Depleted Cosmos fall to Indy Eleven

The second time wasn’t the charm for the Cosmos as they lost to Indy Eleven 2-1. Indy started the game quickly and with an array of the attacks. The Eleven almost capitalized on an uncomfortable clearance from Jimmy Maurer after a bad back pass from Mulligan. Maurer was able to scramble back onto his line and make the save, momentarily keeping Indy off the scoreboard. However, a few minutes later, thanks to the intervention of the refs, the Eleven broke the deadlock. I still can’t figure out why the penalty was called. The penalty was also lowkey left off the official match highlights, so maybe I’m not the only one. The match refs was pretty inconsistent yesterday.. Check out the video below and see for yourself.

Emmanuel Ledesma was able to equalize for New York with another moment of brilliance from outside the box. The attack once again imitated Cristiano Ronaldo’s signature celebration after scoring in his fourth consecutive match. In the second half, Ledesma continued to be the sparkplug for the offense, hitting the crossbar and then almost giving the New York the lead on a beautiful free kick saved Jon Busch. Against the run of play, Indy was able to take the lead as Justin Braun beat Ryan Richter and put a wide open header past an exposed Jimmy Maurer. After taking the lead, Indy didn’t look back threatening to increase the lead with a few counter attacks at the end of the match.

The Cosmos roster was paper thin for this match due to CONCACAF Gold Cup. To compensate for this, Gio Savarese called up a few players for Cosmos B to fill out the squad. Salvatore Barone and Bljedi Bardic featured at the end of the game. Eugene Starikov made the most of his start with some threatening attacks and an impressive work rate. Juan Guerra also impressed with the sheer amount of ground he covered. However, once again this match showed the Cosmos’ need for a finisher. New York struggled again in attack, with only one shot on target.

In other NASL action, Miami was able to clinch the Spring Championship by humbling second place the second place Deltas with a 6-0 rout. New York will hope to finish the spring on a high note when they play FC Edmonton on the 15^th.