(NASL 2015 Fall) Indy Eleven 1v1 New York Cosmos

Saturday 25th July 2015
Michael A Carroll Stadium, Indianapolis   Attendance -  10,206

The 6th meeting between Indy and Cosmos ended in another predictable draw, leaving Cosmos rooted to the bottom of the Fall Division. Indy created the first clear opportunity when New York Red Bulls loanee Dane Richards used his pace to get beyond the Cosmos defence, but Maurer made a vital stop to keep the score at 0v0.

But Cosmos came close just 2 minutes later when a neat 1-2 on the edge of the box gave Raul a sight of goal, but his dink over the keeper landed on the roof of the net. The Cosmos  created a whole host of chances that were being squandered, none better than Szetela's chance from a great knockdown from Mkosana. The midfielder should have scored, but blazed his half volley over the bar.

A goal seemed on the cards for the visitors, but New York were being denied by a mixture of good defending and poor finishing. A last ditch tackle preventing Diosa from potentially opening the scoring and Mkosana spurned an opportunity when his lob went over.

In the last few minutes of the half there was a flurry of activity at both ends of the pitch. Indy came close to taking the lead when Brown rattled the crossbar with Maurer well beaten. But Cosmos finally broke the deadlock when they went up the other end to take the lead. Raul and Restrepo linked up well and Restrepo fired the ball past Nicht, for his second goal for the Cosmos, both against Indy.

But no sooner had Cosmos took the lead than they lost it again with the very next attack from the home side. It was nothing more than a long ball from Indy, but the Cosmos defence switched off and allowed the pass to reach Dylan Mares who took full advantage to level the scores.

By comparison the second half had fewer opportunities on goal. Flores had an effort that Nicht failed to hold and from the rebound Mkosana  was foiled by a defensive challenge. The main talking point of the second half was not an effort on goal, but an incident that reduced both teams to 10 men.

Indy's Norales head butted Guenzatti who retaliated by swinging his arm, an altercation that ended with the dismissal of both men, with Guenzatti having only been introduced as sub minutes earlier. Neither side could capitalise on the increased space on the pitch, with Maurer having to be alert to stop a cross being deflected in at the near post being the best chance to finally produce a winner between these 2 sides.