Indy Eleven v Rhode Island — prediction, stats and goal analysis

USL Championship · Sunday, 31 May 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 54% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals54%46%Over
Over 3.5 goals34%66%no pick
Both teams to score57%43%Yes

The result model puts Indy Eleven at 48%, the draw at 23% and Rhode Island at 29%, from expected goals of 1.85 and 1.4.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. USL Championship has produced over 2.5 goals in 51% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Indy Eleven have 6 in 9 this season (4 of 5 at home), Rhode Island 6 in 9 (3 of 3 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 55% and 55%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 9 and 9 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 58% and 44%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 51%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 50%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 63%, from expected goals of 1.85 for Indy Eleven and 1.4 for Rhode Island. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Indy Eleven967%44%78%
Rhode Island967%56%78%

Head to head

14 Sept 25Rhode Island 1–0 Indy ElevenU2.5
13 Jul 25Indy Eleven 1–0 Rhode IslandU2.5
3 Nov 24Indy Eleven 2–3 Rhode IslandO2.5
8 Aug 24Indy Eleven 1–0 Rhode IslandU2.5
6 Jul 24Rhode Island 3–3 Indy ElevenO2.5

More: Indy Eleven season stats · Rhode Island season stats · USL Championship table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.