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!

Week 1 Is In The Books: Indy Eleven Preseason Has Begun

The Indy Eleven preseason in full swing and Saturday's practice concluded the first week of training. It was a beautiful day in Westfield, IN and Grand Park was full of activity for the rare sunny day in February.

The boys have been cooped up and held to indoor practice as the week started, but they have spent time at these regular practice grounds the last couple days.

Tim Hankinson is the new Head Coach and he is also new to Indy Eleven having just accepted the role not yet three months ago. The way he patrols the center of the pitch, you would assume the new boss had been an Indy mainstay, but this is his first experience with Indiana winter training.  

Dragan Stojkov is back for Indy Eleven but minus his signature mohawk

There is lots of work to do and and a relatively short amount of time to get it all done. These coming weeks will be fast paced for a team that has only just come together 6 days ago. New players from Chicago, Sacramento, Jamaica and Canada must find away to get on the same page with returning players as well as NASL veterans.  

"I want to see what they're about and how they see themselves...It's a discovery process."- Coach Hankinson

Indy Eleven will kick off the Spring Season in just 41 days against Tampa Bay.  The first taste of external competition comes from a small sided friendly against Indiana University Men's Soccer next Friday and the team will head to Arizona for some warmer weather and better preseason competition shortly thereafter. This is the best and most challenging preseason schedule the team has ever had.

"These guys have all held a cup above their head or they have all worn a captain's band at sometime or another. When you have been apart of winning teams, as these guys have been in the past, they know how hard a work it takes to win a championship. Lets not shy away from the hard work. Let's apply it because we know that's what it takes."-Hank

New players are not uncommon for Indy and assimilation is par for the course. The one unique aspect of this lead up to 2016 is the depth of roster at this current moment. This is the most complete and assembled team in Indy Eleven's short history. There are 22 players signed, rostered and with paperwork all squared away. Only one player is yet to be announced although his connection to the team was leaked months ago.  

23 players! That should help with training, chemistry and positional depth. The defensive corps is predicted to be the envy of the NASL and the updated scoring attack is likely to cause trouble for opponents all season long. Hankinson got his maestro, his goal scorer and his multiple organizers in the back. All that is left is for the players to find their legs and their rhythm.

Duke Lacroix heads down the sideline at speed

A split-second later his change of direction forces someone to take a seat

This is not an inherited or legacy team. This group has Hankinson's fingerprints all over it because he was able to evaluate and select his returning core players and he was brought in with plenty of time to begin scouting for this 2016 campaign. It is up to the players to put balls in the net or to keep them out, but not every coach has so many pieces already in place.

"Passion: Every time we lace our boots on, lets think like kids again like this is the most fun we have all day." - Hankinson

One thing for sure is that there will be less excuses to pull from and there will be less sympathy for poor performance. This team is designed to complete its task from start to finish and championship hardware is the ultimate goal.  It's how they should be judged.  

Justin Braun spent time after practice testing himself as others packed up for the day

I caught up with Coach Hankinson after training on Saturday and picked his brain for a bit. He has years of experience so perhaps its best to hear his thoughts directly from him. In 8 short minutes he covered some of his goals and coaching philosophies as well as his introduction to the team.



As always you can follow us on Twitter @Bloody_Shambles, Aaron Gunyon is @agunyon and James Cormack can be found at @BShambles_JC.

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