to Collier. The two players proceeded to run a give-and-go drill straight from the training pitch, and Blake pushed the ball out of the reach of Schipmann to double Indy's lead. A lead that was further extended in the 84th minute when Collier got his defender spinning, put a shot on goal that Schipmann spilled as far as Amoh who poked it past the sprawled goalkeeper. Indy put a nice tight bow on the game in the 90'+3' when Foster's speed was able to track down a ball up the right side and put in a cross along the 6-yard box for Amoh. The very 2nd half busy Schipmann stopped the first attempt, but couldn't hold onto it, and Amoh poked yet another ball into the goal to get Amoh's 3rd goal in two games and Indy's first multi-goal game from a player. Maybe just as important, Indy closed out the game without conceding giving Sulte his first clean sheet of the season.

Tonight's four-goal second half is the third time in team history that the team has scored that many goals in a half. The last time was last year when Blake and Augi Williams (x3) scored 4 in the second half of a September game against Miami FC in a 4-nil victory. The time before that was a June 2022 game against Charleston when Pinho and Arteaga (x3) scored 4 goals in the first half before holding on for a 4-3 win. It's interesting that each of Indy's four-half games have resulted in multiple goals for an Indy player, including 2 of Indy's 5 hat trick games. 

With the win and the 4 goals, Indy sits atop of the Group 3 standings, but Birmingham and Chattanooga don't play until tomorrow. It was as good of a start as Indy could have hoped to achieve as they look to work towards hardware in their second Cup tournament of the year. They were different kinds of wins, with the USOC requiring about as much time as feasibly possible, and the Jagermeister Cup getting four goals in a half, but both games had clean sheets and victories. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

There was a lot of good play from multiple players. That's generally the case when you get a 4-nil win. White had a good game. Quinn had the game winner. Blake got on the score sheet. Musa defended well. While I don't like to give the a player the GBGB in back-to-back games, Amoh did everything that you want a second half sub to do in their limited minutes. He affected the game with very minimal touches. In just 14 touches, he had 4 shots, 3 on target, and 2 goals. That's a good way to spend 30-minutes of game time. You can argue that goal scorers get the glory, but Amoh still just edges the other good performances to get tonight's GBGB.

Indy Eleven vs Charleston Battery - 12.05

Summary

- Opponent: Charleston Battery
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 3-1 L

- Starting XI: Sulte, Musa, Hogan, White, Stanley, Quinn (C), Murphy, Rendon, Blake, Kizza, Foster

- Substitution: Ofeimu 60' (Hogan); Collier 60' (Rendon); McRobb 60' (Stanley); Amoh 69' (Kizza); Lindley 81' (Foster)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Hunsucker, McCoy, O'Brien, J.

Scoring Summary:
CHS - Myers 4' (assist Torres)
CHS - Myers 8' (assist Jennings)
CHS - Rodriguez 49' (assist Malloy)
IND - Amoh 90'+4' (assist Musa)

- Bookings:

IND - Blake 28' (Yellow)
IND - Rendon 43' (Yellow)
IND - White 68' (Yellow)
CHS - Zamudio 90'+4' (Yellow)

- Referee: Natalie Simon

- Adage goals: Most definitely!

Thoughts and Opinions

Based solely on the records, Indy Eleven and the Charleston Battery has been a fairly even affair, with Indy holding a 4W-2D-5L record against the opponent from South Carolina. The problem from an Indy Eleven perspective is that the past three games have been an absolute nightmare for the Boys in Blue, losing all three by a combined 14-2 score. Charleston dominated the 2023 playoff game to the tune of 5-nil, followed that up with a 4-2 win in Indy, and most recently beat Indy in August of last year, again by a staggering 5-nil scoreline. Coach McAuley wants to make The Mike a fortress, but getting a win against Charleston has been a difficult proposition. By the time Charleston scored their second goal in just the 8th minute, getting a win seemed an impossibility. Getting a win this season against a team not named Miami FC has proven to be a much larger challenge than expected. Holding onto leads had been the issue coming into the game, so the team decided to mix it up and dig themselves a massive hole against one of the best teams in the conference/league. Narrator: "It didn't go well."

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

Charleston came to town with one of 4 announced Indy Eleven signings that never played for the club, in Cal Jennings. There are a lot of #IndyForever players, but Cal is about as fringe of that group as possible. Cal was signed to Indy in December 2020, but was transferred to MLS's LAFC in March 2021, having never suited up for the Eleven (not even a preseason game). So I had little hesitation to hope he wouldn't do well tonight. Jennings had an assist by the 8th minute...

Indy's horrible start to the game forced them to play from behind far too early. Indy's best early chance came in the 16th minute, but Kizza's shot went straight to Zamudio. After the two early goals, Indy looked discombobulated across all the lines, but it was the poor defense that was most troubling in this game. Indy's defenders were in constant last-ditch defending mode. Charleston's front three players of Torres, Myers, and Jennings ran the Indy defenders all over the field. It didn't help that Indy's attack was doing almost nothing to help out their defenders. The midfielders and forwards couldn't string anything together, and as a result, play was constantly tilted in Charleston's favor. The defenders weren't helping themselves either, as their distribution wasn't any better than the midfielders. A repeat of last year's trend of Indy struggling against the top tier teams looked to be rearing its head again.

Indy and Charleston went into the halftime locker room 2-2. Unfortunately, that was 2 goals for Charleston and 2 yellow cards for Indy. In all honesty, Indy was lucky to be down just the two goals. There was a clear better team on the field in the first half, and it most definitely was not the team that was wearing their special black alternate third kit with the checkers. 

Second verse, same as the first. 

Full Time - Shots

Charleston came out of the locker room and put a third goal on the board in the 49th minute to put a "COMPLETE" stamp on the game. All that remained was the final 41 minutes of the half and the final score. After the goal, it looked like 3 Charleston goals was not going to be the end of their scoring, and there was no indication that Indy was going to undo their goose egg for the night. To their credit, Indy didn't roll over and let the game balloon any further. Based on the shots in the game, and the number of saves each goalkeeper made, Indy's loss wasn't for a lack of effort. By the end of the game, Indy had doubled Charleston in shots (16 to 8), and had a +2 shots on target advantage (6 to 4). Indy had gone into the half with a 0.16xG to Charleston's 0.71, but finished the game with 0.68 to 0.87, respectively. The issue was that by that stage of the game, Charleston was content to ride out their three-goal lead, slow the game down, and get out of town with the three points. In a flurry of activity at the end, Indy managed to score twice, one of which was called back for offside, and a second that Amoh blasted out of the reach of Zamudio, who promptly retrieved the ball from the net and blasted it out of the field of play over the Brickyard Battalion as he watched his clean sheet get erased late. His frustration was met with a yellow card from referee Natalie Simon, Charleston's only card of the night.

Indy now have just 5 points from 5 league games, with three of those games taking place at Carroll Stadium. Making The Mike a fortress isn't going very well this season, but getting another crack at setting the foundation for the fortress is going to have to wait to get started for a little bit longer. The next chance to get a home win will be in two weeks when Detroit City make the trip down from Michigan on Saturday May 3rd. Between now and that game, Indy will have their first foray into the Jagermeister Cup when they take on another Peter Wilt started team in Forward Madison. Coach McAuley has repeatedly stated that he wants the team to take Cup games (USOC or Jagermeister) seriously, with a desire to win a trophy. He reiterated that again tonight after the game. Since Indy won't be dealing with multiple games next week, I won't be surprised to see the normal starters starting that game. Hopefully, Indy's first game in the Jagermeister Cup doesn't take as long to get a win as this past Wednesday's game against Miami in the USOC.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

In a game where the team conceded early goals in each half, and the squad generally performed poorly enough that I had to use the term discombobulated to describe how they all played, it's always nice to see a guy come off the bench and make an impact. I could be talking about Lindley again after his stellar performance during the Open Cup game (he had 3 chances created in this game in just 9'+6' of action tonight), but I'm specifically talking about Amoh. He's been playing limited minutes, but as a forward, you just want to see the ball go in. With just 12 touches, he nearly scored twice, and did get the goal that pissed off Zamudio so much he reacted like a high school player rather than a professional. On a night where not a lot went well for Indy, Amoh getting a goal can only help the forward group.

Photos: Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs Miami FC - 2025 U.S. Open Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Miami FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 4,366
- Final Score: 1-0 W

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Ofeimu, McRobb, O'Brien, J., Stanley, Neidlinger, Lindley (C), Rendon, Collier, Soumaoro, Amoh

- Substitution: Kizza 64' (Soumaoro); White 64' (Neidlinger); Bryneus 76' (Amoh); Foster 89' (Collier); Hogan 90' (Bryneus); Sulte 120' (Charles-Cook)

- Unused: Quinn

Scoring Summary:
IND - White 120+3' (assist Lindley)

- Bookings:

IND - Neidlinger 5' (Yellow)

IND - Soumaoro 27' (Yellow)
MIA - Gavilanes 42' (Yellow)
MIA - Cardona 42' (Yellow)
MIA - Knutson 51' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 61' (Yellow)

- Referee: Colin Radosav

- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

Despite making it to last year's U.S. Open Cup semifinal game, Indy Eleven joined the 2025 edition in the same round as the rest of the 2024 top tier USL Championship teams. I guess the reward for being a semifinalist is all monetary. The good news for Indy was that they did finish in the top 16 of last year's league standings, and were also awarded hosting duties for this game. Home or away, this is tournament soccer and the name of the game is win. 

Or survive and advance. 

Which is what Indy did with a 1-nil victory over the visitors from Miami, thanks to a late stoppage time, 120'+3' goal from Hayden White on Indy's 14th corner kick of the game. Cam Lindley put a ball towards the 6-yard box and for one of the few times all game, Miami goalkeeper Bill Hamid didn't come off his line to grab the ball, and White headed the ball past the former MLS and National Team goalkeeper.

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

Indy faced off against fellow USL Championship foe, Miami FC, who Indy already faced a month ago in their first game of the league season, when Indy scored 3 goals in the first half to fly out of Florida with a 3-1 victory. At that point, and at least a couple times since that game, Coach McAuley indicated that the Miami of old would not be the 2025 Indy once they put some more time together under their belt. A month later and Coach seems to know what he has been talking about. Miami came into the game with their first victory of the league season, a 2-1 road win at San Antonio, breaking a 12-game losing streak dating back to last season. This is the Third Round of the USOC, and Miami had to get involved in the tournament during Round One due to the poor performances last year, which means that they made it to Round Three by beating their first two USOC opponents, Naples United FC (4-1) and Inter Miami CF II (1-0). So this Miami team may not be the doormat this year that teams have come to expect was a win in previous seasons. 

Through various discussions, it sounded like Coach McAuley had been planning to do some squad rotation due to the Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday games this week. Indy did not play this past weekend due to the field conditions in Hartford, but the squad still made the trip. Even though the players didn't have minutes on their playing legs, they did have minutes on their travel legs, so Coach McAuley continued with his plan of squad rotation. Miami, contrarily, fielded much the same lineup that they used in their league game against San Antonio.

Indy's squad rotation players came out of the gate with apparent directions from McAuley to press, press hard, and press fast. He must have also told them to send as many passes forward as possible. In the early stages, Indy created a number of half chances, with their main issue being the final touch or putting balls close to goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who was quick to grab crosses out of the air and came up with a couple of good saves or recoveries. Indy's frenetic start lead to a couple of early yellow cards and more than one loose pass and giveaway or long clearance that might not have needed to be blasted so far up the field, but each time the other members covered for the mistake. The pace also forced Miami into their own fair share of mistakes, as Miami struggled to keep possession, and did very little in Indy's half of the field.

Despite the one-sided offensive effort for Indy over Miami, the two teams walked into the halftime locker room with a nil-nil draw. Coach McAuley might have been upset with the score, but he couldn't be upset with the effort. If you're processed-based, the process looked good for all of Indy's attack, with the exception of needing to be more clinical around goal. If you're results-based, which this sport requires, the results weren't there in the first half. For Miami, they went into the locker room feeling fortunate to still be tied, knowing that they were an Indy mistake away from leading the game. Indy had 13 touches inside Miami's box, while Miami could only muster 4, most of which happened in the late stages of the half. Indy led the shots and shots on target 7-2 and 1-0, respectively, but Miami did hold a slight edge in possession. As continues to be a discussion point, where that possession occurs is important and Miami's possession was mostly in non-threatening areas. 

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

One of those chances for Miami that could have undone all of Indy's good effort came in the 54th minute when Veron put a dipping ball on frame that Charles-Cook had to parry over the crossbar to keep the score even. Indy began to play a bit too loose with the ball allowing Miami to start the second half in a much better way than Indy. Then it turned into a track meet in both directions as the game became wide open. It's difficult to say who was in control during the bulk of the second half as neither team possessed much nor had many good chances on target. Neither team could get a breakthrough goal and the ninety minutes of regulation finished in a nil-nil stalemate. 

Extra time devolved into an even further wide open affair with a lot of balls being sent over the midfielders from defenders to forwards. If you like possession-based soccer, this game wasn't for you. This was a game of will and effort and who could find a breakthrough to separate the teams. In the end, it was the Indy fans that went home happy thanks to a game-winning header from White in the 120'+3', which by my records is the latest goal scored by either team in the men's team history. Indy have made a habit of taking USOC games to extra time (plus one playoff game). In the team's history, nearly 25% of the USOC and playoff games have required extra time. The previous latest goal scored was in 2015 when a NASL-era Indy Eleven took on a "lower division" Louisville City team in the U.S. Open Cup only to watch Louisville score two adage goals in the 115th and 119th minute to send Indy out of the tournament. 

2014 USOC - Columbus Crew (2-1 loss) GA 114'

2015 USOC - Louisville City (0-2 loss) GA 115', GA 119'

2016 USOC - Chicago Fire (1-1 draw, lost in Penalty Kicks) GF 105'; GA 111'

2019 Playoff - Louisville City (1-3 loss) GA 94', GA 113'

2023 USOC - Michigan Stars (3-1 win) GF 92'; GF 106'

2025 USOC - Miami FC (1-nil win) GF 120'+3'

In a good indication of Indy's depth, Coach McCauley made 9 changes to the lineup from the last league game, 4 players were making their season debuts, and others played more minutes tonight than they have all season combined. To get the win against an improving Miami team that trotted out nearly the same lineup as the team that took down San Antonio in San Antonio is a good sign that Indy might be able to weather some of the frequent injury bugs that this team has seen in the past.

Indy return to Carroll Stadium on Saturday to play Charleston, by which time they will know how they face in the next round of the U.S. Open Cup when the MLS teams join the fray. EDIT: Indy will go on the road to face the Philadelphia Union on May 6th or 7th. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

First thing. Two guys get GBGBs tonight. 

This game doesn't get to a 123rd minute goal without the 6 saves that Charles-Cook made. There were at least two saves that looked to be definite goals, the second one of which was a long-range blast that looked destined to find the upper 90 of the goal. Charles-Cook's parry managed to push the ball off the crossbar and keep Indy alive. In the dying minutes of the stoppage time, Reice was subbed out for Sulte, who would have had minimal touches before what looked like definite penalty kicks. When I asked Coach about this logic, he stated that it was a goalkeeper coach and goalkeepers decision to have Sulte take the penalty kicks. I assume those three people had determined during training sessions that Sulte's instincts (or 6'7" frame) were better during spot kicks than Charles-Cook. Fortunately for all, White made the substitution a non-issue, but that still doesn't detract from the game that RCC played and the team's first clean sheet on the season. 

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

Second, Cam Lindley looked like a man possessed. He looked like he was trying to show that he's still the player that was all league just two seasons ago. He completed more passes and had more touches than any of his teammates; he had more than double the number of passes in Miami's defensive third; and he was tied for second in shots, chances created, and crosses attempted. Maybe more telling though of his effort tonight was that he had 5 tackles won, and the next highest players had 1. His assist on the goal moves him to sole possession of 6th place in men's team history for assists, one away from Justin Braun. Lindley showed his leadership, skill, and team-first mentality tonight, and reminded me why I personally like him as a player. Plus, is there a player on this team that can pick out a cross field ball better than him? I don't think so. GBGB #2 goes to Cam.

Photos - Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs North Carolina FC - 12.04

Summary

- Opponent: North Carolina FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 2-2 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, Ofeimu, Hogan, Musa, Stanley, Murphy, Quinn (C), Bryneus, Blake, Foster, Kizza

- Substitution: Neidlinger 80' (Bryneus); Amoh 87' (Kizza)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Collier, Lindley, McRobb, O'Brien, J.

Scoring Summary:
IND - Somersall 26' (OG)
IND - Kizza 48' (assist Foster)
NC - Conway 51' (assist Dolabella)
NC - Donovan 93' (assist Maldonado)

- Bookings:

IND - Murphy 6' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 8' (Yellow)
NC - Mentzingen 13' (Yellow)
NC - Somersall 45' (Yellow)
NC - Craig 81' (Yellow)
NC - Servania 84' (Yellow)
IND - Quinn 89' (Yellow)

- Referee: Edson Carvajal

- Adage goals: One

Thoughts and Opinions

Indy Eleven hold an 11W-4D-5L record against the franchise from North Carolina, including a 4W-1D-1L record as competitors in the USL (leaving a 7W-3D-4L from the old NASL days), but the two teams split the season series last year with both teams winning their home matches. Indy came into the game as 3-2 losers to last year's reigning champions Colorado Springs Switchbacks, while North Carolina came into the game as winners of their past two, the most recent a 2-1 defeat of the Charleston Battery. In a soggy and lightly attended Carroll Stadium, Indy started a bit slow, but turned into the dominant team in route to a 2-2 draw. That's right, the dominant team in the match had to share the points after giving up two goals, the second of which came within stoppage time of the second half.  

In the early stages of the game, Indy finally looked like the team that McAuley indicated preseason that he wanted this year's team to be, as they spent a large amount of time in North Carolina's half of the field. Both teams also saw a significant amount of referee Carvajal's yellow card, as he was free and quick with trying to manage the intensity of the game in the wet conditions of the field.

Bryneus - 1st Half Distribution

Indy's attack lived on the left side of the field as Indy worked much of their effort through Bryneus and Stanley. Indy looked like they saw something in the matchup between Bryneus and Washington that they thought they could exploit. With some early crosses and shots, that evaluation of the NC squad proved to be correct as Bryneus finished the first half with 1 chance created, 3 crosses, and 2 shots on target, and could have easily had two goals if not for some good last-ditch defending and goaltending. I don't know how NC finished the half winning the possession battle, but that was about the only place where NC were statistically the better of the two teams in the first half. Indy walked into the halftime locker room soaked, but clearly the team that deserved the early lead, even if the goal was officially scored as an Own Goal.

Indy shot out of the locker room with the same intensity and were rewarded with an immediate goal to extend their lead. However, Indy has yet to keep a clean sheet this season and three minutes after Indy's second goal, NC put themselves on the board to bring the game back within a one-goal deficit. Indy's early inability to capitalize on their multiple opportunities put themselves back into a position where the game was still there for NC to steal points on the road. The weather had marginally improved, but the wet turf stays wet turf for a long time and Indy needed to make sure that they didn't put themselves in any situations where a poor touch on the wet turf would undue their good play.

Indy gave up a late stoppage time free kick. Maldonado put a ball into the 6-yard box and Donovan rose highest to head it back the other direction and out of reach of Sulte. Just like that, every good thing that Indy did during this game from an offensive perspective, was completely undone with poor defending. 

Indy Eleven have lead in all 4 games that have been played this season. In this game, they had a two goal lead. From a leading position, Indy are now 1W-2D-1L. If the team can't figure out how to hold onto leads, and extend them when they were the better of the teams on the night, this is going to be a long season. The team heads to Hartford next weekend who have scored once in 4 games. It's early in the season, but Indy need to expect to go to Hartford with a win and a clean sheet in mind as the only acceptable outcome of the game.  

The Game Beckons Game Ball

He didn't get rewarded for his effort with a goal, but Bryneus showed tonight why Coach McAuley has called him a good young talent, who just needs to translate what he's been showing in training into the games. Tonight looked like a good step in that direction. For his overall effort and effectiveness on the left side of the field, Bryneus just edges Foster for me for tonight's GBGB.

Indy Eleven vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks - 12.03

Summary

- Opponent: Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 10,202
- Final Score: 2-3 L

- Starting XI: Sulte, Ofeimu, Hogan, Musa, Stanley, Murphy, Quinn (C), Bryneus, Blake, Foster, Kizza

- Substitution: Amoh 67' (Bryneus); Neidlinger 90'+1' (Foster)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Hunsucker, Lindley, McCoy, McRobb, O'Brien, J., Rendon

Scoring Summary:
IND - Foster 20' (unassisted)
COS - Micaletto 43' (assist Real)
COS - Micaletto 62' (assist Huerman)
COS - Dhillon 64' (unassisted)
IND - Quinn 90'+8' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

COS - Adams 7' (Yellow)
IND - Murphy 53' (Yellow)
COS - Ward 59' (Yellow)
COS - Romero 90'+5' (Yellow) - I don't think this was actually given to Romero, but rather Mahoney who was the one taking the goal kick and wasted time by moving the ball to the other side of the goal, but all the league data currently show it as having been given to Romero.

- Referee: Joshua Encarnacion

- Adage goals: Two

Thoughts and Opinions

The nature of the USL Championship is that players come and go frequently into and out of the league, but also, just as frequently, between teams. Tonight's game between Indy and Colorado Springs is no different. The Switchbacks have three players on their roster that have spent time in the Circle City, including Jonas Fjeldberg, last year's Championship Final MVP Juan Tejada, and the player that provided the assist to Eamon Zayed in the Miracle at the Mike in Duke Lacroix. Fjeldberg was the only one of the three who made the starting lineup, but all of the former Boys in Blue made the trip to their old stomping ground, and all three saw action. On the flipside, Indy have four players that have spent time in Colorado Springs; Amoh, Foster, Lindley, and Romario Williams. Amoh is the only player that was on the opposing team's roster last year so there's not a ton to be learned from each player's experiences with the other team, but it will definitely help for Fjeldberg and Tejada to have recently played on the Carroll turf. 

Based on my records, Indy Eleven doesn't come away with a victory very often in their home openers. With the exception of the 2019 and 2020 seasons under Coach Rennie where Indy pulled out clean sheet victories (1-0 against Hartford in 2019; 2-0 against Saint Louis FC in 2020), Indy has greeted their fans with a 2W-7D-2L record in their first game at the Mike/Lucas Oil Stadium. Since the two wins came in the Lucas Oil Stadium era, Indy have never recorded a victory in their home opener at Carroll Stadium. That trend continued tonight as the Colorado Springs Switchbacks scored three goals in about 20 minutes of game time, 2 of which came within 2 minutes of each other, to send the Indy fans home disappointed. Eleven Park continues to seemingly be in limbo, so there's always next year for Indy to get first home opener win in Carroll Stadium.

At some point, we're just going to accept that Coach McCauley's preseason statement of wanting the team to be "on the ball more" was just coach-speak to throw off the early season opposition. Indy has been absolutely dominated in the possession battle this year, but it hasn't been a major issue so far this season. In this game, Indy let the Switchbacks dictate the tempo early, with Indy providing timely counterattacks. When Indy did have some possession in the early stages, they managed to get free kicks and corner kicks for their efforts. Indy have scored 3 of the 4 goals coming into the game from set-pieces and Indy showed some different ideas with their corner kicks, playing short and then getting the ball up the sideline to Quinn to feed the ball into the box from a different angle. Indy ran the play in back-to-back corner kicks, so they clearly liked the result from the first attempt.

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

However, it was through the run of play that Indy put themselves ahead in the 19th minute. Stanley put a dangerous ball across the middle of the box that ran all the way through the box. Foster, on the opposite side of the field, slammed his left foot into the ball and put it between the post and Romero to give Indy the early lead. Seemingly somebody for Colorado Springs was deemed to have gotten enough of a touch on the ball that Stanley wasn't officially given credit for the assist, but his ball forced the Switchbacks to make a play, which they weren't able to do. 

Once Indy got on the board, Colorado Springs turned up the pressure even further and had several chances in the following moments. Indy weathered the storm and found some of their own opportunities, but it wasn't until the 43rd minute that the 1-nil lead was taken from Indy. Colorado Springs had to go to their bench early as Charlie Adams was unable to continue after picking up an injury. His substitute, Micaletto, blasted a shot that Sulte was only able to get a hand to, but the shot was too strong and the ball deflected off Sulte's wrist and into the goal for the equalizer. The Switchbacks nearly went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead, when a shot from Huerman in the 45'+6' hit the crossbar. Fjeldberg blasted the rebound back into the box, but it was blocked out for a throw-in. That would be the last of the play as referee Joshua Encarnacion sent the players to the locker room. 

Colorado First Half Heat Map

Indy finished the half with Colorado Springs have a 60/40 advantage in possession, but an even 2 to 2 on shots on target. Again, Indy being "more on the ball" is still not translating to actual possession, but Indy did limit the majority of the Switchback's possession to their own half and not in dangerous areas in front of Indy's own goal. When Colorado Springs did have good possession near Indy's goal, they did a lot with it.

Indy nearly put themselves back in the lead immediately after the halftime break with a lead pass from Bryneus that Kizza put off the post. The near-miss seemed to energize Indy as they spent the next few minutes entrenched in the Switchbacks' defensive third of the field. Indy had three corner kicks in rapid succession, all done as short corners like Indy had done in the first half. There must just be something that they feel they can do with a better angle, but Indy's corner kicks are requiring three players out by the corner, preventing two players from being near the box for recycling efforts. We'll see how the trend continues as the season progresses on whether Indy continues the short corners as teams start to defend against it.

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

In the 62nd minute, the Switchbacks used their own short corner that Micaletto shot/crossed into the box that nobody from Indy could touch and Sulte was leaning the wrong way expecting a touch. Despite his late reaction towards the direction the ball was actually going, the shot/cross turned into a shot/goal and the Switchbacks had finished the comeback. Immediately after the goal, Colorado Springs made a trio of subs, including Indy's former player Duke Lacroix. Known for his pace during his time in Indy, Lacroix's fresh legs attacked the Indy backline by quickly driving the ball at them. He then blasted a shot from distance that deflected off the first line of defenders, but bounced in a way that put Dhillon as the only player in a position to get to the rebounded ball. A cheeky chip over an on-rushing Sulte and Indy had gone from an opening day draw to a 3-1 deficit in the span of just 2 minutes. 

Shots - Final 24 Minutes

With a two-goal lead on the road, the Switchbacks were content to see out the game defensively. In the final 24 minutes of regulation and the subsequent 8 minutes of announced stoppage time, Colorado Springs didn't have a single shot towards the Indy goal, while Indy turned the game into one-way traffic towards the Switchbacks' goal. Indy finished the game with 17 shots, 11 of which came after the Switchbacks' third goal. It also meant that Indy finished with the possession advantage, but that's definitely skewed due to the bunker that Colorado Springs settled into at the end of the game.

Indy found a second goal in the dying minutes through a Quinn free-kick goal in the 90'+8', but it was a case of "too little, too late" and Indy's drizzle rain-soaked fans continue to hope for better out of the home openers. The goal does tie the record for the latest goal in team history, matching the late night, post-rainstorm 2015 goal by Kyle Hyland against Tampa Bay that salvaged a draw for the team, but couldn't salvage Coach Sommer's job. Coach McAuley's job isn't in as precarious of a position as Sommer's was that night in 2015, but the lose still stings given that the defeat ultimately hinged upon just a couple minutes of poor defending.

Post game, it's usually never good when the main talk is about the effort and fight of the team and not the positive result. Yet, as Quinn also pointed out after the game that fight and effort are things that are hard to teach. The things that went wrong defensively that led to the three Switchbacks' goals can be fixed. The fight to not give up can be more difficult to fix if the players in the squad aren't built that way. Quinn is definitely one of those players that's built that way, so if he thinks this squad is that type of squad, then this team is the kind that's going to keep fighting until the end. That's good news moving forward. 

However, what isn't good news, and is more concerning than an early season loss was that Indy made just two subs in the game. The first was Amoh coming in for Bryneus to give a more attacking threat after giving up the third goal, while the second substitution didn't occur until stoppage time when Neidlinger entered for Foster, who seemed like he had reached the end of his fitness for the night. When I asked about the lack of substitutes, Coach McCauley said the guys on the field weren't showing signs of exhaustion, that the team was on the ascendency, and that when he looked at the bench, it was really just one-for-one type subs and that he didn't think the subs would have changed the game, tactically. Indy's recent injury bug also forced his hand to go with the guys that started. The team lost "Rendon in the warmup. We lost Hayden White midweek. We lost Elliot Collier on Thursday. Romario's had his surgery on Tuesday, so we're a couple bodies short, but when get everybody back, I think we're okay." Not having Collier and Williams meant that there wasn't a change that could have provided "a different challenge for the opponent when two players come on that are different than what we got." Indy's depth is already being challenged early in the season. Hopefully it gets better and not worse. Williams had surgery so he's out for a couple of months based on reports, but hopefully the rest of the guys are shorter term injuries.

Indy came out on the wrong side in this one, but they'll get another chance next week against North Carolina, a team that Indy has historically had decent success against throughout the years.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Stanley Distribution

Foster scored his first goal of the season and Quinn scored a pretty good set piece goal (bringing Indy's total to 4 set piece goals out of 6 scored), so either of those two are worthy. I think, though, that I'm going to give tonight's GBGB to Aedan Stanley. He was constantly up and down the left side of the field, sending in 15 of Indy's 38 crosses and had an 85% passing accuracy in the Switchback's half of the field. Beyond that, it doesn't seem like he is going to get credited with an assist on Foster's goal, so he should get something, even if it's something as inconsequential as an award from this site.

Photos - Don Thompson Photography