The Soccer Life - Jon Busch

There's been one player in the history of the team that I have related to the most. It's not because I ever played soccer professionally, nor even because I played goalkeeper (short of one season in my youth, which was nerve-wrecking for my mother). No, it's because he was born in the same year as me and we married our wives in the same year (if Wikipedia is to be believed). 

He was an "old" guy.

Of the 121 players that the Indy Eleven have signed in their history, Jon Busch is the oldest player to have ever been signed. When Jon was announced by the team in January 2016, John was 39 years, 5 months, and 4 days old. For reference, the only other players to be signed to the team after their 35th birthday were Gerrado Torrado (37 years, 1 month, 9 days) and Kim Do-Heon (36 years, 7 months, 19 days).

Yet, Jon was a leader and still not past his playing days even when his playing days ended. I believe (I know) Jon had at least one more season in him. However, Jon has continued to train young goalkeepers and pass along the lessons he has learned over the years. As a consultant, Jon routinely trains goalkeepers at all levels, including the Indy Eleven players, as Jon and Nikki have decided to make Indianapolis their home now, even after his role with Indy Eleven has ended. 

Jon also routinely helps me in understanding the business side of the sport, goalkeeper tactics, and general soccer discussions. He and I regularly engage in conversations about the state of Indy Eleven, the USL/MLS, and what he is doing to help grow the goalkeeper union. So I was glad he was finally convinced to answer my questions about The Soccer Life. 

Without further ado, here is The Soccer Life of Jon Bush.

1. Name:
- Jon Busch

2. Role (Player, Parent, Coach, Referee, General Spectator, All of the Above, None of the Above, Other):
- Dabbles in goalkeeping

That's an understatement.

3. Soccer-specific Nickname (and any story behind it):
- Buschy (wife started calling me that many years ago)

4. Age became interested in soccer:
- 6 - 7 years old

5. First recollection of the game:
- Playing youth ball with my dad and brother coaching me.

6. Highest level of play achieved:
- MLS and US National Team

Jon was originally brought into the league and played for the Columbus Crew in 2002 before signing with the Chicago Fire in 2007. Jon was with the San Jose Earthquakes from 2010 to 2014, but finishing his MLS career with a season with the Chicago Fire in 2015.. 
- Jon won Supporter's Shield in 2004 during his time with Columbus, and finished as 2nd all-time in Columbus for shutouts. 

- He is currently 3rd all-time in Chicago for nearly all GK stats, but first in save percentage and 2nd in goals against average.

- With San Jose, Busch recorded a league best and franchise record 138 saves during the 2014 season, finishing as 2nd all-time in shutouts.

"Busch finishes fourth all-time in MLS history in regular-season appearances (309); fourth in minutes (27,725); third in shots faced (1,577); fourth in saves (1,151); fifth in wins (113); and fourth in shutouts (83)." - from the MLS announcement of his one-day contract with Columbus Crew where Jon officially retired from soccer on May 12, 2018 as the Crew took on one of his other former clubs, the Chicago Fire.

Jon played in the FIFA U-17 World Championships in Japan in 1993, starting all four games the team played (3 group stage + quarterfinal game), where the team finished with a 1W - 1D - 2L record. More on his full national team experience below...

7. Honors/Awards
- MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and Best 11

Both of these awards happened for Jon during the 2008 season with the Chicago Fire.

8. Last competitive match – Date (if known) & Level of Play
- 2017

Jon's last competitive match (not counting the above mentioned "retirement" match) was a 2 - 2 draw with the Indy Eleven against North Carolina FC.

9. Position:
- Goalkeeper

10. Jersey number:
- 18 or 1

11. Coaching experience:
- US Youth National Teams, IUPUI Men's and Women's, and Indy Fire Juniors

In the past year, Jon has been asked to help the USMNT U-20 with Tab Ramos and the USMNT U-23 with Jason Kreis. Jon also routinely helps out with the national team youth team camps (think U-14, U-17, etc.). 

12. Refereeing experience:
- Zero

13. Most memorable moment(s):
- Winning the Open Cup in Columbus.  First MLS start.  First US National Team start.

- Winning the Open Cup in Columbus - Jon won the 2002 U.S. Open Cup in a 1 - 0 win against the L.A. Galaxy.

- First MLS start - April 27, 2002, a 1 - 0 win against D.C. United. Jon came on in the 59th minute in the previous game on April 20, 2002, in a 0 - 2 loss against New England. Jon split time with Tom Presthus throughout the season. However, according to the Columbus Crew's website for the 2002 season, here are the team's results during Jon's starts:
June 12 - 2 - 1 WIN vs New England
July 13 - 3 - 1 WIN vs D.C. United
July 20 - 1 - 1 DRAW vs Colorado Rapids
July 24 - 1 - 0 WIN vs D.C. United
July 27 - 2 - 1 WIN vs L.A. Galaxy
July 31 - 3 - 2 WIN vs Metro Stars
Aug 14 - 3 - 2 WIN vs L.A. Galaxy
Aug 18 - 4 - 0 WIN vs Kansas City Wizards
Aug 31 - 0 - 0 DRAW vs New England
Sept  7 - 3 - 4 LOSS vs San Jose
Sept 14 - 2 - 0 WIN vs Chicago Fire
Sept 22 - 1 - 2 LOSS vs Chicago Fire

That's a 9 W - 2 D - 2 L record if you weren't keeping track. Then the Crew won the Open Cup game against L.A. and that's how you become the starter going into the 2003 season.

- First USMNT start - Busch's first USMNT start also took place during his only cap for the United States, when the men's nationtal team, lead by Bruce Arena, defeated Colombia 3 -0 in a friendly on March 9, 2005. 

14. Least memorable moment(s):
- Tearing my ACL twice.

15. Favorite World Cup moment(s):
- Simply watching good goalkeeping at the highest level.

16. Favorite team(s)
- Liverpool ( trained there while in college)

17. Favorite Historical player:
- Peter Shilton or Shay Given

18. Favorite Current Player
- Ben Foster or Hugo Lloris

19. Indoor vs Outdoor:
- Outdoor

20. Grass vs Turf:
- Grass

21. Other sports played (and to what level):
- Hockey ( club )

22. Other Comments:
-

The Soccer Life - Owain Fôn Williams

I don't remember how many times I was in the press room with Owain, but there was at least once where a couple of questions were asked, one by me and one by Rebecca Townsend, where he was very detailed in his thought process for an on-field exchange and became very philosophical in his responses to us. Given his passion for art, it was one of those moments where I saw a glimpse of how he approaches life and the role that soccer plays in it. So before we get to Owain's responses to The Soccer Life, I thought I would pass along his entire answers to those press conference questions after a 1-1 draw to Bethlehem late in the 2018 season: 

"Being a goalkeeper in that situation, you've got to put yourself as much in the attackers mind as possible. Because at the end of the day, I don't know whether you've ever stood in goal, but it's pretty big behind you. You've got to fill the goal as much as you can. In that scenario, you've got to realize, what's the percentage. Is he going to take the shot early? In that case, you got to hold back. Or is he going to take his touch. In that moment, you got a decision to make on whether you can go close him down and go for the percentage ball with your body spread or whether you hang back and maybe make a reaction save. You hold your ground and make the save that way. Goalkeeping is all about position decision making and it's all a learning curve. So yeah. You win some, you lose some.

You know, soccer, things don't happen overnight and when something goes wrong, it's easy to change. We had a plan in place at the start of the season before all of this happened and we've tried to stick with that. Things aren't going to be perfect all the time. In any walks to life. Whether it's a game of soccer or whether it's your family or whatever it is. Things are going to happen. But if you believe in what you do and keep doing it, hopefully you'll come out the better end, rather than the worst of it. It's just, keep believing, keep working hard, stick together and we need as many people buying into this sport here in Indiana and Indianapolis. If we can get more people, get more people cheering us on, then that would be fantastic. But the gang we have here of support has been phenomenal, but if we can get more and galvanize everything, then it will be fantastic. It will be even better. And with that, as loud as they can be, if they can get louder, then that can only get better on the pitch itself. So that would be fantastic." 

Now for Owain's responses to The Soccer Life:

1. Name:
- Owain Fôn Williams

2. Role (Player, Parent, Coach, Referee, General Spectator, All of the Above, None of the Above, Other):
- Player

3. Soccer-specific Nickname (and any story behind it):
- The Fonz, Fonners because people couldn’t pronounce my 1st name!!

4. Age became interested in soccer:
- Since walking!

5. First recollection of the game:
- My dad’s under 7 team

6. Highest level of play achieved:
- International

Owain has also played for clubs in the English Football League, as well as the Scottish Premier League, including Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who loaned him to Indy Eleven in 2018. He currently plays for Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Championship.

7. Honors/Awards
- Semifinal of UEFA Euro 2016

8. Last competitive match – Date (if known) & Level of Play
- Today

As has happened a few time with these surveys, by the time I post them, the person has likely played at least one more game. In this case, since Owain is still playing professionally for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, he's played a few games, the last being a 1-1 draw against Partick Thistle. If seasons hadn't been postponed/suspended due to COVID-19, he would have played several with just four games remaining in the season. If only...

9. Position:
- Goalkeeper

10. Jersey number:
- 1

11. Coaching experience:
- Some

12. Refereeing experience:
- None

13. Most memorable moment(s):
- Earning my first international cap

Owain's first international cap came in November 2015 in a friendly against the Netherlands. 

14. Least memorable moment(s):
- Relegated

15. Favorite World Cup moment(s):
- Too many to choose


16. Favorite team(s)
- I don’t have one!

17. Favorite Historical player:
- Peter Schmeichel

18. Favorite Current Player
- Gigi Buffon

19. Indoor vs Outdoor:
- Outdoor

20. Grass vs Turf:
- Grass

21. Other sports played (and to what level):
- No

22. Other Comments:
- Hope you’re well brother

Thanks Owain! You too.

The Soccer Life - Brad Ring

There are players that come to be synonymous with one team, no matter how many other teams that they played on before or after that team.

Michael Jordan - Bulls
Peyton Manning - Colts
Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners
Landon Donovan - L.A. Galaxy

Many times those players are liked because of their on-field performances. Sometimes, though, it's not just because of what they do on the field, but rather what they do off the field and their interactions that endear themselves to fans. 

Brad Ring didn't always light up the stat sheet, but there's not a single Indy Eleven fan who will tell you that they thought that Ring didn't give his all every minute of every game he played. Then the game would end and he would go thank the fans for being there. Then he would play a little soccer with his kids on the field before heading to the locker room. Class act, through and through.

At some point, the Indy Eleven will create a Ring of Honor type award (no pun intended). There have been some great players to go through this club that could be deserving. Historically significant players. Fan favorites. Peter Wilt will be in it.

Brad Ring should be the first player. 

He means so much to the history of the team that when it looked like he might not be returning for the 2018 season, the fans nearly rioted. He (or his likeness) has been featured in 8 of the team's game day posters and nobody else is even close [#1 (May 6, 2017), #2 (August 26, 2017), #3 (October 4, 2017), #4 (March 31, 2018), #5 (April 14, 2018), #6 (May 19, 2018), #7 (October 6, 2018), #8 (May 4, 2019)]. He is one of only two players to reach the 100 games played milestone for the club and the other one is nicknamed, "Mr. Indy."

There's only one "Legend" though and these are his responses to The Soccer Life:

1. Name:
- Brad Ring

2. Role (Player, Parent, Coach, Referee, General Spectator, All of the Above, None of the Above, Other):
- 9 year professional player who is currently retired.

2025 EDIT:

- Parent

- Coach

- Indy Eleven Broadcast Color Commentator

3. Soccer-specific Nickname (and any story behind it):
- "Legend". We had 1 game left in the Spring NASL season in 2016 where we needed to win by 3 goals; we did the unthinkable and won 4-1. I chugged a beer on the field seconds after the final whistle blew while celebrating.

I was going to place a GIF of the beer chug here, but that game deserves to be immortalized in Indy Eleven history as many times as possible. Brad's beer chug was captured by the live television broadcast and can be found at the 5:39 mark of the video, surrounded by fans.



4. Age became interested in soccer:
- 5

5. First recollection of the game:
- 5, AYSO with my dad coaching me. Looking forward to halftime so I could eat oranges.

6. Highest level of play achieved:
- 9 year professional career

San Jose Earthquakes
2010  - 2013 (League stats)
- 37 games played
- 25 games started
- 2,381 minutes

Portland Timbers
2013 (League stats)
- 1 games played 
- 0 games started 
- 1 min

Indy Eleven
2014 - 2018 (stats across all competitions)
- 115 games played (#1 in club history) 
- 95 games started (#1 in club history) 
- 8,525 minutes (#1 in club history) 
- 4 goals 

• May 24, 2014 at New York Cosmos - 76th minute (1 - 1 draw - game tying goal)
• October 17, 2015 vs Minnesota United - 82nd minute (3 - 1 win - 3rd goal) - I believe it's also the start of the Eleven Leap.
• August 28, 2016 vs Ottawa Fury -  64th minute (1 - 1 draw - game tying goal)
• June 3, 2017 vs San Francisco Deltas - 79th minute (2 - 2 draw - Indy's 2nd. Indy gave up two late goals.)

- 2 assists 
- 28 yellow cards (Most in club history) 
- 2 red cards (6 way tie for most in club history)

7. Honors/Awards
- 2x H.S. All American, 2x Collegiate All - American at Indiana University, 17th Draft pick in the 2009 MLS Draft.

8. Last competitive match – Date (if known) & Level of Play
- Oct. 2018

Last game where he had minutes was with 81 minutes of action in a 2 - 3 loss at Pittsburgh Riverhounds on September 28, 2018. Brad was on the game day roster for 4 of the 5 final games of the season, but did not see minutes. 

9. Position:
- Central Defensive Midfielder

I once wrote of Brad Ring in a June 2017 game recap against NCFC: 
"Brad Ring has become a defensive midfielder from hell. That ninja kick clearance of his is a sight to behold and he just seems to have a way of keeping guys from doing what they want to do. He had 6 clearances, 3 interceptions, 2 of 2 tackles won, was 90% accurate on his passes, and was the guy who got the NCFC defense to shift to the middle by faking a shot before passing out to Speas on the cross that ultimately led to Braun's goal. With Franco and Vuko pushing forward into the offense, Ring perfectly served as the shield in front of Keller and Falvey, helping keep guys like Laing and Fondy in check." 

10. Jersey number:
- 5 at IU and 4 while with Indy Eleven

11. Coaching experience:
- IU soccer camps, personal ran soccer camps and individual training sessions, U10 coach in Santa Clara, CA

12. Refereeing experience:
- none

13. Most memorable moment(s):
- Having my family on the game field after home game wins.

14. Least memorable moment(s):
- High School State Finals losses in 2003 & 2004

15. Favorite World Cup moment(s):
-

16. Favorite team(s):
- Indy Eleven

17. Favorite Historical player:
- Zinedine Zidane

18. Favorite Current Player:
-

19. Indoor vs Outdoor:
- Outdoor

20. Grass vs Turf:
- Grass

21. Other sports played (and to what level):
-

22. Other Comments:
-

Indy Eleven vs Memphis 901 FC - 07.01

Summary

- Opponent: Memphis 901 FC
- Location: Memphis AutoZone Park
- Attendance: 8,571
- Final Score: 4-2 W
- Starting XI: Newton, Hackshaw, Barrett (C), Ouimette, Conner, Gibson, Ayoze, Haworth, Carleton, Pasher, Contreras
- Substitutions: Moon 63' (Contreras), Ilic 70' (Carleton); Watson 86' (Pasher)
- Unused: Farr, Antley, Osmond, Lindley
- Scoring Summary:

• MEM – Allen (unassisted) 9’
• MEM – Carroll (Burch) 16’
• IND – Ayoze (Haworth) 45+3’
• IND – Pasher (Moon) 69’
• IND – Pasher (Moon) 72’
• IND – Haworth (Pasher) 83’

- Bookings:

• IND – Contreras (Yellow) 11’
• MEM – Burch (Yellow) 12’
• IND – Carleton (Yellow) 13’
• MEM – Muckette (Yellow) 17’
• IND – Ayoze (Yellow) 88'

- Referee: Matthew Thompson
- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

I didn't watch the game in real-time, but was still receiving Twitter updates and texts from family and friends about the team's play. From what I received, being down two goals in under 20 minutes, I expected the team to be playing terribly once I managed to watch the game. To my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Yes, being down by two goals within the first 20 minutes is not ideal, but it wasn't like they hadn't seen a very similar situation during preseason when they went down by two goals within the first 25 minutes to Bridges FC. Who would have guessed that the first game of the preseason against an amateur side would be able to be used as a learning experience in the first game of the regular season? What the team didn't learn from the game against Bridges FC is that easing into the game can sometimes put your back against the wall for the next 70 minutes. I hope that Memphis 901 FC brought that lesson home a little more than Bridges FC.

Indy's slow start, in combination to Memphis' early high press, put Indy behind, but both of Memphis' goals could have been prevented. The first one was a long pass from the wing to Allen, who was defended by Hackshaw and Ayoze and with Newton in reasonably good position. Nobody closed out Allen, who took a couple touches and put a ball in such a perfect position that Newton didn't even bother making much effort to reach it. So slow defending and down a goal.

The second one, off a Memphis corner kick, again, didn't have much to do with Memphis' press. It did have much to do with poor defending. Carroll had so much time on the far post as the ball came to him that he could have knitted himself a sweater. It probably could have been prevented too. Defenders on the post or no defenders on the post? That's the question. Indy started with Ayoze and Haworth on the posts. Ayoze stayed in his position on the back post, but Haworth drifted away from his position.

If Carroll had managed to push his header a little wide of goal, even further out of Newton's outstretched hands, Memphis had a guy making that run with no Indy defender in position and being held onside by Ayoze on the line. Goalkeepers and teams vary on whether they want players on a post or both, but Indy might rethink their positioning moving forward.

That's not a great way to start a game...

Luckily for Indy fans, Haworth made amends in stoppage time of the first half when he decided to forego a cross into the box and instead placed a pass across the top of the 18 yard line. An on-rushing Ayoze managed to adjust to the bouncing ball affected by the turf of the baseball diamond (have I mentioned I dislike soccer played in baseball stadiums...) and placed a low scorcher to the right side of the goal out of Howard's reach. Who would have known that Ayoze's goal wouldn't be the only goal against the former men's national team goalkeeper?

With momentum going into the locker room and only a one-goal deficit, Indy prevented Memphis from coming out after the halftime break and parking the bus. Memphis had to  maintain their game plan and Indy adjusted to their high press and seemed to wear down Memphis as the game progressed. Indy has played a defense first, counter offense under Coach Rennie and Indy's second goal by Pasher in the 69th minute was the epitome of that play. Moon stole the ball near the sideline about 10 yards from the endline, took a couple of touches before sending a leading pass to Pasher, whose first touch was at the halfway line in stride and at full speed. Two touches towards the center of the field, a third back to his left to spin the defender, a fourth to get inside the box, and a shot between another defender and Howard to the right side of the goal and Indy had tied the game at two apiece.

A couple minutes later, a Memphis defender misplays a ball, Moon collects, takes two touches, looks up to see Pasher breaking for the goal and slots a ball behind another Memphis defender but far enough out that Howard can't go to it and Pasher completes the comeback. Haworth's goal in the 83rd minute was just the icing on the cake for Indy fans.

Going down by two goals early could have lead to back-to-back years of Indy starting the season with a road loss, but they found a way to not only claw their way back to getting all three points. It's a long season and an emphatic come-from-behind win on the road is a good way to build some confidence in both the ability to make adjustments defensively and in the ability to put some goals on the board.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

This game's Game Beckons Game Ball isn't going to the player you might suspect. Yes, Tyler Pasher scored twice, including the game tying and game winning goals, and had an assist. Yes, he made the Team of the Week and is in the running for Goal of the Week. He's going to get some love this year.

I'm going to give the GBGB to two players not named Pasher. First off, Evan Newton was credited with 3 saves on 5 shots on goal. Two of those were in the first half and helped stem the tide and keep Indy in the game. Both were from close range and were great reaction saves. The third was as time was winding down and likely wouldn't have affected the final result, but in the 95th minute, Newton was at full stretch to parry away a ball that looked destined for the upper 90. All three saves were big.

Getting the other GBGB was Nick Moon. Last year, Moon was playing for Lansing Ignite in League One. In just his first game with Indy Eleven, he was credited with two assists (though, admittedly, the one on Pasher's 50-yard sprint to the goal could be considered a bit generous as an assist), and  nearly had his own goal by being a split second too late on Pasher's cross that became Haworth's goal. However, I feel like the energy that he brought into the game when he entered in the 63rd minute was exactly what the team needed. Within 10 minutes of him entering, the team scored two goals, both of which he was key in providing. In 27 minutes of action, he had 9 touches. That's efficient. So for the spark, the assists, and in his first game with Indy Eleven, I'm going to reward his effort. Great job Nick!

Will Eleven Park still be downtown?

In just over a week, the USL Championship season will begin, with the Indy Eleven kicking off the season March 7th in Memphis. At which point, my focus on this site will return to talking about on-field items and less about off-field items. Before that happens though, I have one more post about Eleven Park that I want to discuss. Stay patient through the text heavy first half of this post, the graphics will make their appearance in the second half.

Photo: Indy Eleven

For as long as I have been discussing the Indy Eleven stadium on this site, I have always maintained that I fully believe the stadium will be in downtown Indianapolis. Whatever advice Ersal Ozdemir is no longer heading from Peter Wilt, I have always felt that Peter ingrained in Ersal that part of the problem with the Chicago Fire ended up being its location in Bridgeview without any public transportation to the facility. Suburbs are great, but it seemed to hurt attendance at the games when they weren't being successful on the field. So despite other locations periodically being presented as possibilities, the Lafayette Square Mall location and the former Broad Ripple High School location for example, have always felt to me that those were posturing to be able to say, "we're looking at all locations." Recently though, Indy Eleven President and CEO Greg Stremlaw has taken to stating that "while we have narrowed the sites for Eleven Park...to three locations inside Marion County, we will not be commenting on any specific sites as this process continues."

"Within Marion County..." He does not say "within downtown Indianapolis." Probably intentionally vague, but factual. When Senate Enrolled Act 7 went into effect, some potential sites in the donut counties around Indianapolis went off the board because the language in the law required the stadium to be located within Marion County. However, Marion County consists of 403 square miles of land (or 257,919 acres) available for a stadium development that probably, ideally, could be done with around 20 to 30 acres.

Last August, I sat down and placed the Eleven Park rendering on some of the more higher profile sites that have been discussed to determine if the team's latest stadium rendering would even fit on the sites, with and without the ancillary development pieces. Some work, some do not. Earlier this month, I updated that post with the announcement in the IBJ that the Diamond Chain plant was going to be shuddered, leaving the property to be available for future development. The favorites continue to be the old GM Stamping Plant, the old Valspar lot, and the Lafayette Square Mall site, with the Diamond Chain site gaining some momentum after the article.

• The Stamping Plant site is now potentially going into legal action between the City of Indianapolis and the current owner, Ambrose. This could be a long, drawn out process that I think the team will want to avoid. 
• The Valspar lot is now owned by the Indiana Finance Authority and recent IBJ articles have indicated that the Indy Eleven have not been in contact with them regarding the site. What has never been conveyed, and I'm sure that I would never be able to get anybody to indicate on record, is whether the Keystone Group has ever been in contact with the Indiana Finance Authority. The Keystone Group being Ersal Ozdemir's other company and would allow him to discuss the site with the IFA and be able to have all parties say that the Indy Eleven have not been in contact. With the Eleven Park now incorporating a development, only a part of which will include the stadium, this seems like something that could have occurred. However, if we take it at face value that the team and the IFA haven't discussed the site, this would seem like it isn't a possible location for the stadium as those conversations should have happened by now.
• The Lafayette Square Mall site is massive and in need of a lift; a "transformational neighborhood development," if you will. I'm becoming less and less convinced that this isn't one of the front-runners, but that's mostly because of the downtown sites' issues.
• I'll briefly mention the Diamond Chain site here because I don't think it's in the running. For one, it's a recent addition and Greg Stremlaw has repeatedly said that they "have narrowed the sites for Eleven Park...to three locations inside Marion County" long before this site seems to have become available. Additionally, the IBJ article about the Diamond Chain site indicated that the company was going to take roughly 2 years to complete the closing process. Indy Eleven aren't going to wait that long for that site. 

So I'm starting to reconsider my stance on the Lafayette Square Mall site because I felt it was too far away from downtown Indianapolis, but I'm still not entirely convinced it's one of the favored locations. However, if I'm willing to expand my thinking beyond the downtown area, I recently stumbled upon some property that might make more sense and still check all the boxes. So what does the site need and what are some of the goals that have been mentioned through the years?

• A "transformational neighborhood development"
• Within Marion County
• Access to public transportation
• Significant amount of acreage to allow for stadium, development, parking, hotel, etc.

What if that property was near the Indianapolis International Airport?

"By the airport?," you say. We've been down this road before.

True. There were quite a few odd things about that proposal and the developer in charge of it. As a reminder though, here were the highlights of that proposal:

• $500M sports medicine complex
• 5 medical office building
• Two 250-room hotels
• 20,000 seat stadium
• Located between High School Road and I-465, north of Sam Jones Expressway

Now let me remind you of a few highlights about Eleven Park:

• $550M development
• 150,000 square feet of office space
• 100,000 square feet of retail space
• 600 apartment units
• 200 room boutique hotel
• 20,000 seat stadium

Eerily similar (or not), don't you think? Well that original property by the airport has already been purchased and is currently under construction for two large office buildings. What if, though, there were some other land available around the airport (and obviously within Marion County), in a neighborhood that could use some "transformational development," and also has public transportation around it? Oh, you mean like all of this land north of the Airport, wedged between the railroad, Washington Street, and High School Road?

Owned by the Indianapolis Airport Authority...

MapIndy

Yes, that is a lot of acreage owned by the Indianapolis Airport Authority. Land that I was told the IAA was forced to buy for noise separation between the airport and homes. Land that I can't imagine they want to hold onto for very long. Land that somebody might be able to purchase for significantly cheaper than land in downtown Indianapolis.

So while the last airport development proposal seemed to be an unrealistic venture, this may not be as far-fetched as I originally suspected. All that things that the previous developer's plan was missing at that time, Ersal Ozdemir now has thanks to Senate Enrolled Act 7.

With so much land available, I just found a location within it to place the stadium with dozens of acres still available for hotels, office space, retail space, parking, etc.

Screen Capture: Google Earth

In addition to being right next to the airport for visiting teams, the properties have easy access to I-465, I-70, I-65, and they sit along the proposed IndyGo Bus Rapid Transit Blue Line. 

Photo: IndyGo

"Nobody wants to go watch a game in that part of town, particularly the people from the North side of Indy."

Maybe, but what if I told you that from Grand Park (chosen since it's Indy's current training facility and a convenient stand-in for those northside residents) to Lucas Oil Stadium was estimated on Google Maps as a 34 minute drive?

Screen capture: Google Maps

What if I then told you that from Grand Park to the Indianapolis Airport area was estimated on Google Maps as a 34 minute drive?

Screen capture: Google Maps

Or that from the Fort Harrison area to the Indianapolis Airport development was estimated on Google Maps as a 30 minute drive?

Screen capture: Google Maps

I'm not saying that this is one of those three locations that Greg Stremlaw has referenced within Marion County, but going through this exercise for myself with the property, I'm not convinced it isn't either. For all of the advantages that the IBJ staff have over me in getting staff from the Indy Eleven to talk, when it comes to the stadium, the answers they receive are the same ones I receive. So it's really anybody's guess on where the team is looking to place the Eleven Park development. At this point, near the Indianapolis Airport seems just as logical as anywhere else I've evaluated over the years. 

The team announced last year that they wanted to be able to announce a location by the end of last year. With a clock ticking towards having "a tax area...initially established not later than July 1, 2022," this year should provide some kind of direction on where the development will be located. 

I think the area around the airport might be moving up in my list of top locations. 

The Two Sides of the USL

US soccer is a weird place. There's Major League Soccer (MLS), USL and its varying levels (USL Championship, USL League One, USL League Two, and the USL Academy), National Independent Soccer Association (NISA), National Premier Soccer League (NPSL)... In fact, go check out this 2018 article from the guys over at Soc Takes giving a very good breakdown of the leagues in the United States. That doesn't even get into the numerous amateur and semi-pro leagues and indoor leagues around the country. So there's a lot of soccer in this country.

Which isn't the weird part.

Monday, Jeff Rueter tweeted that Atlanta United "is working on a deal to send Andrew Carleton on loan to [Indy Eleven] of the USL Championship...[that] would run for the full 2020 season."

Sources telling me that #ATLUTD is working on a deal to send Andrew Carleton on loan to #IndyForever of the #USL Championship. The loan would run for the full 2020 season.

Carleton (19) has represented the #USMNT at the U-20 level.

— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) January 13, 2020

Which still isn't the weird part. Alex Crognale started the 2019 USL Championship season with Indy Eleven on loan from Columbus Crew before injuries forced the Crew to recall Crognale for the rest of the season after 8 games with Indy. USL Championship's current preseason "Transfer Tracker" is littered with guys moving from MLS teams to USL Championship teams (Alex Crognale now going to play for Birmingham Legion) and USL League One teams to USL Championship teams (Indy have signed Nick Moon from Lansing Ignite and Conner Antley from Tormenta FC and notably potential announcement of Brian Sylvestre from Forward Madison FC to Miami FC) and USL Championship teams down to USL League One teams (former Indy Eleven forward Wojciech Wojcik from Hartford Athletic to Forward Madison FC) and that's just the tip of the iceberg as examples that Indy fans know about.

Here's a weird part.

Andrew Carleton was signed to a Homegrown Contract by Atlanta United just a few days before he turned 16 years old. Atlanta United has a 2nd division team in the Atlanta United 2. The Atlanta United 2 play in the USL Championship as Eastern Conference opponents of the Indy Eleven. So Atlanta United (who has the contract with Carleton) is potentially loaning their first ever Homegrown Contract player to a direct opponent, and potential conference front-runner, in Indy Eleven.

While you think about that, here's the weirdest part for me.

The two proceeding days before the rumors started swirling around that Andrew Carleton may be playing in Indianapolis, the Indy Eleven held open tryouts. That's right, Indy rented a facility and had players of varying levels and experience pay $175 to demonstrate their abilities in front of the Indy Eleven coaching staff and Indy aren't the only USL team to go this route to locate players. Last December, Louisville City FC, the team that has been in the past 3 USL league championship games and won two of them, held their own open tryout.

The USL Championship teams are in an odd position where they have the ability to sign well-known players, competing on their nation's national teams, yet they also feel like they can (or have to) hold open tryouts to help turn over every rock for players. While Indy's open tryout last year produced a player in Alioune Diakhate and he managed to play significant early season minutes and even score a goal, his signing is an anomaly and not typical.

Yet despite the unlikely probability of finding a "diamond in the rough" through this process, Indy Eleven, Louisville City FC, and other teams like them in the country's second-tier level of the "pyramid" continue to utilize the open tryout format to try and fill out their roster with low cost players. That's part of why I usually see open tryouts as a money grab by the teams. A way to make $15 - $20,000 in registration fees (at least in Indy's case this year for that dollar amount).

This year's Indy Eleven open tryout, again held the two days proceeding the Andrew Carleton rumor release, had more than 100 players (update: per club sources, the official numbers were 136 players, up from 110 last year) looking to make an impression on not just the Indy Eleven staff, but also the staffs of Fort Wayne FC from NPSL, Detroit City FC from NISA, and South Bend Lions FC and Mississippi Brilla FC from USL League Two. Indy's open tryout gave players with far less known names than Andrew Carleton the opportunity to showcase their abilities to 5 different teams.
Update: Mr. Kremers indicated that "The average age of the tryout was around 22-24. A lot of these players have, at most, semi-professional experience in the way of NPSL/USL League Two/UPSL/Etc. The rest were from the collegiate playing ranks while a small few had foreign professional playing experience." They had players "coming in from both coasts, California, Florida, North Carolina.  Some did come from other countries, but not just for the tryout."

There may be a bit of a money grab by Indy Eleven, but this type of arrangement with regional teams (more on that in a minute) gave players multiple chances to impress a coaching staff and not just a single coaching staff. Where the Indy Eleven may be looking for very specific types of players to fill out their roster depth and may pass on a player as a result, there were four other teams who may have that exact type of player in mind. Indy Eleven's Director of Youth Development/Club Liaison, Josh Kremers, stated that "as far as I can tell, all of the players left satisfied that they were given their fair shake," with Senior Director of Communications & Marketing, John Koluder, adding "from all accounts it was a success from a numbers and quality standpoint."

At the time of this article, the team was hesitant to say whether any of the players would be joining the Indy Eleven staff either as full-time additions to the roster or as preseason trialists. However, Mr. Kremers stated that "I have already been notified that players have been offered positions on a couple of teams, as well as a great deal of interest in many other players." Mr. Koluder further stated that "there was no 'first dibs' arrangement regarding tryout participants. All were free to be approached by coaches as they saw fit." While there was no sharing of the registration fees between the five teams "as every aspect of the tryouts was prepared and performed by our [Indy Eleven] staff," players basically had an open tryout with five different teams, it just took place on two days in one location.

For fledgling clubs like Fort Wayne FC and South Bend Lions FC and a club like Detroit City FC who is moving from an amateur squad to a professional one, the ability to participate in an event organized by Indy Eleven is an invaluable opportunity to evaluate more players than may have attended their own open tryouts (DCFC have their own open tryout January 25th and Fort Wayne FC have one on March 2nd). You may have forgotten, or never knew, that Mississippi Brilla FC (Indy Eleven's U.S. Open Cup opponent in 2018) is coached by Luke Sanford, who is also the head coach for the Indiana Wesleyan University men's soccer team, where Josh Kremers has been an assistant for 4 years. Indy Eleven's tagline of "The World's Game, Indiana's Team" may have been reduced a bit with the addition of these other teams, but Indy is still showing a desire to help grow the game within the state with all of these regional connections (don't forget that DCFC is coached by former Indy Eleven assistant Trevor James).

So, yeah. U.S. soccer is weird.

Where else can you have a second-tier team organize an open tryout for players and invite four other teams that have regional or direct connections to the team, while also finding themselves in rumor discussions for a player that has been in the national team system and was signed by the first-tier affiliate of their second-tier conference opponent?

The two sides of being in the USL.

Indy Eleven 2019 Recap & 2020 Off-Season Outlook

In the past, my recap and outlook posts have come before the team have made any announcements about the next season, but the Eleven are a bit ahead of schedule this year. Therefore, I'm behind and will have to adjust some of my comments accordingly.

The 2019 season took 2018 another step further. As the team is quick to point out, "the Boys in Blue concluded the 2019 USL Championship season with the most regular season wins (19), most points (63), most regular season away wins (6) and most goals scored (50) in franchise history. [editor's note - from the USL stats, the team scored 48 regular season + 3 playoff for 51 league goals. By my stats, the 2016 team scored 51 + 1 league goals for 52.] ... the club’s longest home undefeated streak at 27 matches across all competitions, including Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and postseason play. The ... side has not lost in regular season play in its last 25 matches, a streak dating back to July 2018 and among one of the best records in league history." With more time to build a roster than he had in 2018, Rennie returned just a handful of guys from 2018 and signed 22 new players throughout 2019. Guys that fit into the tactics he wanted to employ and that he thought would buy into the culture he wanted to create. With a top 4 finish in the Eastern Conference, the ability to host a home playoff game, and two playoff wins, Indy improved upon last year's 7th place regular season finish and its early departure from the playoffs.

With the exception of, once again, losing to Louisville City FC in the playoffs, the 2019 season can be considered a success. They may not have achieved every team's goal of winning the regular season and the playoffs, but they took important steps forward.

However, there were still some things that the team will want to improve upon moving forward in the 2020 season. Most notably, Indy's away form was less than ideal. While Indy finished the regular season undefeated at home (13W - 4D - 0L), obtaining positive results on the road was more difficult (6W - 2D - 9L). Digging deeper into those results indicates that against the top 6 finishing teams in the Eastern Conference, Indy's away form was even worse, not able to get a single win on the road (0W - 2D - 3L) against those teams (Pittsburgh, Nashville, Louisville, Tampa Bay, and New York Red Bulls II).

That will be an important piece for the team to improve next season. Indy's four-game road losing streak at the end of the season likely prevented them from having home field advantage throughout the playoffs. While Indy managed to get a win in their away playoff game in Nashville, having to not travel at all would have been preferable.

So there was progress, but still some things to do in the off-season.

Looking to 2020

Stadium

For the first time in the team's history, there was actual tangible progress made on the stadium side of things. 2019 was the longer legislative budgetary session that happens every two years and Indy was able to tie their hopes in with another sports related bill that was going through with the Capital Improvement Board and the Pacers. This proved to be an effective strategy and Senate Enrolled Act 7 gives the team the ability to finally move forward with a stadium development with some financial assistance from the State. I provided a detailed analysis of my thoughts about this in April and then provided some additional thoughts on locations in August so I'm not going to rehash all of that here. I'll summarize just a few key points:

• The ownership group finally agreed to provide a more significant amount of the cost of the stadium in their proposal, which was a piece that I've said since the beginning was going to be necessary for this to become a reality.
• Incorporating the stadium into a larger development (also something I recommended for some time) also helped during this go around.
• There is a key component in Senate Enrolled Act 7 that allows the stadium and the development to be "discontiguous," but within a 1 mile radius of each other. I have a feeling that this might come up later and could be another sticking point with the State, City, and the CIB if the team does attempt to have the stadium and the development in different locations. 

There was a recent report that the City had been in discussions with the team about being in the GM Stamping Plant location after the most recent developer, Ambrose, has decided to back out of building there. Many foresee a lawsuit and I doubt the ownership group will want to get involved in it and potentially wait until it is all resolved. The team had previously indicated that they would like to make an announcement on a location by the end of the year. I have reached out to the team for an update, but have not yet received any information. I do know that the team intends to use Lucas Oil Stadium "for the foreseeable future," which is at least 2 years, maybe 3.

I see this as a major issue with the team moving forward due to the likely possibility that the playoff issues that the team saw this year will occur year-after-year until they have their own facility. Lucas Oil Stadium has another primary tenant who supersedes any desire from the Indy Eleven, as well as being booked by other yearly events like the Indiana State School Music Association marching band finals and the Bands of America events. This means that any home field advantage that Indy develops during the regular season goes out of the window when they have to move to Carroll Stadium for playoff games. If I were the team, I would try to schedule a few more training sessions during the year at Carroll, just to get a better feel for the place instead of waiting a week before the first playoff game. I have also reached out to the team about their thoughts on the use of The Mike for the playoffs and am still waiting on a response from those questions as well.

Coach

Much like last year's announcement about Coach Rennie returning being met with a "ho-hum" response from most fans, unless he decided to move to another team, there was little doubt that he would be coming back. Indy have cycled through coaches every couple years in its history, but back-to-back playoff qualifying teams makes it difficult to rationalize firing a coach unless he's completely lost the locker room. I've heard of some questioning of the coach, but nothing close to a locker room mutiny.

So while the announcement is an important one from a continuity standpoint and will make Coach Rennie the longest tenured coach in the club's history, it was not unexpected. I am curious to see if there are any changes in the assistant coaching staff as we move forward. I'm interested to see if Juan Guerra stays on for another season or if he moves on.

I would like to see Coach Rennie take a step back from the Technical Director role that he is also filling and see the team hire a dedicated person for that role. Though I don't expect to see that happen.

Players

As I stated in my introduction, the team has already been busy announcing players with additional players expected to be announced this week and next. So we already know 11 guys that are returning or joining the team.

Announced as returning:

1. Barrett, Gibson, Hackshaw, Ilic, Newton, Ouimette, Walker - As I indicated on Twitter after the announcement, with the exception of Ouimette, the other six guys were the first six signed for the 2019 roster. This seems more like a "these are the guys who signed 2-year contracts that will return next year" type of announcement to me. Ouimette joined the team at the same time as Rennie and was a stable on the right side of Rennie's three-back lineup. I can see Rennie wanting all of these guys back from a consistency standpoint as they accounted for 46% of the team's regular season minutes.
2. Watson, Farr, Ayoze - These were the next three to be announced and only the re-signing of Farr slightly surprises me. Watson has been with Rennie in a number of locations. He and Ayoze's ages make them less likely to want to make drastic changes to other locations as long as they are reasonably happy, healthy, and playing well. Both are playing well and seem to be healthy. With the announcement of these three players, the percentage of the 2019 minutes jumps to 59%. If you're looking for consistency, there's only one glaring piece missing from the announcements and everybody is waiting on pins and needles for that one. My only question with Farr was whether he was willing to sit behind Newton again for another season. I still fully expect Rennie to consider Newton the #1 goalkeeper going into next season, meaning Farr's abilities will be sitting on the sideline as the team's most enthusiastic cheerleader. Moving forward with Newton and Farr on the roster, I (and others) would like to see Coach Rennie rotate them more throughout the season. There was no reason for Newton to be playing in the first Open Cup game (a game where Newton picked up a red card) nor try to play every game in some of those multiple games in a week stretches when Farr was available. With Newton's injuries the past two seasons, giving him some additional rest days would be helpful. Though that is something that Rennie could/should do with more of the players, but I don't see that in his mode of operation. 

Announced as joining:

1. Conner Antley - This season's Defender of the Year in the USL League One was announced at the end of the week. Indy paid a transfer fee to get him on the roster as he was under contract with Tormenta FC for this next year. This is a big deal for the team and the league and shows that the team may have concerns about its depth in the back. I recall a time this year where Hackshaw had just returned from international duty and wasn't planning on being played. However, Osmond picked up a early first half yellow and a number of referee discussions and Coach Rennie felt that they had to get him out of the game and not risk picking up a second yellow and playing a man down. He had to play Hackshaw because he didn't think he had any other good options (I would have shifted Ayoze back and adjusted from there, but that's for another time...).

Others I expect to return:

1. King - Coach Rennie often spoke highly of King and thinks he is poised for a breakout season. 
2. Farias - He'll be competing for time with King, but the team could use the two of them the way they did this year when they were both healthy. Assuming Pasher returns (see below), Indy needs a more consistent attacking presence on the right side of the field to counteract the Ayoze/Pasher left side and both Farias and King showed glimpses this year.
3. Conner - Conner was a spectacular mid-season find and he seemed to fit in nicely with Rennie's system. He's a little more box-to-box, which is something that the team needs; a defender who also likes to push forward.
4. Novoa - His pace was a good compliment to Pasher's, but his size is going to prevent him from being any kind of target forward for this team. Despite that, I think Rennie keeps him around.
5. Osmond - The fourth "starter" in the three back system, Rennie isn't going to want to sign Antley for depth just to get rid of his current depth.

Unknown:
I'm not sure the last time I had so many guys on the unknown list, but it's because I think it's anybody's guess on whether they stay or leave for a number of reasons.

1. Pasher - Pasher's stock rose exponentially this year and I'm sure he was on the 2nd year of a 2 year contract so he and his agent would be foolish to not shop him around. Even if it was just to be able to negotiate more money here. Rennie needs him back. Fans want him back. Still might not be enough to keep him around.
2. Starikov - Similar to Pasher, I think he was probably on the 2nd year of a 2 year contract and is now a free agent. His injury and its duration hampered him through most of the year, but even after his return, he struggled to get minutes. I often thought he looked frustrated at not getting time and am curious if that causes him to look for another team.
3. Kelly - I can go either way with Kelly. There were glimpses all season of his goal scoring abilities. There were example after example of his inability to score this year. He might not be the right forward in Rennie's system. Enevoldsen struggled in Indy, but scored 10 goals in 15 games in Sacramento. Being in the right system and being happy can make all the difference in the world. Whether the team and Kelly all want to try for another season is yet to be seen.
4. Diakhate - He was a feel-good story at the beginning of the season. He was an after-thought towards the end. He is likely inexpensive depth though.
5. Nieto - Remain on an Academy contract? Maybe.
6. Brown - Remain on an Academy contract? Maybe. 
7. Rodrigues - To say he struggled would be an understatement. Despite his size, he was frequently bullied out of position and was not the target forward many fans expected he would provide. My guess is that he doesn't return, but could depend on what happens with Pasher/Kelly and a desire for depth.
8. Perea - My gut says he is gone too, but I think it may depend on the size of the contract. 

More player news will be coming this week. Whether those include signings or announcements of departures or both is yet to be seen.

Final Thoughts:

I've decided to not dive into some other topics I would like to discuss as it relates to players and coaches. It's a long off-season so maybe they will get discussed later. For now, 2020 is looking like Indy is going to be a strong team again, vying for a playoff position and conference title. Whether they can take that next step (or two to a league final) is yet to be seen.