Photo credit: Jarrett Campbell

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indy Eleven have had a busy January. First, the team confirmed a switch to the United Soccer league first reported by Soc Takes’ own Nipun Chopra. A week later, the team announced the head coach that will lead them in the club’s first-ever USL campaign. The 2018 season is rapidly approaching and truthfully, Indy is already at least a couple steps behind.

As busy as the Eleven have been in the new year, fans of the team should expect nothing but a breakneck pace from here until the start of the season. There are puzzle pieces in place, but some of the biggest ones are missing. For a team in its fifth year of on-field operations, it sure looks like an expansion team on paper.

Let’s look at how the Indy Eleven stack up against another team in the USL. Louisville City FC is the league’s returning champions. As champs, they become the standard bearers for competition and preparation on and off the field. Louisville City will begin its fourth year of competition in 2018, but is light years ahead of the Indy Eleven with little more than 60 days before Indy’s first kick.

Venue

Louisville City FC will play all its home matches at Louisville Slugger Field as it has since its inception. It’s not an ideal scenario, but wheels have already started turning for LouCity to get its own soccer-specific stadium in Butchertown.

The Indy Eleven have yet to decide where they are playing in 2018. They are unhappy with Carroll Stadium and unable to strike a deal at Lucas Oil Stadium. There is more to this deal than meets the eye. A political game of chicken is being played that is eerily reminiscent of the NASL’s legal feud with the USSF.

Tickets

This simple concept is being overlooked, but ticket sales are moving along as they should with two months to go in Louisville. Fans know where the seats are and how much they cost. The ticket sales department will be thankful for the boost in interest that a championship might bring.

Indy Eleven fans remain unable to buy tickets. They don’t know how much they will cost and they don’t know where they will be. The team has begun accepting season ticket deposits and Indy president Jeff Belskus has made public comments about similar pricing structures, but none of that information is available anywhere on the team’s website.

Coaching

James O’Connor, Daniel Byrd and Thabane Sutu have all been wearing purple for four years. They won the championship like three months ago.

Martin Rennie has been the head coach of Indy Eleven since Tuesday and had been out of work since 2016. He is the only one listed on the team’s technical staff page. Trevor James has served as an assistant up until now. His future with the team is uncertain. It is also not known if Jon Busch, who served as Indy’s goalkeeper coach for the last two years in addition to starting in net, will be returning to the club in any capacity.*

“With the coaches I am working on finalizing their agreements, but there is nothing to announce yet. With Trevor (James) he is working with me day-to-day on building the team. He’s doing a great job and helping me a lot. He had good knowledge on our team and other teams. He has experience networking so we are working together on that. I am looking to bring in a couple of coaches who I have extended offers to. One of them has now verbally agreed. We are putting together paperwork and the other one is still considering it. Literally, in a couple days, that part should be a lot clearer.” -Indy Eleven head coach Martin Rennie

Players

Louisville City FC have 20 players rostered for the 2018 season and had begun signing new players in 2017 with the addition of Pat McMahon on Dec. 5. The majority of the LouCity roster is intact; 16 returning players had their options picked up.

There are no Indy players under contract. There are a few players that need to re-sign due to a league switch and complex contract language, but Indy doesn’t have any USL players ready to go. Former Indy Eleven forward Eamon Zayed was under contract, but his was terminated last week. There are no players listed on the team’s website. An earlier launch of the USL page had listed Brad Ring, Ben Speas and David Goldsmith incorrectly. The glitch has been fixed.

“I am two days into it and the first thing I wanted to do was to try and let some guys, who I knew weren’t in my plans, I wanted to try and let them know as soon as I could and give them as much possible time as I can. I wanted to let them know that they were not really in my plans. Now what I am doing is working on getting the other guys that I need all lined and getting the paperwork I need and everything else.” -Rennie

The Indy Eleven have a mountain to climb to get ready for the season. Why did they leave so much work to be done? Even if they were going to play in the NASL, they were going to need players and a coach. They were going to need a venue. While it is easy to expect USL champion Louisville City to have its act together, it shouldn’t be that much of a stretch for the Indy Eleven to have more than a team crest with players reporting to camp on Feb. 7.

“I am just focusing on Indy Eleven. There is nothing I can do in terms of what the other teams do, who they sign or how good they are…I’m right now focused on getting the players in that I want to get in, planning towards preseason. It’s quite a short lead time in this particular case, but that might not be a bad thing. There are a lot of players available, because there and not as many teams as there were last season. Economics teaches us about supply and demand and I feel like we are in a good spot right now.” -Rennie

Indy needs to finalize and announce a venue soon. They need to hire coaches immediately. They need to start a marketing campaign for tickets. When they get a chance, they should sign a few players. Indy’s first match of the season is away to Richmond on March 24.

*Language has been clarified. An earlier version stated that Busch would not return.

Follow Aaron on Twitter: @AGunyon.

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Photo credit: Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — Indy Eleven have exercised their right to terminate forward Eamon Zayed’s contract ahead of the 2018 season. A provision of the contract allowed for termination triggered by a switch to the United Soccer League.

The 34-year-old international will leave the club holding the record for most goals scored (26) and most goals in a single season (15). Mr. Hat Trick made history for the team in the spring of 2016 when he helped to deliver the teams first trophy with goals in the 16th, 65th and 85th minute. That day later became known as the “Miracle at the Mike” due to the fact that Indy won the spring title on the third tiebreaker. Zayed is the only Indy Eleven player to record a hat trick in league play. He had two such performances in 2016.

Despite poor results for Indy Eleven throughout much of 2017, Zayed was able place 11 balls in the back of the net and record four assists in 25 starts. Those 11 goals tied him for second in all of the NASL, but were not good enough to earn a nomination for the NASL Golden Ball award. It was probably an oversight.

Zayed was on a multi-year deal and was unable to entertain offers from other teams until the league switch had been announced just a few days ago. No doubt he was under the assumption that he was all set for 2018. This is a yet another casualty caused by the D2 soccer warz and this will not be the only surprise coming out of the Indy front office in the next few days.

Follow Aaron on Twitter: @AGunyon.

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The lower divisions of American soccer are a tumultuous place. Whether it is the collapse of individual clubs, irresponsible behavior toward players or the death of an entire league, the stories of instability are as commonplace as a PBR at your local dive bar.

Yet, there is one narrative we — certainly I — do not often pay attention to.

The owners.

The current status of lower-division American soccer, specifically Division II and Division III men’s professional soccer, means that owners don’t stick around. Not because they don’t want to. Not because they don’t care about the sport. They simply cannot afford to.

And this probably isn’t news to you.

As things stand currently, teams are losing millions every year. And no, I’m not just talking about a team owned by everyone’s favorite lower-division braggadocios billionaire who claims to have lost $18 million. I’m talking about responsible owners, who are consistently finding themselves in the red year after year, with no real respite in sight.

And unless you believe there is an infinite pool of investors worth $20 million who are interested in investing in lower-division soccer, something has to change. Soon. Or else, all of this is simply “Too Small to Succeed.”

THE NUMBERS (please read the caveats at the end of this article)

In researching this article, I spoke to eight owners and/or GMs who were at an American DII club within the last twelve months. They consistently revealed that their teams have lost between $2-$5 million every year.

According to the aforementioned individuals, between 33-60 percent of their expenditure goes toward wages for players, coaches and front office staff. Other areas of expenditure include stadium costs, travel budgets and workers compensation. This cost can range from 20-40 percent of expenditure according to information provided to Soc Takes. Game day production, charitable events, marketing and sales efforts are the other areas of significant expenditure for lower-division teams. Finally, owners pay a security bond each year amounting to between $250,000-$750,000 and a non-refundable participation fee of $150,000 each year.

In terms of revenue, ticket sales bring in between 30-50 percent of revenue, corporate sponsors bring in between 40-50 percent, while merchandise and concessions provide the remainder of the revenue.

And that revenue is nowhere close to meeting the expenditure.

THE CONSEQUENCE

The obvious consequence of all this is that owners dip their toes into the frigid, unforgiving pond of lower-division soccer, and simply walk away. The evidence is in the numbers. I analyzed the shelf-life of current ownership in lower-division professional soccer. Per the analysis, the average amount of time current owners have been primary investors in their teams is 2.46 years. The median is 2 years. The range is 0.25-8 years. 21 out of the 29 (72.4 percent) teams have had ownership groups invested for three years or less.

There are currently only eight (27.6 percent) ownership groups that have committed to their team for four active years: Indy Eleven’s Ersal Ozdemir, OKC Energy FC’s “Prodigal LLC,” Tampa Bay Rowdies’ Bill Edwards, Ottawa Fury FC’s “Ottawa Sports and Entertainment,” Pittsburgh Riverhounds’ Terry Shallenberger, a subset of Phoenix Rising FC’s ownership and Charlotte Independence’s Queen City Soccer Club.

Of the eight, Independence ownership recently brought on additional investors, while Bill Edwards has been rumored to be looking for the same. Also, the future of Ozdemir’s commitment to Indy XI seems equivocal after it was revealed that Ozdemir may have lost around twenty million dollars on the club.

The major outlier is the Richmond Kickers ownership who, per a team spokesperson, has invested in the club since 2010. Per our analysis, that makes them the most committed owners in lower-division soccer.

There seem to be three ownership models currently in the USL. The early teams, who are trying to decide between selling and finding additional investors to mitigate losing millions each year. And MLS dreamers, who are investing heavily in their teams in order to attract the roving Eye of Garber. And finally, there has been a recent influx of owners in the USL who happen to also own baseball teams. By investing in soccer, these owners are able to drive more tickets and schedule more dates into their baseball stadiums.

This triumvirate set of owners are using disparate methodological solutions to the problem.

THE SOLUTIONS

There are a few solutions that this author can think of. None of these solutions manage to immediately bring teams into financial balance. However, perhaps the implementation of one or more of these solutions would incentivize owners to stay with their teams for longer than a couple of years by reducing the magnitude of their losses and increasing revenue.

1. Wait for organic growth

This is the conservative option that all of us assume is happening and want to believe in. There is some evidence supporting it. Per the USL’s franchise agreement provided to Soc Takes by a source, the expansion fee for the USL has increased from $3 million to $5 million. Therefore, an owner can simply hope to recoup his investment by eventually selling his team at an appreciated dollar amount. Yet, unless the value of USL clubs increases significantly, it is difficult to see an offset of annual losses amounting in millions.

The other ways organic growth can help mitigate costs are rising attendance and increased corporate interest in lower-division soccer. Currently, it is an open secret that teams are vastly over-reporting their attendance numbers. These attendance numbers are providing a false sense of security to lower-division fans.

The truth is, teams are not generating enough gate revenue to offset costs. Perhaps that will change as the USL continues to strengthen, but we are nowhere close to that reality. Certainly, upcoming USL teams are promising expansive stadium seating of 15,000.

The USL and its teams (such as Las Vegas Lights FC) have made some strong moves in the corporate sponsor market of late. Most notably, the USL’s partnership with ESPN+. But here’s the thing with the ESPN+ deal. Per the USL franchise agreement, teams will have to pay the league a “television participation fee” now that the league has a national television contract. Moreover, teams are responsible for producing and financing their own TV production. So unless the league is, in turn, paying out to USL teams, this will mean more of a financial burden for owners. And this isn’t a partisan issue. The NASL had a similar clause in its contract and presumably functioned the same way — placing all the financial burden of TV production onto owners.

Bananas isn’t it?

Perhaps if the USL, as a league, is able to attract larger sponsors — and they really should given they are in dozens of markets — that money could filter down to teams and make this sustainable.

But we aren’t there yet. And I’m not certain we will be soon enough to stop losing owners.

2. The MLS + soccer-specific stadium carrot

An early stadium rendering of Cashman Field. Credit: USL

“Oh, we’re halfway there. Oh, oh, living on a prayer,” are the immortal words of Mr. Jon Bon Jovi, once himself an owner of a lower-division professional team.

If owning a team is halfway there, teams such as the Tampa Bay Rowdies, FC Cincinnati, Indy Eleven, San Antonio, North Carolina FC, St. Louis FC, Sacramento Republic, etc., are living on a prayer.

That prayer is that they spend a few years in the lower division, and then get to enjoy the golden (financial) shower of MLS expansion. With MLS expansion comes an increase in TV revenue, spendthrift sponsors and the chance to join Zlatan’s league.

But in order to achieve that dream, these teams need to secure a soccer-specific stadium. The premise of this argument is accurate. Owning your own stadium cuts your operational cost — particularly rent — significantly. It also brings tickets and concessions straight to your pocket and gives you more control over your financial destiny. But, you are still relying on the organic attendance growth required in solution 1. And is it difficult to convince a taxpayer to set aside 0.0000002 cents of his or her tax bill towards a niche sport? You bet it is. Especially when you come to them with this pitch:

“If you help us, we might be awarded with MLS expansion.” To which most of them respond, “What is MLS?” To which you respond, “Soccer.” To which you are laughed out of city meetings.

So, in lieu of taxpayer subsidies, where is the money for stadiums coming from? The owners, thereby increasing their investment further.

Oh, and in case you hadn’t heard, within the next 3-4 years, the MLS carrot will also have disappeared. Also, it is clear that you could spend years working toward an MLS bid (Sac Republic/San Antonio) only to see a city that had yet to play a pro soccer game be awarded an MLS bid ahead of you (city rhymes with Smashville).

3. Promotion-relegation 

Don’t get triggered, the following section will annoy both sides of the argument.

Let me start by saying this — I genuinely believe that promotion-relegation is the best solution to the hemorrhaging money. Prima facie, it will cease the blood flow and lead to an influx of fresh, oxygenated blood. Even if you believe pro-rel is a communist concept started by the Illuminati to control Alex Jones’ brain, you have to admit this:

A person/company is more likely to invest in a lower-division professional soccer team if they know that that team has the possibility of being in MLS someday soon. The possibility of hypothetical Team X joining MLS every season would result in investors and sponsors viewing Team X as a commodity with tremendous growth potential.

“But what about the possibility of relegation, wouldn’t that drive away potential investors, ya idiot?” At this point, outside of Soccer Twitter, nobody knows the difference between the USL, NASL, NPSL, PDL, UPSL, MSNBC, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine that the few investors interested in lower-division soccer would turn away on the possibility of relegation.

Based on that simple premise, promotion-relegation is the best solution for the constant turnover of owners and teams due to financial losses. I’m not talking about sporting merit, I’m not talking about player development, etc. Simply money.

Money earned by owners, as a result of the possibility of promotion would include the aforementioned investors, but also the possibility of revenue generated by gaining promotion. As things stand, there is no financial incentive (see solution 6) to winning. That should change in concert with promotion-relegation.

However, it must be stated that not all the aforementioned owners believe in the viability of pro-rel as a mechanism to help their financial situation. Owner of Team E told Soc Takes, “I am not convinced that a magical pool of sponsors exists that is waiting for promotion-relegation to happen. I just don’t think we’re there yet.”

Moreover, convincing MLS owners of promotion-relegation is arguably more difficult than convincing taxpayers to provide subsidies for soccer.

Therefore, while I believe promotion-relegation to be the best option for the financial health of lower-division soccer, I also believe that is very unlikely to happen soon enough to abrogate the loss of owners/teams.

4. Keep dropping player/staff and/or their wages

This is the easy one. And given wages are occasionally half of all expenditure (see Table 2), it is one that owners seem to focus on. In a separate article, I’ll show that players are being offered relatively low wages for joining USL. The need to cut wages has lead to lower-division clubs behaving in irresponsible ways, potentially resulting in unfair treatment of players and staff.

In other words, this is happening and will continue to happen until owners can find ways to increase revenue.

5. The USL heel-turn 

The idea that eventually the USL will compete with MLS for Division I sanctioning is popular on Twitter. There is one circumstantial piece of evidence, the fact that Chicago might have a USL team with a soccer-specific stadium that would compete with the Chicago Fire. Yet, in all my conversations with a plethora of USL personnel, none of them have given any credence to this idea. Moreover, given the close business ties between the USL and MLS, I believe that this idea is completely without merit.

Will USL finally turn heel? (Huge thanks to @Jeremyya for generously designing this GIF for us).

6. Prize money

Professional soccer involves professional soccer players. Professional soccer players are remunerated for doing their jobs. Incredibly, in America, professional soccer teams are not remunerated for success.

In 2017, how much did the San Francisco Deltas win in prize money for winning the NASL? Zero dollars. How much did Louisville City FC win in prize money for winning the USL? Zero dollars.

That’s absurd. Currently, winning an entire league — on the back of 20-plus games, a season of travel and salaries — is worth only bragging rights. Yet again, absurd.

Given the $3-$5 million expansion fees for the two leagues, given they earned millions when teams joined MLS due to their “upward mobility fees,” it is shameful that neither league provided any financial remuneration for their best teams. By my estimation, (See Tab 3 of table), USL has earned over 60M in fees between 2017-2018. While it is indisputable that the league has a healthy and professional front office, at this point, some of that income must be directed towards a winning purse.

This should be low-hanging fruit. Professional leagues must provide a sliding scale of winnings to winners, runners up, semi-finalists, etc. And based on the consistent income of expansion fees and upward mobility fees, the NASL and USL should have been doing this for many years.

CONCLUSION

In the absence of promotion-relegation, lower-division soccer will continue to be a turnstile for owners who have no means to curtail ugly financial losses. It is indisputable that from a financial standpoint, Major League Soccer is a success story, yet that success is not translating to the other realms of professional soccer.

While many of us hope that lower-division soccer will continue to grow organically, that growth has been bradycardic under the current system. In order to retain and attract owners, novel solutions will need to be found. Or else, the successes we are experiencing in lower-division soccer will someday merely be remembered as “The Golden Era,” an era of immense potential, but one which — in spite of all the masturbatory celebration on social media — remained “Too Small to Succeed.”

CAVEATS

The longevity data in Table 1 is missing antecedent data, such as stable ownership of the Charlotte Independence (which would push the average upward) or data from now-defunct NASL clubs such as the Deltas, Rayo OKC, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, etc (which would push the average downward).

The financial data in Table 2 is messy; some of it is estimated and all of it is self-reported without independent verification from Soc Takes. There is also a potential issue of biased sampling; it is likely a story such as this would attract owners who are unhappy at the current state of U.S. Soccer, thereby over-representing the financial problems at hand.

It has also been pointed out that investment in lower-division anything is designed to fail. But if you’re sitting around analyzing everything through the lens of “nothing will change, so why bother pointing it out,” perhaps you need a snack.

Follow Nipun on Twitter: @NipunChopra7.

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Photo credit: Artecorte

INDIANAPOLIS — ¡Viva Cuba! Indiana Futsal has partnered with Cuban-based art, sport and culture nonprofit Artecorte to co-host two futsal tournaments and build a public futsal court in Havana. And to do so, Indiana Futsal needs your assistance.

The organization will send a five-person contingent to Cuba next month to — along with Artecorte — run the two May events, aid in the art direction and construction of the court, and brainstorm ways to provide youths with access to the sport. Indiana Futsal has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the endeavor. Donations of all sizes are being accepted to help cover the group’s travel costs, extended stay in Cuba and resources provided to build the court and host the tournaments.

“I am most looking forward to connecting with the futsal community in Havana and building the relationships between the Indiana Futsal team and Artecorte,” Indiana Futsal director Justin Becht told Soc Takes.

Photo credit: Artecorte

During the group’s first weekend in Havana, they’ll help run a U16 boys futsal tournament, the second annual La Liga Cuba Futsal Tournament. The following weekend, they’ll help put on the inaugural Women’s Open Futsal Tournament, from which the first-ever official Cuba women’s national futsal team will be derived.

The two competitions will take place on the city’s existing futsal courts; the creation of the new court is a future objective for which plans will be set in place during the visit. The court’s design will be handled by Artecorte and local artists to heavily reflect Cuban culture, with input also coming from Indiana Futsal.

• Click here to donate to Indiana Futsal’s GoFundMe page.

“The idea for this trip came from a conversation with (former Indy Eleven director of community relations and international markets) Guy-Jo Gordon, whose mom is Cuban,” Becht explained. “He visited Cuba last year and came in contact with Artecorte. Guy-Jo was introduced to Anton Buri, who ran La Liga Cuba, the first inaugural tournament that launched the whole idea. Guy-Jo connected Anton and myself to talk about futsal and brainstorm a possible event. Anton wanted to add a level of legitimacy and professionalism to the event, we wanted to learn more about the growth of futsal in Cuba and how they connect with their community.”

Photo credit: Artecorte

Artecorte is a community-oriented nonprofit that actually started out as “a cultural project to reunite barbers and hairdressers to promote and dignify their trade” in Cuba, per its website. Eventually, the organization branched out to become a beacon of art and culture in the Holy Angel (Santo Ángel) neighborhood, with a broader focus on “social, cultural, environmental and economic development.”

With the financial help of Hoosier footy supporters and soccer fans across the globe who want to be a part of this historic partnership, Indiana Futsal’s dream of creating something special alongside Artecorte for the local community in Havana will become a reality.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us and we want to show through team work we can accomplish great things, regardless of borders,” Becht said.

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.

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We’re now roughly one-quarter through the 34-game USL season, meaning most teams have played somewhere between 7 and 10 games each. As of right now, 147 of 561 matches have been played, which is 26.2 percent of the season completed. This is close enough to 25 percent for me, and I assume it’s close enough for you as well.

Quick aside, USL teams have added two games per season, taking them from 32 to 34. While generally speaking, I like having more soccer and having more games played, the number 34 is so much less satisfying than 32. Thirty-two is a power of two number, so it’s easy to divide up as much as one pleases. Thirty-four, however, is a semiprime, which means that it’s the multiple of two prime factors, 17 and two. This displeases me greatly, perhaps more so than the benefit I derive from two additional games per team.

Now back to your irregularly scheduled rambling.

For the season preview, I listed attendance and the 2017 record. Since directly comparing records gets weird when teams haven’t played the same number of games, I’m not going to do that here. We’ll be looking at points per game, which makes more direct comparisons possible. For attendance, I’ll be borrowing from Mike Pendleton’s lovely attendance tracking graphics, because I can’t be bothered to make a fourth spreadsheet for this story. Oh, and we’ll be going alphabetically through the teams, mirroring the layout from my season preview. And with that, let’s begin our USL Western Conference Q1 progress report.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks

* Points per Game: 1.273, 10th in West (-.102 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,108, 22nd in USL (-8.3% from 2017)

In my preview, I mentioned two specific things: continuously rising attendance, and a potential return to 2016 form. So far, the opposite has happened. The team is currently on its slowest points pace in the past three seasons, and attendance has dipped slightly. However, it was really, really cold in Colorado Springs through March and April, and they still managed to keep crowds north of 2,500. More importantly, their two most recent games drew crowds of 3,830 and 4,039. So really, not much to worry about at the moment. If summer weather can bring with it bigger crowds and better results, they’ll be fine and likely competing for the bottom two playoff spots.

Fresno FC

* Points per Game: 1.091, 12th in West
* Average Attendance: 5,361, 11th in USL

Fresno is very quietly getting things together in all the right ways. The team is starting to mesh better, results are coming gradually and support is solid. While they’ve only won two games, they lead the league in draws with six, and they’ve yet to lose a game by more than one goal. I don’t think they’re playoff bound just yet, but they’re moving in the right direction for an expansion team. They also have one of the best logos I’ve seen in years as their secondary logo. I strongly encourage them to adopt that as their primary crest.

#FresnoFC releases mascot & alternate logo for upcoming season. The Fox will also be referred to as “The Foxes & Los Zorros” (via @FresnoFC2018) pic.twitter.com/Tyd8ySJfaH

— Tommy Tran (@TommyTranTV) November 7, 2017

LA Galaxy II

* Points per Game: 0.667, 15th in West (-.240 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 1,087, 31st in USL (-10.5% from 2017)

Conceding nearly two goals per game? Check. Sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference? Check. Barely anyone there to see it? Check. It’s business as usual for Los Dos, except that the offense is looking much better. Fifteen-year-old Efrain Alvarez and teammate Ethan Zubak both scored hat tricks against Saint Louis FC, and the constant roster rotation isn’t disrupting their attacking play as much as expected. But really, the point of this team isn’t to win games or trophies, it’s to develop players. So, whatever, I guess.

Las Vegas Lights FC

* Points per Game: 1.250, 11th in West * Average Attendance: 8,175, 5th in USL

* Meme Game: Even Danker

Y’all. This team. Where do I even begin? The mascot is an Elvis impersonator, they have live llamas at most events, Chelis got himself ejected and suspended for referee abuse, and the fans absolutely love it. Even when the team is losing, they’re still one of the most exciting, genuinely fun to watch teams in the league, and I’m loving every moment of it. Just as I said in my preview, keep doing exactly what you’re doing, my dudes.

OKC Energy FC

* Points per Game: 0.333, 17th in West (-1.198 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,863, 16th in USL (-8.6% from 2017)

A month ago, I wrote an article entitled “What’s going on with Energy FC?” I think we’re due for a sequel. Back then, the team had lost four games in a row. It has since extended to eight games. Eight. The team has only scored three goals all season, and hasn’t scored at all since March. That’s 519 minutes since their last goal and counting. This is the worst streak in the club’s history. Only two teams in modern USL history have lost eight or more consecutive games: FC Montreal in 2016 and Antigua Barracuda in 2012-13. These are two teams you never want to be compared to. Even last year’s Timbers 2 had a better start to the season, with a win, draw and five total goals through nine games. Yes, that Timbers 2 that I called “the hottest garbage I’ve ever seen in USL history.” This week, they play twice, once in the Open Cup against NTX Rayados in Dallas and once at home against Colorado Springs. They desperately need to win these two to turn their season around.

Orange County SC

* Points per Game: 1.700, 4th in West (+.356 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,074, 23rd in USL (+19.6% from 2017)

Here’s something I find unusual: I completely forgot to write a segment on Orange County SC in my preview piece and literally no one noticed (or at least no one mentioned anything to me). I added one later after the piece had been live for over a day when I finally realized my mistake. Anyway, this team has turned things completely around from last year. Thomas Enevoldsen is looking like he just might be the best attacking player on the team, and Andre Rawls has been an absolute beast, tied for the league lead in saves and clean sheets. Braeden Cloutier is proving himself as a head coach and is almost certainly drawing the attention of a few MLS teams by now. Off the field, the average attendance is growing at a fantastic pace, already triple their average from 2016. By just about every metric, they’re already on pace for their best ever season. Excellent, excellent work.

Phoenix Rising FC

* Points per Game: 2.100, 2nd in West (+.288 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 6,566, 8th in USL (+7.2% from 2017)

Phoenix might just be the one team in the West capable of overtaking the Butterflies. Their offense is the best in the league so far, even without Didier Drogba’s four goals in four games. Solomon Asante is proving himself as a constant threat and both keepers are putting up consistent numbers. Off the field, attendance is still growing, averaging 366 “above capacity.” They even pulled a crowd of 7,332 for their most recent home game. Everything is going exactly as they hoped.

Portland Timbers 2

* Points per Game: 1.700, tied 4th in West (+1.231 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 1,840, 27th in USL (-27.1% from 2017)

T2 has already guaranteed a better record than last year, simply by winning five games. Simply in terms of change in points per game, they’re the single most improved team in USL by a substantial margin. For me, the single biggest catalyst for improvement is new head coach Cameron Knowles. Loads of players were re-signed, and yet they’re consistently looking good. Not only that, but they’re getting results on the road. T2 are probably going to make the playoffs, but more importantly, their players are playing in a positive environment. Now they have time to focus on proper branding.

Real Monarchs SLC

* Points per Game: 2.444, 1st in West (+.351 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 2,111, 26th in USL (-18.1% from 2017)

In my USL preview, I said to expect more good things from the Monarchs, and they’ve certainly provided. They’re the first team to hit 7 wins this season and they’ve been consistently strong against any opposition. Furthermore, no single player has been a vital component without whom the team struggles. They’re managing heavy squad rotation with ease. Also, that new venue is open, it looks absolutely fantastic and the team has more professional facilities dedicated to it than most of the top independent teams. This is how you run an MLS reserve team in the USL. The only thing I don’t understand is why people aren’t showing up to their games.

Reno 1868 FC

* Points per Game: 1.300, 9th in West (-.544 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,891, 15h in USL (-30.0% from 2017)

Reno started the season with a bit of a sophomore slump, going winless through their first four games. But since then, the team has found the same sort of form they had last year with three consecutive shutouts and a win against Sacramento. Antoine Hoppenot has continued to do his thing, and the team is still finding the back of the net consistently despite the loss of Dane Kelly. While the attendance isn’t looking great, those early season games were colder than expected and attendance is already trending upward. Reno is almost certainly going to be just fine this year.

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros

* Points per Game: 0.889, 13th in West (-.205 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 5,657, 10th in USL (-20.0% from 2017)

RGV has been rather unlucky so far this year. All three losses have been by a single goal, and they went winless through the first five games. They’ve only been shutout twice. If they can stop conceding late goals and fix their own goal problems, they’ll be alright. Maybe not a playoff team, but definitely capable of making things interesting come September. Attendance might be down, but they’re still north of 5,000 so I’m not too worried.

Sacramento Republic FC

* Points per Game: 1.800, 3rd in West (+.363 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 11,569, 3rd in USL (+0.0% from 2017)

Sacramento is off to a great start in 2018. They’re third in the Western Conference, third in points per game in the West and third in league attendance as they continue their sellout streak from last year. They’ve had a bit of luck go their way, but still have a problem keeping games under control in the final half hour or so. A bit of defensive stability could take them to the championship game. But really, they’re gonna be fine as is. The two new hires in Todd Dunivant and Simon Elliott have both looked like great additions already, and the team continues to show everyone how it’s done.

Saint Louis FC

* Points per Game: 1.400, 8th in West (+.275 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,941, 14th in USL (-13.8% from 2017)

I wondered back in March whether Anthony Pulis inherited his father’s ability to eke out results, and so far, it’s looking pretty good. Saint Louis have managed to turn losses into draws late in the game on several occasions already. They’re not playing a high-scoring, free-flowing, beautiful brand of soccer, but they’re getting it done one 1-0 win and 1-1 draw at a time. The only real outlier was that chaotic howler in Los Angeles, where two children scored hat tricks for Los Dos. Anyway. Things are working as anticipated and I’m expecting them to finally make the playoffs.

San Antonio FC

* Points per Game: 1.444, 7th in West (-.493 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 6,998, 7th in USL (-2.2% from 2017)

San Antonio haven’t replicated their season-opening form from last year, but they’re not looking all that bad either. They’ve been a low-scoring, get-it-done style of team since their debut, and it’s really business as usual in 2018. They’ve only lost twice and they’re riding a four-game unbeaten streak. Attendance-wise, San Antonio continues to do great, and that tiny dip will have disappeared by midsummer. They also have the benefit of a three-game home stand in June to help them move up the table. I don’t think this team will finish as high as last year, but they’re gonna make the playoffs and hopefully make some noise in October.

Seattle Sounders FC 2

* Points per Game: 0.778, 14th in USL (-.191 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,513, 20th in USL (+240.0% from 2017)

S2 is a team with two different stories on and off the field. Results wise, they’re losing a lot. They lost a lot last year, they lost a lot in 2016 and they’ve already lost six games this season. But they’re a reserve team and they’re actually not playing half bad. One particular bright spot is Felix Chenkam, already sitting on four goals and looking better and better each game. John Hutchinson is doing his best with the constant player rotation and call-ups to MLS, and I don’t think this team will struggle all season. That said, I don’t think they’re making the playoffs. Off the field though, the move to Tacoma is paying off in spades. Attendance is way, way up, ahead of six independent teams and behind only one other MLS reserve side. If they get their own stadium and Tacoma-specific branding soon, they’ll be north of 5K easily.

Swope Park Rangers

* Points per Game: 1.667, 6th in West (-.146 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 924, 32nd in USL (-9.0% from 2017)

The increasingly inaccurately named Swope Park Rangers are pretty good. Kharlton Belmar leads the USL in scoring with eight goals so far, Hadji Barry is tied for the lead in assists with four and the team has only lost twice. Any team that can go to Phoenix and leave with a point is at minimum a pretty good team. Statistically speaking, they’re not quite as good as last year, but they’re in the top eight and will likely stay there all season. Attendance-wise, the move to suburbia has lowered their already paltry attendance even further, which is unfortunate but also expected.

Tulsa Roughnecks FC

* Points per Game: 0.556,16th in West (-.882 from 2017)
* Average Attendance: 3,318, 21st in USL (-13.8% from 2017)

Tulsa is in for a long, looooong season. Their defense allows the most shots and goals in the Western Conference, their offense has been the second worst in the West and Fabian Cerda is not superhuman enough to compensate. He actually leads the league in saves — tied with Andre Rawls in Orange County — simply because he’s faced so many shots already. The team as a whole leads the league in red cards with four already. Whenever a team loses a number of starting players, it hurts, and Tulsa is hurting badly. It’s not going to get much better over their remaining 25 games, either.

So, that’s the USL Western Conference at roughly one-quarter completion. I hope you enjoyed this mess and I hope you’re enjoying the USL. It’s already been a lot of fun and there are still hundreds more games left to be played.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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Tommy Heinemann scored a brace during SF Deltas’ home win against North Carolina FC. Credit: SF Deltas

Two years ago, Heinemann was hot property. On the back of a 15-goal season with then-league runners up Ottawa Fury, Heinemann was sought-after by many NASL and USL clubs. Last season, partly due to the signing of Joe Cole, Heinemann found himself rarely playing 90′ at Rowdies, and often came on as a substitute. He ended his time at Rowdies with a meager 4 goals.

In the first two games of the SF Deltas’ 2017 season, Heinemann has played the entirety of the 180′ as well as managed to bag an excellent brace to help SF Deltas to their first league win of their existence.

Wolf-man/Teen-Wolf/Remus Lupin (I’m taking credit for the last one) Heinemann plays at the apex of the 4-3-3/diamond 4-4-2 hybrid employed by coach Marc dos Santos. Remus Heinemann TM took his two chances excellently and also managed to create a couple of chances for his teammates. For Deltas’ first goal, Heinemann dropped deep, evaded challenges and sprayed the ball to the right flank. He then ghosted into the box and tapped in the resultant cross.

His second goal was a work of art; Heinemann collects the ball from Pablo Dyego midway between the box and the halfway line. With his second touch, he nutmegs Edmonton’s CB  Connor Tobin. His third is a terrific left-footed finish into the goal. Definitely worth a watch.

Heinemann also excelled in his defensive duties – clearing two crosses from set pieces. No surprise that he  ended up being named NASL’s player of the week.

So while this game will be remembered for Dyego’s goal of the season contender, let’s not forget that the Tommy Lupin TM is back!

Jimmy Maurer

Jimmy Maurer made eight saves for NY Cosmos. Credit: NY Cosmos

After the game, I kept wondering how Cosmos managed to beat Miami FC. Twitter reminded me of the crucial role Maurer played in the win against a superior Miami FC side. This was a truly heroic performance by Jimmy Maurer. Maurer made 8 saves in the game, which is more than any other keeper in any game this season.

To give you an idea of how important Maurer has been to Cosmos’ 4 points this season, consider this statistic: Maurer has made 16 saves in the first 3 games of the season. In terms of saves made, his nearest competitor is NCFC’s Bryan Sylvestre with 9 saves.

The peak of his performance was around the 18′. First Maurer parried a cross sent across the box by Vincenzo Renella, and then recovered to make a fantastic diving save from Calvin Rezende. As the commentator remarked after the play, “…it was only going to be saved by Maurer.” True dat.

(Note: Ryan Richter’s cross for Cosmos’ first goal was fantastic. The bending cross from overlapping fullbacks is a dying art; as these days full backs tend hit crosses flat along the ground. The shape of that delivery is a must-see for any coach trying to teach their kids how to cross a ball accurately.)

Framinho

A fantastic performance from an experienced NASL veteran. Framinho played a massive part in deciding two games in GW3. Preventing three goals in the Miami v Cosmos game and two goals in the Jacksonville v Edmonton game. El Framinho was in playoff form. Occasionally, veterans can show early season fitness issues, and this proved to be true during both games, as Framinho only showed up for one half in each of those games.

Framinho going through his warm ups. Credit: Procage

Unfortunately for Miami and Edmonton, it was during the half during which they trying to score on the well-traveled footballing legend.

The sign of a true footballer is his/her ability to use different parts of their body equally well; like Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Framinho falls into this category ; as he used his head and both appendages to prevent multiple goals in those games.

Ambidextrous, consistent, diligent and strong. Never change, Framinho.

You can find Nipun and SocTakes on twitter at NipunChopra7 and SocTakes.

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