FC Indiana’s season to forget punctuated by epic collapse
Image credit: FC Indiana
Entering Friday’s NPSL season finale at Michigan Stars FC with an already woeful record of 1W-1D-11L, things seemingly couldn’t get any worse for the FC Indiana Lions. But things did go downhill alright — boy, did they ever.
The Lions found themselves up early after an eighth-minute tally by Mehdi Himmich. A goal in the 21st minute and another in the 38th, both by winger Kevin Amaizo, took FC Indiana into halftime with a 3-nil advantage.
Surely this was to be the Lions’ elusive second win of their difficult 2017 campaign. Sigh.
The 3-0 scoreline held until the 56th minute, when the home side pulled one back through Jacob Prud’homme. Still, as the waning stages of the match approached, FC Indiana clung to a 3-1 advantage. Victory seemed imminent.
Sure enough, a Stars goal in the 86th minute by Michael Beckett created some extra tension for the Lions. And the home side was just getting warmed up.
Alexander Ofeimu and Brandon Katona both scored in stoppage time for Michigan Stars FC, propelling the hosts to an improbable 4-3 comeback win over the deflated Lions. Ugh. Ofeimu’s goal was particularly impressive, coming on a headed throw-in.
Also credit Stars goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia; he kept his side within striking distance. Despite conceding thrice, he earned a nomination for NPSL Mitre National Player of the Week with his nine-save performance, three of which came from point-blank range.
As amazing as the Stars’ finish was, much of the blame fell squarely on FC Indiana. Midfielders stood around in the final minutes as Stars attackers dropped in deeper behind them, unmarked. The Lions’ back line also joined the don’t-mark-anyone parade, looking downright befuddled and out of sorts in the final five minutes plus stoppage time.
“The changes we made at halftime were tactical,” Stars assistant coach Eric Perilla told MichiganStarsFC.com. “We talked about how Indiana was pressing and how we could expose them. Coach Nathan (Smith) found a way for us to do that and from there everything just fell into place.”
The entire club had a complete mental and physical meltdown. The Lions looked like they truly didn’t believe they could win the match. In a season marred by perpetual disappointment, for it to all culminate in such a heartbreaking fashion seemed oddly poetic.
Image credit: NPSL
With the loss, FC Indiana finished its lackluster NPSL season at the bottom of the Great Lakes Conference table with a 1W-1D-12L record and four points. The Lions will need to tinker with their roster to drastically improve, as the main issue this past season seemed to be a general lack of talent — on both sides of the ball. Their anemic offense pitched in just a shade over a goal per match, while their scant defense allowed 3.71 goals per contest.
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You can follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.
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