Indy Eleven give Cosmos wakeup call with 3-0 victory

The Soccer Bowl playoffs aren’t going to be a cakewalk. Indy Eleven humbled the Fall Season leading Cosmos 3-0. Since the first minute of the game, Indy brought their best stuff to the away side. They were determined to break the Cosmos four game clean sheet streak with a non-stop offensive. The Cosmos pushed back as Arrango almost put Lucky Mkosana through, but most of the chances fell to Indy. NASL goals leader Eamon Zayed almost chipped Jimmy Maurer in the thirty ninth minute, but his effort went over the crossbar.

Indy Eleven scored the match’s first goal in the thirty first minute as Zayed found Justin Braun at the far post with a headed cross. Once Indy started scoring, they never stopped. In the forty eighth minute, Zayed scored his own, outsmarting David Ochieng with a sneaky run. The Kenyan was given a baptism by fire in a rare start. Dylan Mares took advantage of the space Ochieng was giving him and blasted an outside the box effort into the back of the net, ending any hopes of a Cosmos comeback. The large crowd of Indy supporters were having a ball, shooting flares with every goal their team scored. Respect to their home support, its one of if not the best in the league.

This game resembled the Arsenal Chelsea match earlier in the game, which had the same score line. The Cosmos looked the uninspired, completely defeated Chelsea side that was embarrassed by Arsenal. Although the Cosmos lost, they still have a four point lead on Indy in the combined standings, which would give them home field advantage in the playoffs. On the bright side they don’t have to wait long to redeem themselves. Their next match is on Wednesday against the Carolina RailHawks, on NASL’s Game of the Week. Hopefully this loss is just a small bump on the road to the Championship. If these teams do meet in the playoffs, The Cosmos will have to do much better.