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.
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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.
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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.
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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