Indy draws 1-1 with Swope Park Rangers

Putting the pieces together
March 2, 2017 by
Eamon Zayed

Photo credit: Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports

Preseason match No. 2 is in the books. The Indy Eleven played the USL’s Swope Park Rangers to a 1-1 scoreline, but I still don’t care about the score. The fact is that I only care about form and there is a lot to dissect here.

People will try to get caught up in formations with this one. Don’t let anyone pin it down because it wasn’t that clear. If 2017 is at all like 2016, you can expect a different look in attack when compared to defense. The players don’t stand still. How they line up at kickoff is not how the entire match plays out.

How did the team look on D? They looked organized and fairly comfortable. There were only a couple miscues and newcomer Kwame Watson-SPELLING is fitting right in. His was dispossessed once when Lovel Palmer told him he had time on the ball. In point of fact he did not.

There was zero width from players in the midfield minus a cross or two from Ben Speas. The familiar Nemanja Vukovic and Marco Franco were sent frequently up the flanks. Brad Ring, Gerardo Torrado and Sinisa Ubiparipovic remained fairly central and within supporting contact of each other. Now introducing the midfield triangle.

While Ring was held farther back, he was not locked in place. He did come to play, however. Ring’s physicality and intensity were on display and he appears ready for his fourth season in Indianapolis.

The first half featured a very starter-ish squad. While nothing is set in stone, the first 11 were roughly the best available 11 and I imagine that might be the squad Indy Eleven head coach Tim Hankinson favors to go with at this point.

Again, there is no challenger to the Eamon Zayed-Justin Braun show. The two shared a golden corn dog last year in a heartfelt moment at the Brickyard Battalion awards, and that camaraderie is still in effect. There was space up the middle today and Zayed was able to capitalize on a number of instances with the ball at his feet and heading toward goal. It is not his strength but he did well and coolly put away his first chance in the early minutes of the match.

Don’t read too much into the goal. While the finish was exactly what was needed, the opportunity came from a poor pass when Ring failed to connect with Ubiparipovic. The goal counts in the end but it is important to note that the offense isn’t yet firing on all cylinders. While that is to be expected in preseason, nine of the 11 starters are from last year’s team. They are all “played in” to use an expression from Coach.

One preseason goal has come from a free kick in the early minutes, and another has come from a happy accident in the early minutes. That is not to say the team didn’t play well. I just don’t care about the score.

Speas is earning his place. He showed some grit when tracking back and some skill at making defenders miss. Franco had some tremendous efforts defensively. Indy goalkeeper Jon Busch was rarely called on.

A Swope Park free kick did smash the bar and head straight down, but it was ruled not to have crossed the line. It would have beaten Busch, but the rest of his afternoon was fairly quiet — although he could be heard corralling Vukovic and dragging him back on set pieces for a short option.

The greatest laugh of the day came when Busch hassled a young Rangers player and reminded him that it was only preseason. It was quiet inside Grand Park’s new sports facility; everyone heard it.

We know, Jon, but that poor kid. You are old enough to be his father.

The most notable roster switch between these two early training camp fixtures was Ubiparipovic for Don Smart. It worked fine in this game, but it is curious considering the speed difference and the width that Smart offers on the offensive side of the ball. Smart appeared to be in great health today as he played a solid 45 in central midfield with Keith Cardona, Daniel Keller and the available trialists in the second half.

There were good individual performances from the second half squad. The play in the final third actually looked better, but I think that may have been a product of a more open game. While the A-Team wasn’t tearing up the nets, they were controlling large portions of the match and there were size and strength mismatches for Swope Park to contend with (see Ring, Brad). And, as stated before, Busch wasn’t really tested.

Nevertheless, youthful exuberance made for some more dynamic play. Most of the trialists that appeared made positive cases for their potential employment. There is room on the roster for more bodies and certainly room for some new blood.

While this is not the complete list, so far we can confirm — with each player’s most recent team in parentheses — the following trialists: Vincent Mitchell (Indy Eleven NPSL), David Goldsmith (Butler University), Jeff McClure (Indy Eleven NPSL), Vince Cicciarelli (Saint Louis FC), Phil Fives (Indiana University) and Anthony Manning (Portland Timbers II).

My guess is that you will see at least three of these players get shirts with their names on the back.

You can follow me on Twitter @AGunyon.

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