2017 NASL Prediction Poll Results

The results of the prediction poll are in!

By: Brandon Cockrum

Before the first matches of the season, the contributors here shared our picks for the final combined 2017 NASL standings. At the same time we asked NASL fans to share their picks for the upcoming season. Below the results are compared:

2017 NASL Standings Predictions
	Bloody Shambles	NASL Fans
1	Miami FC	Miami FC
2	New York Cosmos	New York Cosmos
3	Indy Eleven	Indy Eleven
4	San Francisco Deltas	FC Edmonton
5	FC Edmonton	North Carolina FC
6	North Carolina FC	San Francisco Deltas
7	Puerto Rico FC	Puerto Rico FC
8	Jacksonville Armada FC	Jacksonville Armada FC

Fans and pundits agreed on five of the eight picks, the top three and bottom two. The middle of the pack - the fourth, fifth and sixth - were only positions where the two groups differed. Of all the teams, the Deltas saw the most variety in their predicted finish, a difference of two spots (4th and 6th) between the polls.

Some stats on the NASL Fan votes:

• Most consensus on ranking: Miami (51.6% of 1st place votes); New York (55.2% of 2nd place votes); Jacksonville (72.4% of 8th place votes)
• Fans from seven of the eight NASL clubs voted (Jacksonville, where you at? Not reading this blog, apparently.)
• Indy Eleven fans made up 54% of voters

We'll check back during the season to see how our predictions are looking.

2017 NASL Prediction Polls

How will the clubs line up at the end of the season? Be sure to submit your prediction!

By: Brandon Cockrum

After writing our season preview, the Bloody Shambles staff submitted their predictions for the upcoming season. My picks were clearly the best and most accurate, but, to save my less-informed peers a public shaming, I have aggregated each of our six ratings into one predicted table. Without further ado, here are the Bloody Shambles' 2017 NASL Predictions:

Final Combined Standings

1. Miami FC
2. New York Cosmos
3. Indy Eleven
4. San Francisco Deltas
5. FC Edmonton
6. North Carolina FC
7. Puerto Rico FC
8. Jacksonville Armada FC

The Championship and Soccer Bowl Trophy Winner

• Miami FC

In what seems assuredly to be a tight playoff race, our confidence in Miami taking both the combined season and championship trophies was nearly unanimous. FC Edmonton was the only other club to receive a vote for a first place finish in the combined standings. As for the the winners of the Soccer Bowl trophy, Miami received three votes, while Edmonton, New York, Indy each received one vote.

As for the bottom of the table, FC Edmonton also received one vote from a Shambler for a last place finish, but was outclassed by a league-owned Jacksonville club that collected five last place votes. 

What do you think?

We'd love to see what the fans think, so we set up a poll for you too. We'll check back after the spring and fall seasons to see how our picks are faring.

Submit your predictions for the 2017 season! 

Halfway Marker: Preseason and Beyond

Bald Spot Vantage Point?

By: Jordan Kalt

Forget about the 1-1 scoreline. Where first and second teams swap the field at the half, it hardly matters whether Indy Eleven wins or loses these preseason matches. What does matter is that these contests show us something of the team’s chemistry and the individual development among players. Two matches into the preseason, here’s what I see:

The Early Attack

Drawing with USL’s Swope Park Rangers inside the gorgeous facility at the Grand Park sports complex in Westfield, Indiana, our Indy Eleven starters showcased a downright sparkling attack. Neat work from the center midfield sprung Eamon Zayed for a one-on-one with Swope’s keeper and a 5’ goal.

The cohesion and pressure displayed in the first twenty minutes of this game built upon the the fast start we saw against Butler last week and hints at an intentional trend. A year ago, this club made a habit of struggling to press and score early in games. They couldn’t shake that attitude for weeks into the 2016 Spring season, but habitual lackluster starts are off the table for this year. Hankinson seems to have made sure of that.

Netminder Club
In contrast to last week’s game against Butler University, Jon Busch started on goal for the Eleven this afternoon. He looked sharp in his first action and readily assumed verbal command over the field in Colin Falvey’s absence.

Time is not at this point a friend to Busch’s career, though he will be fully appreciated on the field as long as he can remain there. Both he and the Indy coaching staff seem eager to bring Keith Cardona into a more critical role for the club and Cardona is making good strides toward that.

Under Jon Busch’s tutelage the young keeper displays far better on-field communication than we glimpsed last year, staying much more involved in directing his team’s shape and spotting trouble. Buschy seems to think he can do better and he consistently—and quite loudly—lets him know. That kind of persistent push may be just what Cardona needs to develop into a starter. It seems to be paying off.

Seeing this dynamic play out between the two netminders both on-field and on the bench will be one of the key friendly matchups to watch this season. Hankinson and the Eleven seem committed to Keith’s future with the club and Jon Busch is exactly the kind of person to help him get there.

Grand Park Indoor Action against Swipe Left Rangers

Missing Mares

Now that Dylan Mares is sipping Pina Coladas and gettin’ caught in the Miami rains (we’re not bitter, really)... the Eleven have some important shoes to fill.

Enter: Ben Speas.

Having toured with Minnesota United last year, Speas looks to play a vital role for the Eleven at left midfield. And for my money, it’s been a shaky start. This afternoon he looked a bit more settled than he did at Butler, but I'm not sure he has the confidence of his teammates yet—especially on that left side.

When Vukovich was on the ball, for instance, he almost always opted to pass for a cutting and partially covered Justin Braun rather than send the ball ahead to Ben. While Speas has shown some good determination to create plays, he seems weak on the ball when confronted with physical contact.

Perhaps getting more time with his teammates and deeper into the preseason will reveal some promising traits that are obscured at this point.

Defenders, Assemble!

Beginning the season with a backline short of Colin Falvey’s tenacious presence may be overcomeable after all. Consisting of Marco Franco, Palmer, Watson-Siriboe, and Vukovic, it looks like our first team defense will hold up just fine.

 Kwame Watson-Siriboe, a newcomer to the Eleven, is fitting in immediately. Intelligent and passionate, he is an imposingly strong defender of classic center back stock, taking and receiving punishment with impressive willpower in aerial battles.

 For the time that Captain Falvey is sidelined Lovel Palmer looks to fill in at center back alongside Kwame and he really couldn’t be looking more confident in the role. Building on the several times he subbed in at the position near the end of last season, all of Palmer’s strengths are finally on display and the back four are humming to a nasty, badass tune.

So yes, the land on the other side of the 2017 NASL kickoff looks promising and plentiful. See you in a few weeks!

Indy Eleven Schedule Wallpaper

Just what you've always wanted, Don Smart wallpaper for your computer.

Smart-phone wallpaper.

We'd like to introduce a new feature here at Bloody Shambles, the monthly Indy Eleven schedule wallpaper. Each month of the season we will provide a new Eleven-themed wallpaper for your computer and smartphone, courtesy of our friend @WurstEleven.

Kicking off the project is the Early Spring version featuring the canny-midfielder Don Smart. 

View and download the high-resolution version for computers.

View and download the high-resolution version for Smart-phones.

(If you need help making these your wallpaper, I'm sure a quick Google search will remedy that for you.)

Third Time the Charm?

Embed from Getty Images

Jamaican scorer has had two previous trials with Indy scuttled due to injury

By: Brandon Cockrum

One week into official preseason training and the Indy Eleven have just 15 healthy, signed players on their roster. Two positions that they're most shorthanded at are forward and wide midfielder but there may be help on the way. In a February 9 interview with Casilero Deportivo, Indy Eleven head coach Tim Hankinson said that Indy would be adding Jamaican Dino Williams to the roster this season. Hankinson previously coached Williams at Montego Bay United in the Jamaican Premiere League. Of the player’s skills, Hankinson has said, "There are strikers and there are goal scorers, and Dino is a goal scorer, but he also possesses the versatility to be a dangerous performer on the wings.”

Williams also signed with Indy in 2016.

Williams, has twice previously trialed with the Eleven and twice had said trials derailed by medical issues.

The 26-years old Williams is prolific goal scorer in Jamaica’s Red Stripe Premier League for defending-champion Montego Bay United. Upon the announcement of his signing with the team in 2016, former Eleven GM Peter Wilt stated, “Williams is a promising player that is coming off the best form of his career while playing for Coach Hankinson. We had Dino in as a trialist in 2014 and he showed promise before sustaining an injury."

After again returning injured to Jamaica from Indy in the spring of 2016, Williams play was limited but he salvaged his season by finishing as the league’s golden boot winner and scoring the decisive goal in the league final. When the Premiere League kicked off its current season this past September, Williams told Jamaica’s Gleaner that his body was fully rested and recovered from groin surgery and that he was ready to set the league’s goal-scoring record. 

Williams has partnered in both the Montego Bay attack with Owayne (Omar) Gordon, formerly of Indy Eleven, helping lead the team to the top of the Jamaican table. After 23 match days the striker is sitting on 7 goals, good for third place in the league’s golden boot race. (Former Indy Eleven and Sheffield Wednesday forward Jermaine Johnson is in second place with 9 goals.)

Willams has six appearances for the Reggae Boyz at the international level and most recently wore the green and yellow jersey of Jamaica this past November against Suriname. The attacker was called into camp in January 2017 to train for February friendlies versus USA and Honduras but skipped training at his club’s request due to injury. He did not make the traveling roster for the two matches. (Former Eleven attacker Gordon has made four consecutive appearances for the Jamaican national team.)

Assuming that the as-of-now unofficial loan of Williams to the Eleven becomes official, the attacker's arrival in Indianapolis will likely be delayed so that he will be available to United for their first round matches in the Caribbean Football Union’s Club Championship group stage, held March 1 to March 5. The player will then have to pass through immigration process' as well as a medical test (or two) before he could begin play for Indy. It will not likely be known until at least mid-March if Williams will get his third chance to practice with the Eleven. And then, as some might say, Only Jah knows if we will ever see Williams in the blue checkers.