Indy Eleven vs Deltas - 04.10

- Opponent: San Francisco Deltas
- Location: San Francisco
- Attendance: 1,441
- Final Score: 2-2 D
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Watson-Siriboe, Vukovic, Keller, Ring, Palmer, Speas, Ubiparipovic, Zayed
- Substitutions: Plumhoff 59' (Ubiparipovic), Manning 66' (Palmer)
- Unused: Cardona, Torrado, Thompson, Goldsmith
- Goals: Palmer 57' (assist Ubiparipovic), Ring 79'
- Bookings: Zayed 62' (Yellow), Busch 73' (Yellow), Ring 83' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: Two

After Ring picked up his 1st goal of the season (I believe he's contractually required to get one each year) in the 79th minute, I started writing this recap in my head about how the Eleven broke into the win column by stealing one on the road in San Francisco. If we're honest, the Eleven didn't deserve to win and the fact that they were even in the position to get the win as late as the 80th minute was surprising. The Deltas could have had a 3-nil lead going into halftime if it hadn't been for some spectacular saves by Busch and an inexplicable miss from inside the 6-yard box. The Deltas held the advantage in every single statistic in the first half. They finished the game holding the advantage in every single statistic except for the score. Probably only because they ran out of time.

As it was, the final 30 minutes of the game was packed. Four goals, five substitutions, and seven yellow cards. Maybe most disturbing for Indy Eleven fans is that the dreaded "adage" goal(s) returned in full force and heart-breaking fashion with the Deltas goals coming in the 85th minute and deep into stoppage time with the first goal being an Olimpico as Portillo scored directly from one of San Francisco's eight corner kicks.

The Deltas has 26 shots to Indy's 7.
The Deltas held a 70% to 30% possession advantage.
More than a third of the Eleven's passes were considered long, but were only 60% accurate on their passes and that figure dropped to 47% accurate in the Deltas half of the field.

Dylan Mares scored tonight for Miami, assisted by Blake Smith. Zach Steinberger played the month of May like a league MVP. Ben Spencer recently got his first start (and assist) for MLS's Toronto FC. The Eleven have had talent throughout the years, but just couldn't put it together. This year's team is composed of a great deal of last year's roster and have struggled to put games together and have absolutely failed to get in the win column. For whatever reason, this team can't put it together much like the team's in the early days of this club. The difference for fans, and likely the players, is that this squad has achieved success, making this year's results harder to accept.

On the surface, seven draws in ten games seems like reasonably positive results until you look at the league standings and see the Eleven in 7th place out of 8 and kept out of the bottom only because of goal differential while league leading Miami sits 21 points. At this point, the Spring Season cannot be won by the Eleven, but if they don't string together a long series of wins in the near future, they may not have anything to play for with most of the Fall Season remaining. It will be hard to get walk-up traffic to games in the fall if they're already mathematically eliminated from contention.

Am I getting too far on the pessimistic train? Maybe, but the fact that the team gave up a two-goal lead late and barely looked competitive tonight is no longer worrisome. It's troubling how much this team is underachieving this year, regardless of the injuries that don't seem to stop.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

This week it is easy to give the Game Beckons Game Ball. Jon Busch kept this game close for as long as possible before San Francisco's constant pressure overwhelmed his amazing effort. He'll probably tell you that he should have saved the Olimpico goal, but it took 85 minutes for him to make his first real mistake.

Highlights: