There was much to play for at Community First Park when the Jacksonville Armada hosted the Indy Eleven on Saturday night. Due to the Tampa Bay Rowdies tying Ottawa earlier in the day, an Armada win and other results going their way would allow for them to jump to 2nd in the NASL with a game at hand. Along with moving up in the table, a win would spark a streak for the Fleet, and end a nine match unbeaten streak for Indy dating back to last September 27th. Disregarding the standings and streaks, there was a little extra to play for. Young Armada fan, Holden Dillard, passed away sadly due to bone cancer, a teenager who loved the game of soccer and a true Armada fan.
Jacksonville Armada had a big task to complete, and like other matches at home, they started out very fast. In the first ten minutes the Armada received five corner kicks and multiple dangerous attacks. Leading to their sixth corner of the night inside twelve minutes, Lucas Scaglia made a great sliding tackle to deny Indy a counter. Keita received the ball on the right, spotted Marcos Flores in the middle who played a beautiful one-two combination with the Guinean striker, but all alone Keita could not pick a pass to Bochy Hoyos who had space in the six yard box.
A minute later Keita was taken off the pitch to the locker room after being elbowed in the head and it was likely he would be substituted off. After twelve minutes of playing down a man, over 8,000 at the park were still completely dumbfounded with co-head coach Guillermo Hoyos' tactics. It took fifteen minutes and Indianapolis finally got into the game. It was an important interval for the Eleven, as this time allowed for them to have possession while Armada pressure was off, but no solid attacks came from them. A couple extra minutes had gone by and finally Keita emerged from the locker room bandaged up.
Guillermo's plan was soon understood by the Armada faithful. Since Jacksonville were dominating Indy anyways, there was a bit of trust that they would be able to hold off the opposition off until Keita was back on. Also, who would want to sub off the recent player of the week in the NASL that quickly if the problem could be resolved? Luckily it was only stitches and a bandage and the pacey striker was back onto the pitch.
In the 25th minute, Jacksonville had a brilliant attack which almost led to the first goal of the night. Scaglia received the ball in the midfield and played to Flores who made an insane pass back to Scaglia while on the ground, but the run led to a shot going just wide by the Argentine defensive midfielder. Keita also had a shot just wide in the 31st minute.
Indy Eleven had their first opportunity on goal in the 35th when Polish striker Wojciech Wojcik picked the ball up in the box, sprinted past Fabricio Ortiz and shot, but Miguel Gallardo dove right and made his first save of the night. Two minutes later, Victor Pineda of the Eleven shot well over the bar, but was a good sign of attacks finally stringing together for the visitors.
At halftime the Armada led in possession, shot, and dangerous attacks but could not find a goal in the first 45 minutes. Quickly after the second half whistle was an amazing chance for the Armada. Lucas Rodriguez and Lucas Trejo combined in the midfield, and a ball back from Trejo led to an amazing run past four Indy players, including a nutmeg on the last man, but Rodriguez launched the ball high over the bar. This attack only took 10 seconds into the second half, and Armada were right back where they left off.
After the Rodriguez opportunity, in the 50th minute Bochy Hoyos sent the Armada fans and Section 904 absolutely bonkers when he put the Fleet up 1-0 on a well worked goal. Marcos Flores took a quick free kick to an onrushing Matt Bahner who crossed in to Hoyos, alone in the box. It was a tricky header as the ball deflected on its way in, but Hoyos had no trouble putting it away in the back of the net, right in front of the supporters.
Indy had a great chance in the 52nd as Wojciech Wojcik picked the ball up on the 18 yard box, shot, but Gallardo made a great save in a one on one situation.
How did Keita not score in the 66th minute? The influential Marcos Flores received a beautiful through ball by Bochy Hoyos splitting two defenders, crossed perfectly to Keita, but a lack of concentration led to Keita barely connecting to the ball and it rolled into goalkeeper Keith Cardona's hands. It should have been 2-0 to JAX but Keita missed the entire net unfortunately. Indy started piling pressure in the 80th minute.
Brian Brown fired from 20 yards but Lucas Scaglia made a great block on a ball that looked destined to go into the goal. Indy was caught up field and Keita was dragged down on a counter attack which could have arguably been a red card, but was a yellow for Indy. On the ensuing free kick, Jemal Johnson of Jacksonville smashed the ball just inches over the bar.
Waves and waves of attack came from Indy to the end of the match. In the 87th the ball made its way across the box to an attacker, but the attempted header was tipped over the bar by Gallardo. Many balls found their way into the Armada box but the defense held firm and kept the clean sheet, and most importantly three points for the Armada.
Indy Eleven experienced defeat for the first time since September 27, 2014, a streak of nine games unbeaten. Also, the win for Armada kick started a two match winning streak and left the squad with three home wins out of as many games.
In a post-match interview with Krissty Andaur, Bochy Hoyos stated that his goal for Armada was for Holden Dillard and his family, a major reason for success on the night. After the match Marcos Flores said "Fans deserve these types of games every time. This club is amazing, Armada, Jacksonville should be proud of what we're building, what Mark Frisch and Dario Sala are building. We are here, every game to make Jacksonville proud."
Again Jacksonville fans viewed a match of high tempo and flair. After the change from the 4-3-3 formation to the 3-4-3 the Armada have scored five goals in three games. One notable mark is that the defense and Gallardo collected their first clean sheet of the year. There is still work to do in the back, but it is encouraging having the best attack in the league and controlling games like the Armada have been doing as of late.
Marcos Flores is playing for his worth finally, and the team is starting to connect everywhere on the pitch. If results continuously keep going the way of the Fleet, the showdown against the Cosmos on June 13th may be a match for the Spring Season title.
Results around the league went in favor of Jacksonville. Bottom of the table San Antonio, whom Armada defeated last week, beat Carolina 1-0. Also at the bottom was Minnesota who saw off Atlanta 1-0 in Minnesota. Tampa and Ottawa tied in the early match 0-0 and Fort Lauderdale Strikers had the week off. One result that was not in favor of the Armada is the 4-2 victory the Cosmos had over FC Edmonton, but at the end of the weekend Armada are second in the table, still with an extra game to play.
Jacksonville travels outside of the state of Florida for the first time all season to take on the Atlanta Silverbacks at Silverbacks Park on Saturday May 16, 7:30pm EST.