Indy, Nashville fight to draw in brutal conditions
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In the final preseason fixture for both sides ahead of the start of the 2019 USL Championship season, the Indy Eleven and Nashville SC battled to a nil-nil draw Saturday afternoon at Arad McCutchan Stadium on the campus of the University of Evansville.
An absurdly choppy pitch and temperatures in the low 40s made it nearly impossible to play picture-perfect football. Both offenses struggled to generate an abundance of quality opportunities with the ball perpetually bouncing across patches of brown, barely existent grass.
“I think we handled ourselves pretty good considering this is the first time we’ve played on grass since preseason started,” Indy striker Dane Kelly said of dealing with the brutal conditions. “So, I think we did pretty good.”
Eleven head coach Martin Rennie rolled out a 3-4-3 for the occasion, which certainly felt like a dress rehearsal for Indy’s season opener next weekend. It looked like this:
The only wrinkle to note is that Tyler Pasher and Ilija Ilic regularly exchanged sides and had the most freedom to roam. Everybody else played relatively true to where they started out.
Another interesting development was youngster Joshua Penn, who’s listed as a forward on the official team roster, subbing in for Ayoze in the first half and manning the left wingback spot. Word from the club indicated that Ayoze’s substitution was more so precautionary rather than a serious knock, so his status for next weekend seems unaffected.
A connection from Penn to Ilija Ilic on a nifty chipped pass to the far post led to perhaps the best scoring chance of the day. Ilic put his header on frame, but Nashville ‘keeper Connor Sparrow dove low to save it. Later on, a rifled shot from about 20 yards out off the left boot of Indy striker Dane Kelly nearly opened the scoring, but Matt Pickens, who entered for Sparrow, made a diving stop.
One of Nashville SC’s best looks at goal came late in the second half when Kharlton Belmar beat his defender on the right wing and played a ball on the ground to a wide-open Lebo Moloto in the middle of the box. But the pitch monster had other thoughts, as Moloto was unable to cleanly connect with the bouncing ball. Another decent Nashville chance came via Matt LaGrassa in the 84th minute. He found plenty of space from distance and uncorked a blast on target with troublesome pace on it, but it went right to Indy goalkeeper Evan Newton for stress-free save.
Indy looked the more dangerous side Saturday for the better part of the first 70 minutes; the final 20-plus minutes consisted mostly of Indy fending off a suddenly lively Nashville SC attack. Given the conditions, neither coach should jump to too many conclusions from the scoreless result.
“I thought — considering the field — we passed the ball really well, kept good possession, created some good chances,” Rennie said. “Had a really good chance near the end of the first half and it got cleared off the line. Had a couple good shots that the ‘keeper did well to save. But overall I was very happy. As you say, sometimes in the final third it’s difficult if the ball’s bouncing just to get that final pass, but overall I thought it was a good game from both teams.”
The Eleven will head west for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff Saturday at St. Louis FC in their USL Championship regular-season opener. St. Louis, a member of the league’s Western Conference in 2018, now presents an away-date opportunity — a four-hour drive across Interstate 70 — for supporters of both clubs now that the league moved St. Louis back to the Eastern Conference this year.
Nashville SC will host expansion-side Loudoun United FC on Saturday to begin its regular season. Both Indy and Nashville made the 2018 USL playoffs, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.
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