December 7, 2020
INDIANAPOLIS:
Indy Eleven officials noted today that GK Evan Newton will be going on loan to New York City FC for upcoming CONCACAF Champions League fixtures this winter. Newton is the second Eleven GK to be loaned out to a MLS side for Champions League matches. The first being former Eleven GK Kristian Nicht who played for the Montreal Impact during their 2015 CCL Final run that ended against Mexican side Club America. Newton has a history of good performances in Cup competitions most notably during his time at FC Cincinnati when Cinncy had a deep US Open Cup run in 2017 when the former USL side went all the way to the semifinals falling to the New York Redbulls 3-2 after extra time. Newton was also the 2018 USL Golden Glove Winner. Statistically speaking Newton had 3 Clean sheets in 15 appearances during the 2020 USL Championship Season and only conceded 18 goals. Factor in the season got shortened due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Newton faced 52 shots, had 34 saves with a 65.4 success rate at goal. Newton was added as 3rd option for the Sky Blues.
Possibilities on why this move happened:
Indy Eleven wants to assess Newton’s fitness going into next season:
We have seen with many American soccer clubs that key players will go on loan for various reasons during the offseason. We’ve seen it with key players in the USMNT contracted to MLS Clubs in the past. Newton has an opportunity to prove once again to a National (in this case international) audience that he has the ability to play in big matches. The probability of Newton getting a start during this competition is low simply for the fact that City Keeper Sean Johnson has taken most of the touches at goal this season.
NYCFC is looking at depth in the GK Position:
Currently New York has 2 players contracted to the GK position. Most notably Sean Johnson who played in 23 matches this season and holds a 12-8-3 record in MLS. In the CCL Johnson had 11 saves last time out against Tigres in the first leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals. Luis Barraza the back up keeper is yet to have any touches in the 2020 Season Currently (as of November 20, 2020) All keepers on the first team are currently healthy. This move was done simply out of precaution since the team is probably still recovering from the 2020 MLS Campaign.
Historically speaking American MLS Clubs have had a hard time in the CONCACAF Champions League. Real Salt Lake is the only American MLS team to grace the finals of the competition in its current format. More recently Canadian clubs have had more success in the CCL with Toronto FC being runners up in 2018 and prior to that the Montreal Impact being runners up in 2015. Currently Atlanta United and LAFC are also still competing in this year’s tournament.
New York City FC will play Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal Leg 2 (City is down 0-1 on aggregate currently) on December 15th at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, FL at 10:30 PM ET.
Central State FC 