Indy Eleven vs Deltas - 04.29

- Opponent: San Francisco Deltas
- Location: San Francisco
- Attendance: 1,542
- Final Score: 2-1 L
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Watson-Siriboe, Miller, Ring, Henderson, Junior, Thompson, Vukovic, Goldsmith
- Substitutions: Zayed 61' (Thompson); Ubiparipovic 69' (Ring); Torrado 80' (Henderson)
- Unused: Cardona, Keller, Ables
- Goals: Henderson 7' (assist Junior)
- Bookings: Ring 35' (Yellow - 5th of the Fall Season); Henderson 36' (Yellow); Thompson 42' (Yellow); Watson-Siriboe 90'+1' (Yellow); Miller 90'+4' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: One

A late night game (at least for those in the eastern timezone) and another loss for the Indy Eleven, so I'm going to keep this basic. Here are the key elements as I see them:

NASL pregame formation

Coach Hankinson broke out a lineup that had so many "defenders" that the NASL thought he employed a 5-3-2 at the start of the game. It was later revised to a more accurate 4-2-3-1, but it certainly had the league confused. The team has played a lot of games (5) in not a lot of days (14) with another one in three days so I understand the roster rotation, but it looked odd to see it listed that way.

The Eleven got on the board early with a 7th minute golazo from Henderson. They promptly gave up an own goal on a San Francisco corner kick in the 12th minute to knot the game at 1 - 1. It would stay that way until the 81st minute, when second half substitute Dagoberto put in his own golazo to give the Deltas the win. The Eleven held a nearly 60/40 possession advantage, but were out shot 16 to 5.

The Eleven and the Deltas played a very physical game. Though only one team saw the bulk of the yellow cards, and that was the Eleven. The Eleven saw more yellow than Big Bird, with five different guys getting booked by center ref Baboucarr Jallow. Ring and Henderson received their cards a minute apart from each other in the first half, with Thompson adding a third yellow a few minutes later. KWS and Miller joined the card game in stoppage time of the second half. Ring's yellow card gives him 5 for the Fall Season, meaning he will be missing the Miami game due to card accumulation.

NASL/Opta Distribution Stats for Junior

Paulo Junior played a strong game. In fact, at times, he seemed like the only offense in the first half.

Don Smart didn't play and didn't even travel. That means that assuming he isn't injured, if he plays on Saturday against Miami, he will play his 100th officially recognized game* as an Indy Eleven player in front of the home fans.

The Eleven lost. With three matches remaining, they can achieve a maximum of 9 points, giving them a total of 41 for the combined table. Miami, San Francisco, and North Carolina have already obtained more points than that. Which means that the Eleven can finish no better than fourth place. Currently, New York and Jacksonville sit at 37 points. A win and a draw, at a minimum, by either of those teams would put all three of them on equal terms, but the goal differential tiebreaker does not go the Eleven's way. Both of those teams play this weekend and Wednesday next week. Theoretically, by this time next week, the Eleven could be officially out of the playoffs. Though a loss on Saturday to Miami and a draw by either of those teams, and the Eleven will be out as soon as this weekend. Honestly, that's what I expect, given that Miami just had a rare loss this past weekend and will be looking to make amends for that loss with 7 days to prepare while the Eleven will have two. It could get ugly.

*Unbeknownst to me, "friendly" matches are not included in the team's official count.

Highlights: