Transfer News: Evan Newton gets loaned out to NYCFC

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.

Indy Eleven: A new era begins with Adidas

On Tuesday morning Indy Eleven announced it’s new kit provider Adidas joining an elite group of Football Clubs through out the world joining the tradition of wearing the 3 stripes. The club noted in press release that they will debut their new home kits against FC Edmonton on May 6th.

The new home kit features a new pin stripe background ending the era of a checkered pattern as the background of the home kit this of course has been dispute amongst the fan base to the front office for the Club’s promise back in 2013 to incorporate the checkered pattern to pay homage to Indiana’s auto racing heritage. This change of course brings a few questions to mind as to why they decided to go into a different direction.

Perhaps this may be a move for the Eleven to build it’s own identity based off of the club’s recent success over the last year?

Could it be another move to improve the Eleven’s chances at a 2020 MLS Expansion bid? Of course it is!

Indy Eleven has made a lot of business moves this year. The most notable of course is the 2020 MLS bid and adding Turkish Airlines as the club’s first “back kit” sponsor. These moves are just further proving that Indy Eleven can compete in an international market and Lady Victory is becoming more and more an entity of her own.

This of course is a good move on the Eleven’s part especially for the fact that the club is slowly worrying less about the Club’s identity with NASL and instead creating a name on it’s own.

The kit provider announcement could be just one of more to come as the Club is supposed to have a stadium plan put together by the end of this week. Perhaps there could be even more great news coming soon? We’ll just have to wait and see.

 

As Indy bids for MLS Expansion what should be considered?

Late last night multiple media outlets announced that Indy Eleven’s Owner Ersal Ozdemir would personally hand in an application to the Front Office of Major League Soccer in New York City on Tuesday which led to mixed reviews from Supporters through out the Club. Interesting as it is this is about 1 year after outside investors spread interest in bringing a Major League Soccer franchise to Indianapolis on the grounds of the former Indianapolis International Airport grounds in 2016 but it failed in a vote last year. Now a year later Indy Eleven joins 12 other clubs wanting to invest in becoming one of the 4 expansion sides in 2020. What are some Pros and Cons of this move?

1. Stadium Talks in Downtown Indy will be reconsidered with a closer look:

In 2015 Indy Eleven brought up the idea of building a multipurpose stadium in Downtown Indy with the “Stadium for Indiana” Campaign with the notion of building a permanent home for Indy Eleven for the city along with opportunities for Concert Space, High School Soccer Games, High School Football Games, and much more. It managed to pass through the General Assembly but the bill died once it hit the Indiana Senate. Many of the complications with the Stadium plan was the fact that many Hoosiers are not for publicly paying for another sports venue after picking up the bill for the Original Hoosier Dome, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and most recently Lucas Oil Stadium. Since 2015 Indy Eleven and Peter Wilt parted ways so Wilt could begin work on the Chicago NASL Project and along with this Jeff Belskus the former CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was named the President of Indy Eleven in 2016. During last night’s news Sports Illustrated said that Ozdemir and Belskus have made moves to pay for the Stadium with Club related profit based off of money spent within the Club. Citing that this may end the political bind that will lead to a clear pathway for Indy Eleven to build a new Stadium. Of course. Time will tell.

Here is a link to Indy Eleven’s 2015 Stadium Campaign

2. The Future of the North American Soccer League:

It hasn’t even been a month since Sunil Gulati made the move to make the NASL and United Soccer League have co-ownership of the 2nd division on the American Pyramid. Given the NASL is said to expand to 11 teams by the Fall Season and other NASL franchises  applying for MLS Expansion as well could hurt the NASL very badly. Another issue that many Indianapolis Citizens had with the Stadium bid was also the future of the North American Soccer League saying things such as the NASL doesn’t have the backing to support Soccer Specific Stadiums in the League. It’s solely a conflict of interest. North Carolina FC (originally The Carolina Railhawks) joined into the MLS bid early than the Eleven did but they also took a role of leadership being one of the key voices to have the NASL survive into 2017. The NASL has made good moves since the announcement was made by letting go of former commissioner Bill Peterson and having the New York Cosmos sold to have the league be at 8 teams in the Spring Season.

3. Other Markets looking at MLS Expansion:

Keep in mind there are 4 spots for 2020 but also there is a chance at another round of expansion in 2024.

Cities in the Mix: Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa Bay, and Phoenix have all come forward to be interested in MLS Expansion.

Cities most likely to get Expansion based off their current state outside of Indianapolis:

Cincinnati:

FC Cincinnati has become a success story in 2016 when the Club managed to sell out the University of Cincinnati’s Football Stadium for FC Cincinnati and the Club has been very open about expanding to Major League Soccer and has had Don Garber visit the Club in its inaugural season.

Sacramento:

The Sacramento Republic Football Club are a crown jewel of the Independent Clubs in the United Soccer League that have been around for a good amount of time that have an average attendance of around 11,000 in the last 3 seasons. They have also been in the talks of a 4th California MLS Franchise for quite sometime.

St. Louis:

St. Louis has also been very open to bringing MLS to STL. There is also an active campaign to bring a soccer specific stadium to the City. St. Louis FC has an average attendance of around 6,000 however the City has a rich soccer history that can bring up better chances and opportunities to build up the fanbase. Unfortunately St. Louis did lose it’s NFL Franchise at the end of the 2015 Season when the Rams decided to return to Los Angeles which could make it harder for STLFC to make a solid push.

San Diego:

We are really pushing it with this one solely for the fact that San Diego’s Soccer following is mostly in it’s Mexican sister city Tijuana with Club Tijuana in Liga MX. However San Diego has had an NASL Club in the past and has a lot of interest from Don Garber to put a club on the map there to compete with the Liga MX Franchise.

For more information and indepth analysis on Soccer Expansion in North America we do recommend looking into Midfield Press’ on going coverage of the situation at all levels of the pyramid. You can be find this by clicking Here.

Contributor’s Thoughts:

While I do believe that Major League Soccer is the best direction for the longterm survival of the Indy Eleven I do believe that the only way a soccer specific stadium to come to Indianapolis is through private funding given our city is fitting the bill for many other venues in the past. Indy Eleven has made a great Soccer Culture in Indianapolis that has a lot of room to grow as the club continues to get bigger. An MLS spot could mean many more opportunities for future trophies for the Club and more international recognition. However, Indy Eleven is one of the few NASL Success Stories left along with NCFC, the reboot New York Cosmos and Minnesota (who are now in MLS) There is a lot of work to be done however the interest has always been here to bring a third major sports franchise to the city.

Duke Lacroix would be a perfect addition for Minnesota United FC

With Major League Soccer returning earlier this March preseason preparations are just beginning for North America’s Top flight and of course this has been a big offseason for the likes of Minnesota United as they move up to Major League Soccer this season. Earlier this week Minnesota United released the Club’s Preseason Roster which highlighted this past season’s NASL Goal of the Year winner and former Indy Eleven Midfielder Duke Lacroix. Here are a few things Minnesota United should consider while evaluating Lacroix for this upcoming MLS Campaign.

1. The Goal that gave Lacroix the NASL Goal of the Year:

A few things that come to mind when you watch this goal. First, just look at the attacking power Lacroix has when he fights for the ball and manages to get the ball down the field with such grace before delivering the final shot. It’s simply fantastic!

2.  Experience:

Lacroix has a combined 43 appearances in his professional career so far. Most of which are with Indy Eleven accompanying 3 goals for the Eleven, Add on the fact that Lacroix played his college days with Ivy League side with 68 appearances 25 goals, and 15 assists in his college career.

3. The Current State of Minnesota United FC:

Minnesota was granted an expansion slot with Major League Soccer originally for the 2018 season but managed to earn a slot for the 2017 season. The Club will debut against arguably the best conference in Major League Soccer as a member of the Western Conference with the likes of MLS Cup Champion Seattle Sounders, 2016 MLS Supporter’s Shield winners FC Dallas and tough match ups such as the Portland Timbers, Colorado Rapids, Vancouver Whitecaps, and LA Galaxy.

  Minnesota has a lot to offer so far with this group of Midfielders such as former United legend Miguel Ibarra who left the Club for a stint to play in Mexico now returning to play for United as an MLS Club (He will probably wear the Captain’s Armband as well!) We also see former Columbus Crew player Mohammed Saeid and Collen Warner who played for the Houston Dynamo most recently but also notice there is some former NASL players in here such as Ibson. Lacroix can add to this stellar line up and could probably compete with the likes of Collin Martin, and Saeid. You can only imagine everything going through Adrian Heath’s mind as manages his second MLS Expansion side when it comes to the upcoming season. It may not be the Orlando City team with Ricardo Kaka but it has a lot of potential in such a challenging conference.

In Summary,

Duke has a lot to offer at the young age of 23. Having had a lot of experience in the midfield as a Left winger for Penn, and tearing up the midfield in every chance he got with Indy Eleven you can really see what the Eleven will be missing this season with out Duke in the lineup. Minnesota has a great opportunity to compete in its first season in Major League Soccer and they have an opportunity to build up a roster that can compete for MLS Cup. The league is a tough one to compete in. Especially in the Western Conference with a midfielder like Duke Lacroix on your starting eleven you have really good odds of getting a shot or two on goal from the likes Lacroix or a fantastic assist.

Below are a few highlight reels from Lacroix’s career so far:

We at Central State FC wish Duke the best of luck to him as he trials for the next step in his career!