A new league, a new coach, a mostly-new roster, a new stadium (starting in the second game): this feels like a relaunch, Indy Eleven 2.0. The team had a solid preseason, though it's hard to know how much to make of that. It does seem, though, that the early suggestions that Rennie tended toward a defense-oriented set-up might have been overblown--the team seems to be putting together a decent offense, while keeping defensive solidity. Richmond seems, in many ways, an ideal opponent to launch the new season: they finished 14th out of 15 in Group A last year, and they were obliterated by Bethlehem in their opener Saturday. It would be dangerous, though, to assume at this point that there will be any easy games. I'm looking forward to seeing how the team takes shape and learning the tendencies and capabilities of the new squad.
I was only able to make it to the preseason game vs ND, but there were some good signs in that game, even with a few trialists still in the mix. What I thought was interesting for the first weekend of USL action was that of the 28 teams that played, only four of them were held scoreless, only 2 games ended in a draw (neither of which were nil-nil games), and six teams scored 3 or more goals (12 teams scored 2 or more goals). I only watched parts of a couple of those games so I don't know if those were poor defense or offense-minded game plans, but based on goals scored, I wonder if there will be many defensive slugfests this year.
FULL TIME:@IndyEleven (1) - @RichmondKickers (0)Recap → https://t.co/VMBkmQbuXI#RICvIND pic.twitter.com/oC8WtwFfGv— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) March 24, 2018
.@IndyEleven snags their first #USL win on the road today vs @RichmondKickers! #RICvIND pic.twitter.com/JLYzl8Rdlw— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) March 24, 2018
Not a beautiful game to watch, but a good win against a generally poor Kickers team. Indy’s play occasionally was disjointed—not surprising, as the players are still getting to know each other. But Saad put in a nice cross for McInerney’s goal (the first of many, we can hope), and the defense was generally solid (though, again Richmond did not have much to offer). Next up is a much more substantial challenge in the form of FC Cincinnati. I’m very eager to see what the atmosphere is like at the new home. The representatives of the BYB who made the trip to Richmond did an impressive job of generating noise throughout the game, and I know that the group will be eager to put in an impressive showing in Indy’s first home USL match.