Emotions ran high at the “Mike” Saturday as the Indy Eleven took on the spring season champion New York Cosmos at home Saturday Night ending in a 1-1 draw.
The Eleven looked to make up for the painful 4-2 Loss to the Ottawa Fury last Sunday Eleven Fans got the chance to see forward Dane Richards on loan from MLS side New York Red Bulls as he made his second appearance for the Eleven and his first in Indianapolis.
Eleven Interim head coach Tim Regan commented on Richards saying “It’s a good time for our players to learn what it’s like to play with Dane once our passing gets better our forwards can be dangerous!”
As for the New York Cosmos they came off of a 1-0 loss to the Jacksonville Armada last weekend following last night’s result the Cosmos are ranked last in the fall season table. However in the combined table, the Cosmos are ranked first and have already clinched a playoff spot and are favorites to win the championship this Season.
Overall, this match was incredibly tight with 40 attacks as had 21 attacks and New York attacked 19 times. The Eleven were awarded six corners with ten shots taken four of which were shots on goal. The Cosmos dominated possession during the game controlling the ball for 52% of the match. The first half of the match saw both goals in extra time with New York midfielder Walter Restrepo scored off of an assist from Raul Gonzalez
The Eleven capitalized a minute later in the 46th minute with a goal from Eleven Striker Dylan Mares assisted by Dragan Stojkov. The first half saw all the scoring for the game overall. The first half also saw a good amount of yellow cards.
First Half Discipline
Indy Eleven:
Dragan Stojkov 34’
New York Cosmos:
#17 Ayoze Garcia Perez 36’
#21 David Dioza 45’
The second half of the game saw many attacks taken by the Cosmos with tight defensive pressure from the Eleven. However mistakes made by New York made the difference in the second half. Carlos Mendez was given a yellow in the 52nd minute followed by Eleven Captain Norales getting sent off with a red card in the 65th minute and things got even more out of hand with New York
Forward Sebastian Varela getting sent off after being subbed in at the beginning of the second half. The half seemed to be everywhere with red cards, fouls, and a series of injuries that made the game fairly messy. The Eleven are still undefeated against the New York Cosmos in their 6th meeting since joining the league in 2014. As of Sunday, the New York Cosmos remain first overall in the combined league table but sit at the bottom of the Fall Season Table with 2 points.
The Eleven are currently ranked 6th in the NASL Combined table as well as the Fall Table.
With the Fall Season just now kicking into it’s 4th match expect to see both teams make moves to improve their squads to challenge for the title. We got the chance to catch up with Eleven Goalkeeper Kristian Nicht after match. We asked Nicht how he felt about that nasty collision in the 80th minute Nicht commented saying “I don’t know to be honest. The whistle was called before he hit me. It would’ve been a goal if there wouldn’t have been a whistle, When he hit me I went down it kind of made it worse, but in the end it was the right decision.”
When asked about being undefeated against the Cosmos Nicht commented saying “A draw against the Spring Season Champions is a good thing, but a win would’ve been way better. This being the 6th time in a row we’ve tied.”
We asked Nicht what he thought about Freddy Adu potentially joining the Tampa Bay Rowdies he then said “I have no opinion about it. Yes. Freddy Adu used to be a huge star for the US National Team and he played in Finland for awhile so.”
Finally, we asked Nicht an off-topic question. Who do you think will be the breakout team in the German Bundesliga this year? Nicht laughed and then said “Ok, professional answer here. I do think that Bayern Munich is playing an outstanding season again this year and Dortmund will improve.”
The Indy Eleven will take on the Atlanta Silverbacks after a bye week at home.