Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico FC - 04.31

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC
- Location: Indianapolis (officially an "Away" match)
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 2-1 L
- Starting XI: Cardona, Franco, Falvey, Miller, Keller, Ring, Smart, Junior, Speas, Vukovic, Zayed
- Substitutions: Goldsmith 46' (Junior); Ubiparipovic 46' (Miller); Thompson 60' (Smart)
- Unused: Busch, Watson-Siriboe, Lomeli, Ables
- Goals: Goldsmith 82' (assist Thompson)
- Bookings: Miller 30' (Yellow); Ubiparipovic 65' (Yellow); Keller 70' (Yellow); Falvey 86' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: Two

Much like the team, I've run out of ideas. The injury bug was a thing this year, but the team is mostly healthy, with the obvious exception of Braun. Yet, there were only periodic moments from this team today where they looked to be on the same page and played cohesively. Puerto Rico FC got on the board early in the 5th minute on a goal by Rivera after a botched clearance by Ring and that helped them ride their way to a victory, something they haven't done since mid-August. If you weren't in attendance, the PRFC players celebrated at the end of the game like they have been living out of their suitcases and had lost 7 of their last 8 games, which is exactly where they find themselves and the run-of-form they've had recently. A goal in the 43rd minute by Welshman, again a result of a poor clearance, and the PRFC had their game winner, enough to withstand a late push by the Eleven and an 82nd minute goal by Goldsmith.

On a day where Don Smart reached 100 official appearances for the Indy Eleven, one has to wonder how many of the current team will be around next year. Listening to Coach Hankinson and the players talk, nobody knows how to turn around this year's results with the current roster. Guys aren't playing to their potential, aren't hustling to the same extent as last year, and look completely disjointed. At one point in today's game, a ball was played over the top to Ubiparipovic to run onto. The team had no answer for how to break down PRFC's defense, but balls over the top to Ubi, not one of the team's faster players, seems like a last ditch effort. When passes and plays didn't progress as expected, players dropped their head or raised their arms. Everybody looks exasperated and confused as to why things aren't working. One of the last things said to me as I was leaving the stadium was that it was a dark place and it had nothing to do with the lighting. Coach, players, staff, and fans walked out with a concrete feeling that the highs of last year were fleeting and have been replaced by the lows that were the norm in the first two years.

Ever wonder what I write during the game to remind myself of what to write later in these posts? You probably don't, but most of what I write down never makes it into a post. However, I'm tired of trying to find new ways to describe these games, just like the guys seem tired of finding new ways to let games slip away from them. So here goes, in roughly chronological order...

The BYB had some orange smoke during pregame in support of Puerto Rico, which I tweeted about and received the normal likes/retweets and the required "looks cool, but the BYB is weak" response. Which I can no longer find, for some reason... Before I move on from this though, the comment was from an Armada fan. A squad that looks like they have a sell-out for tomorrow's game against the Cosmos, but had an official attendance of 780 people in a mid-week game against the same PRFC. Why can't people just appreciate a good gesture without throwing stones in glass houses?

Falvey got his GK involved early (1st min) with a nervy pass back to Cardona.

Missed clearance by Ring 5th minute caused goal. Nothing Cardona could do.

Cardona making Franco work early. Strong throw and pass.

20th minute - Vuko moved to LB, Keller moved to holding mid.

SHOOT THE BALL!

Long run by Franco in 45th minute wasted by Zayed.

Took all the way to 56th minute for Zayed to get called offside. Moral victory?

70th minute - moments of good soccer. Just few and far between.

BYB has some unique chants this game.

1. Theme from M.A.S.H. played during a PRFC injury time in 28th minute.
2. "Buy her a beer!" after BYB member was hit in the face/beer by a shot.
3. "Leave her alone!" after a second shot went in her direction just a few moments after she was hit.

79th minute - long balls for Ubi to chase is not a good strategy.

82nd minute - Goldsmith goal created by Thompson taking on defender and going to goal. 

84th minute - Goldsmith off the woodwork.

So that's it. That's what a blog writer, or at least this blog writer, jots down while trying to enjoy a soccer game. Seems like it would detract from the enjoyment of the game a bit, doesn't it? 

At times...

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico FC - 04.27

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC
- Location: Indianapolis
- Attendance: 4,209
- Final Score: 5-0 L
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Falvey, Watson-Siriboe, Keller, Ring, Torrado,  Smart, Speas, Vukovic, Zayed
- Substitutions: Miller 58' (Keller), Henderson 75' (Franco), Goldsmith 83' (Speas)
- Unused: Cardona, Ubiparipovic, Thompson, Junior
- Goals: Zayed 37', Zayed 62' (assist Franco)
- Bookings: Torrado 55' (Yellow), Miller 86' (Yellow), Goldsmith 90'+2' (Yellow), Watson-Siriboe 90'+3' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: One

It’s a win, right? It could have been a shut-out, if not for a bogus handball call inside the box on a free kick in the 87th minute. Yes, it was a wrong call. I’ve watched it several times, slowed it down, and Torrado is clearly in the process of turning his body away from the kick so that the ball hits the backside of his arm and chest. There was definitely no intent, to the extent that Torrado’s head was turned 180 degrees from where the ball was kicked. He couldn’t have “accidentally” put his arm in the path of the ball because he had absolutely no clue where it was going to be. Once again, a horrible decision by the refs provided an opposing team with a penalty kick, which makes the 7th CONVERTED penalty kick on the season. To one for the Eleven...

I digress…

It was a win, right? Zayed finally found the back of the net. Twice. The first, in the 37th minute, off a hustle play where he did what he does best. He sniffs around the goal and waits for the cheese and then pounces on it. Smart put a good ball forward to Speas, who actually turned and shot the ball. Off the deflection, Zayed got to the ball first and put the ball under Spangenberg. The second, in the 62nd minute, Zayed got just enough of his head to the ball from a Franco cross to put the ball over Spangenberg. With family in town, on his birthday, Zayed picked a good day to get back to his scoring ways.

This was a game of two halves for the Eleven. They continued their sloppy passes and careless touches from Sunday's game against NCFC. Puerto Rico had twice as many chances created in the first half and held a 60/40 advantage in possession. The Eleven had four different guys who completed less than 70% of their passes in the first half, with Vuko completing a team low of 57% of his passes. They performed much better in the second half, but there's still a look of a team that ddon't seem to know where each other is going to go. Which is unfathomable with guys who've been playing with each other for as many games as many of these guys have together.

Prior to the game, I had a discussion with an observant fan/writer about how NCFC consistently exploited a weakness in the Indy Eleven defense by putting balls over the top of Vuko, forcing Miller to slide over to cover while Vuko trailed the play. As Miller slid over, that forced the rest of the defense to try and cover, oftentimes with last ditch defending. How do you overcome this? Well, if you're Coach Hankinson, then you put Daniel Keller in at left back and put Vuko in a left winger, playing to where he tends to go anyway. Honestly, I'm not sure why it's taken this long to try this experiment. I suppose it's helpful to have enough healthy defenders, and an improved play by Watson-Siriboe certainly made this work better than if KWS had some of the errors he's had in previous games.

Speaking of KWS... I've been routinely frustrated at his play in the past, but I love how he stood up for his teammate at the end of the game. First off, Goldsmith deserved his yellow card in stoppage time and the ref was correct in having the card out of his pocket before Martinez stopped rolling around. The second Gentile pushed Goldsmith, center ref Jon Freemon should have turned to give Gentile his second yellow card of the game. However, instead of giving the yellow to Gentile for retaliation, directly in front of him, Freemon waited to give the yellow to the retaliation's retaliation when KWS shoved Gentile. KWS knew he was getting a card, accepted it graciously, and fully expected that Gentile would receive what he deserved. Once again, the ref failed to do his job properly and Gentile gets to play again this weekend in North Carolina unless the league does their job properly and suspends him. I'm not going to bank on that happening though. My favorite part of this end-of-the-game fiasco was reading KWS's lips as he turns back to Gentile in the scrum and yells, "what's wrong with you?"

It was an eventful end to the game, but a game that the Eleven desperately needed to win. A game on a Wednesday night with a short turnaround between games, against another bottom of the table team, with the Cosmos headed to town on Saturday. The Eleven desperately needed to win. The Eleven needed the win to keep any chance to making the playoffs. Maybe the team still believes. Maybe you do too.

Maybe I will after Saturday...

Photos (courtesy of Don Thompson Photography):

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico FC - 04.03

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC
- Location: Bayamon, Puerto Rico
- Attendance: 3,933
- Final Score: 1-1 D
- Starting XI: Cardona, Franco, Falvey, Palmer, Vukovic, Smart, Torrado, Henderson, Ring, Zayed, Braun
- Substitutions: Ubiparipovic 45'+3' (Smart - Injury), Watson-Siriboe 72' (Falvey), Manning 79' (Palmer)
- Unused: Keller, Goldsmith, Lomeli
- Goals: Zayed 45'+3' (Braun)
- Bookings: Zayed 49' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: None

Three games into the 2017 season and we've watched three draws. Not just draws, three come from behind draws; twice on the road and once at home. At least early on, we can generalize that the Eleven continue last season's trends of having trouble getting wins on the road, as well as never giving up. Only time will tell us if the away draws becomes a trend this season, but the continued fight seems to be part of the DNA of this team and the players that have returned. I don't see that changing, which should give the Eleven a chance at good results throughout the season. Given the circumstances, 1) a night where the game time temps were in the mid- to high 70s and humidity was in the mid-90s, 2) on a field that was just missing the dandelions from my yard, 3) against an opponent they had just played a week before, getting a positive result was always going to be a challenge.

I routinely talk about the eyeball test for games and when I combine what I saw with what the stats tell us, a 1-1 draw was a good result. Both teams had chances in a wide open, back-and-forth affair. The stats indicate that 17.4% of the Eleven's passes were considered "long" with Puerto Rico's passes at 23%. Official stats have possession going to the Eleven, but this is where my eyeball test doesn't coincide with the stats as it felt like both teams had a much more direct appearance with possession at a premium.

So why did the Eleven have to come from behind? Because the Eleven started a new centerback pairing and they didn't talk properly. In the 19th minute, the Eleven had 7 guys back (plus Cardona) against 5 PRFC players so there shouldn't have been an issue. Yet, Ramos found a seam that shouldn't have been available from two experienced backs in Falvey and Palmer. As the ball is switched from the right side of the field to the left to Ramirez, Palmer was defending Ramos. Once Ramirez received the ball though, Palmer drifted off of Ramos as Falvey runs near Ramos. Falvey continues his run towards Ramirez, which was the deciding step.

However, Falvey didn't need to continue to Ramirez as Franco had put him in a difficult place with his positioning. If Ramirez tried to go left, he would have reduced any shooting angle. If he had tried to go right, he would have taken it into more traffic. Falvey needed to stay near Ramos or Palmer needed to continue his marking. Neither stayed near Ramos and he drifted perfectly into a halo of defenders that made it impossible to stop any shot when Ramirez found him. Ramos has shown that he is a dangerous player to leave in space and he it was far too easy of a shot from the spot where he received the ball.

The good news is that Braun's famous work rate is being matched this year by his production. The team leader in Points (6), Goals (2), and Assists (2) in three games perfectly picked out a trailing Zayed in stoppage time of the first half to bring the game level. A touch that was made possible because Braun was successful on a challenge 15 yards ahead of this. If Braun can maintain this kind of form, this can only help the Eleven's offense and take some of the pressure off of Zayed. Teams won't be able to focus their attention on the team's leading scorer last year.

Unfortunately, Smart left before halftime with an injury and Palmer left early with what had the signs of possibly being dehydration. Busch, Thompson, and Speas were all unavailable due to injury. Luckily for all, the team have a week off to heal before playing San Francisco on the 22nd at Carroll Stadium. A couple weeks of home cooking against a team they've already played once, hopefully that translates into a win. With the other results from the early part of the season, the Eleven are going to need a win to keep pace before they start playing teams that have more than a combined 30 games in the league.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

This was a hard game for me to pick and this current version of Braun is going to be a front-runner each week, but I'm going to give this week's Game Beckons Game Ball to Keith Cardona. Puerto Rico's goal really wasn't his fault and he made some good saves throughout the night. I've been saying he needs minutes with the first team and this was a good example of what he can do with those guys. I particularly like how he looks for the quick passes to players once he gets the ball to quick-start any potential counterattacks. These are the kinds of games we need to see to be able to determine if he will be Busch's replacement and he did a good job with it.

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico FC - 04.02

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC
- Location: Indianapolis
- Attendance: 9,064
- Final Score: 3-3 D
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Watson-Siriboe, Keller, Vukovic, Smart, Thompson, Torrado, Ring, Speas, Braun
- Substitutions: Zayed 46' (Thompson), Henderson 73' (Ring), Palmer 80' (Keller)
- Unused: Cardona, Ubiparipovic, Falvey
- Goals: Braun 5' (Vukovic); Speas 10' (Braun); Braun 75'
- Bookings: Thompson 44' (Yellow); Busch 55' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: One

NASL/Opta Heat Map - 1st 15 Minutes

Given that yesterday's game against Puerto Rico took place on April 1st, if I told you that the Indy Eleven would score two goals in the first ten minutes, but would need a late game third goal equalizer for the draw, you would naturally expect that I would then say "April Fools!" Yet, that is exactly how the game proceeded. The Eleven jumped to a quick 2 - nil lead just ten minutes into the first half as Braun headed in a set piece cross from Vukovic in the 5th minute and then Braun assisted Speas in the 10th minute on a pass that broke the offsides trap before Speas cleverly chipped Spangenberg. The Eleven were absolutely dominant in the first fifteen minutes (see heat map above), but took their collective foot off the gas and Puerto Rico FC increased their physicality.

A physicality that the Eleven, seemingly, were not allowed to match from referee Luis Guardia. Some of that I'll put on the Eleven for not paying attention to the fact that if Puerto Rico fell down, they were getting the calls. The Eleven continued to fight to stay upright and would not get calls. The couple times where an Eleven player actually felt the contact and went to ground, they too got the call. Match stats indicate the Eleven with 16 fouls conceded to Puerto Rico's 14 fouls, but those two extra fouls were penalty kicks that were awarded to Puerto Rico. One in the first half by Watson-Siriboe and one in the second by Busch. Both penalty kicks were successful, the first from Ramos off the rebound save by Busch, the other directly from the spot by former Indy Eleven player Walter Ramirez.

Zayed was off. Let me rephrase that. Zayed's final touch was off, and only just slightly. He was a halftime substitute for Tanner Thompson and immediately made some deft passes to players. Yet, his own final goal scoring touch wasn't up to his normal standard. For a guy dubbed "Mr. Hat Trick" and "El Raton" because of his ability to be in the right space at the right time and put the right touch on the ball to get it into the back of the net, he had chances to do that and missed on all of them. There doesn't appear to be any injury per se, so maybe there's a bit of him being in his own head about not being in the starting lineup, but he just doesn't seem like his normal self.

Game Beckons Game Ball

Indy Eleven/Trevor Ruszkowski

This week's Game Beckons Game Ball goes to, not surprisingly, Justin Braun. A one assist, two goal game, with the second goal being the game tying goal to salvage a draw and continue an undefeated streak at Carroll Stadium will usually garner a player a lot of accolades. Yet, the man who turned 30 the day before showed his value for this team. Braun spent the entirety of the first half in the offensive half of the field (see first touchmap below) working with Speas to attack the Puerto Rico goal. Zayed's addition to the field in the second half did not push Speas back into the midfield, which is his officially listed position. Officially listed forward Justin Braun dropped back into the midfield and had a third of his touches in the defensive half as he came back looking for the ball and defended. Despite his presence in the defensive half, he seemed to always be available going forward. His work rate is undeniable and if not for an amazing reaction save by Spangenberg in the waning minutes, I would be writing about Braun being a major factor in winning three points instead of saving one.

NASL/Opta Touchmap - Justin Braun - 1st Half

NASL/Opta Touchmap - Justin Braun - 

NASL/Opto Average Position

One last graphic that surprised me during first inspection, but makes more sense as I look at it. The team listed the lineup for the game as a 4-4-2. On paper, that's the players that Coach Hankinson utilized. Their actual use, however, got inverted to a 2-4-4. With Vuko and Franco flying up the wings, their average position for the course of the game actually pushed them into the midfield. That pushes Smart and Thompson higher up the field. It's not a graphic we've seen, maybe ever, for an Indy Eleven, but in an early part of a season where the backline has been cobbled together in a fashion different from the preseason expectations, it looks like the best defense might be a good offense. Coach Hankinson has always stressed defense, but at least for this game against Puerto Rico, they showed that they have the talent and ability to be more offensive in nature. The Eleven are going to play Puerto Rico again on Saturday, in Puerto Rico, and I would be surprised if the team has the same mentality of going forward that they showed yesterday. A draw on the road has often been the goal and back-to-back games against the same opponent would seem like the time that Hankinson (and likely a Falvey led backline) would be more defensive in nature.

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs PRFC - 03.31

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC

- Location: Indianapolis

- Attendance: 8,916

- Final Score: 3-0 W

- Starting XI: Busch, Palmer, Falvey, Janicki, Vukovic, Smart, Ring, Mares, Ubiparipovic, Braun, Zayed

- Substitutions: Franco 35' injury (Palmer), Paterson 60' (Ubiparipovic), Lacroix 75' (Smart)

- Unused: Cardona, Keller, Gordon, Youla

- Goals: Braun 36' (assist Ubiparipovic), Zayed 45' (rebound from PK), Mares 45'+3' (assist Braun)

- Bookings: None

- Adage goals: None

Home Sweet Carroll

In mid-October 2014, in the Eleven's inaugural season, fans spilled out onto Carroll Stadium's pitch to celebrate the Eleven's first home win. Two years later, as the final whistle blew, not a single member of the BYB found their way onto the field. The Eleven finished 2016 undefeated at The Mike in what had a very anticlimactic feel to it. With the exception of about a 12-minute period to close the first half, everything that happened after that seemed like a formality. It's a little disappointing that a season of never losing at home wasn't met with more fanfare. Though, it's also equally heartening that the team has progressed so far that the fans now expect winning ways and the team consistently, game after game, met those expectations this year.

The event that kicked off the dozen minutes of excitement started with a goal by Braun in the 36th minute on a nice chip from Ubiparipovic. There were two things that I loved about the goal. The first you can see in the Goal Replay, which is that it was a slow buildup to the goal. Counting the foul that Mares won to get it started, 9 different players touched the ball, working it from left to right and then back again before getting the cross into Braun. The possession and the patience of the team led to a goal. Beautiful soccer. The other part that I love was what Braun did right before he scored. Something that if you watch, he does all the time. He outworks, and outthinks, defenders. Watch the highlights and you'll see that right before Ubi makes the chip to the 6-yard box, Braun makes a move towards Ubi as if to receive a pass, then quickly cuts back towards the goal, freezing his defender chasing nothing but air. Perfect chip from Ubi and Braun puts it into the back of the goal. I've been debating about it for awhile now, but I think I've determined that Braun is my MVP for this team. His work rate, hold up play, and intangibles for this team has pushed him into the front-running position. This is a true team, but so much of what he brings to the team sets it up for success. With Saturday's goal and assist, Braun is now in the team's Top 5 for career assists and points and Top 3 for goals. Yes, Zayed is in that same category, but Braun has done it in 6 fewer games.

This is a nice place to be for this team, isn't it? I'm debating who is my team MVP between two forwards who actually produce goals to the point where they are some of the top goal scorers in just one season.

A couple minutes after Braun's goal, Puerto Rico's Oliver received his second yellow of the game, sending him to the showers early. Up a goal, up a man, with 52 minutes remaining in the game all while playing at home. I had no doubt that this game was won at this point. Six minutes later, Smart was pulled down in the box and Zayed was lined up over a penalty kick. PRFC's goalie Spangenberg guessed correctly and blocked Zayed's initial effort, he was not able to block the resulting rebound from Zayed. Game, for all intent and purposes was over at that point.

And then 3 minutes later, Mares put a left-footed blast to the right side of the goal freezing Spangenberg to the point he didn't even attempt to get the shot. In much the same way that the team spread the ball around on Braun's goal, the team worked the ball around until it found the right time to break down the defense. I don't know what the half-time speech was from Coach Hankinson, but I like to think it was "let's go out there and get Buschy a clean sheet. And if we can get Zayed another goal, even better." I only saw a couple times where it looked like somebody was targeting Zayed, but if ever there was a time to go after a person's goal, that was the time.

The Eleven head to OKC next weekend to play a team that has a lot more at stake in the playoff race than PRFC. Will we see the same lineup we saw in Tampa Bay or does Coach Hankinson keep the momentum going with the regular starters in the team's final tune up before the Championship.

Highlights:

Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico - 03.11

- Opponent: Puerto Rico FC
- Location: Bayamon, Puerto Rico
- Attendance: 6,605
- Final Score: 1-1 D
- Starting XI: Busch, Franco, Miller, Janicki, Vukovic, Mares, Paterson, Ring, Gordon, Zayed, Braun
- Substitutions: Lacroix 55' (Gordon), Youla 79' (Paterson), Palmer 81' (Mares)
- Unused: Cardona, Ubiparipovic, Keller
- Goals: Youla 90+2'
- Bookings: Paterson 59' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: None

The adage goal is something that Doug Starnes first talked about with the Indy Eleven as far back as May 2014 on his Eleventh Heaven blog. "There’s this adage in soccer that teams are most vulnerable at the beginning and end of matches, a just either side of halftime, and just after a goal has been scored...For consistency’s sake, we’ll use five minutes as the universal window across the adage." It became such a trend of the Indy Eleven the past two seasons of giving up "adage" goals that I started keeping track. Well, the "adage" goal is back this season, but in reverse.

The good news is that the Eleven have only given up one adage goal, at the hands of Minnesota, minutes after going up 2-0, but the Eleven countered by scoring two adage goals of their own. In total, of the 16 goals that the Eleven have scored in their 11 NASL games, half of them have been of the "adage" variety. Six goals have been scored in the 85th minute or later. The goal against Puerto Rico was no different as a 90+2' goal by newcomer Youla Souleymane saved a point on the road in Bayamon after Puerto Rico took the lead on a goal in the 74th minute.

On paper, this game looked like it should have been a game that the Eleven should have won. Yet, the Eleven only picked up one win on the road in their undefeated Spring Season run so maybe it shouldn't have come as a surprise that they went down to Bayamon against a team that hadn't played a game in the league on a crappy and crumbling field and came away with a point. This team doesn't quit and this game was just one more example of why this team is special. Beautiful soccer? Not always, but you better not leave until the ref blows the final whistle.

The tone of the game was set though in the first 4 minutes. In a less than 10 second stretch, Braun was elbowed above the eye opening a good sized gash, then Vukovic was hit in the side, and finally Paterson was hit to finally stop the ball. Braun went off the field at the 2:25 mark and didn't return until the 8:40 mark trying to get the blood stopped and to get his kit changed because of the blood on it. This was going to be an ugly game, won with counters and set pieces, which is how both goals were scored.

A physical game led to one of the negatives of the game moving forward as Paterson's yellow card in the 59th minute was an unnecessary card that he could have avoided and it unfortunately puts him at four yellow cards for the season, meaning that his next card will put him on a game suspension for card accumulation. It was a silly foul compounded by an acting job by Culbertson, but Paterson should know better than to get into those kinds of games. I don't know when he'll get the next one, but it's just a matter of time before Coach Hankinson's going to have to work the bench.

In a rarity for the Eleven, they actually won the possession battle and translated it into a road win, similar to the Jacksonville game. I'm still concerned and confused by the Eleven's inability to win the Aerial Duels, particularly at the 2:1 margin of this game when they're historically averaging 24% of their passes as long. It's hard to argue tactics though with the team continuing to win/draw their way to the top part of the table.

There was a moment in the first half that was beautiful soccer and maybe it's a glimpse of the soccer that we all hope this team finds more regularly. On a hot night in Puerto Rico, on a field that was coming apart with every challenge, there was a minute in the game that didn't ultimately lead to even a shot on goal. Yet, it was fun to watch the team move the ball around the entire field. At the 30:14 mark, Paterson steals ball in the defensive third and the ball moved around and back before Braun was finally disposed over a minute later as he made the turn towards goal. I created a graphic showing where it started with Paterson to Gordon and back, but the sequence was Paterson to Gordon to Paterson to Vukovic to Paterson to Janicki to Franco to Braun to Mares to Franco to Miller to Janicki to Gordon to Paterson to Mares to Franco to Paterson to Gordon to Ring to Braun to Ring to Paterson to Mares to Braun. That's 9 of the 11 players on the field getting a touch, moving the ball with mostly one and two touches left to right, right to left, back to front, front to back.

Ugly and Beautiful.

This just might be the Indy Eleven way.

Congratulations Vukovic on your 7th Team of the Week selection!