Soccer Saturday - INDY ELEVEN for 01/29/22

(0:00-7:54) Greg Rakestraw is back for another edition of Soccer Saturday on 93.5 and 107.5 the Fan. He dances into the show with the United States' win over El Salvador in World Cup Qualifying in Columbus on Thursday night before setting the agenda for the rest of the show and taking a look at what the USMNT needs to do in order to make it to Qatar at the end of 2022. Finally, Greg provides news and notes surrounding the Indy Eleven. (10:56-20:43) Greg is joined by the Indy Eleven's Alann Torres and the conversation the pair had back in October of 2021. Torres is making the jump straight from the Eleven Academy team to the professional team. Greg and Alann talk about where his dream of becoming a professional soccer player began, where the opportunity to play with the Indy Eleven started and how he's balancing soccer and his course load and academics. Alann touches on which players have really taken him under their wing before Rakestraw finishes the segment with other new additions to the Academy team. (23:45-35:33) From one teenager to another, Greg is joined by Indy Eleven Academy player Palmer Ault and Palmer first talks about why it was so important to him to stick around and play his high school soccer at Noblesville. Palmer touches on how great high school soccer was before talking about graduating early to focus on training and preparing for his time with the Eleven Academy team. Ault is on his way to play for Coach Paul Snape at Butler University in the fall. Greg asks him why he chose Butler for college and then asks him why he went the soccer route rather than following his father who was once Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana. (38:35-47:13) Greg circles back to the US Men's National Team's win over El Salvador as well as what happened around the rest of the group. Rakestraw previews the rest of the US' upcoming matches including this weekend's match against Canada before transitioning to the news and notes portion of the program. He talks primarily about USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner and his move to Arsenal. (50:14-57:09) To finish a busy Saturday morning, Greg lays out the preseason schedule and regular season schedule for the Indy Eleven.