PREVIEW | Indy vs. Louisville City FC

Indy Eleven will take a break from its NASL Spring Season slate - and try to change the course of its three-game losing slide - when it welcomes USL expansion outfit Louisville City FC to IUPUI's Carroll Stadium for Wednesday's Third Round clash in the 102nd edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Indy Eleven - The Boys in Blue - like the NASL's other eight American-based clubs - are entering U.S. Soccer's club championship tournament in tonight's third round.

Louisville City FC - The purple clad club ventured on the road last Wednesday to Michigan to take on NPSL side Lansing United FC and escaped with a 1-0 second round victory.  The goal would come in the 48th minute through Charlie Adams, whose shot on frame was deflected by a Lansing United defender Matt Brown and into the back of the net (officially counted as an own goal). 

FAMILIAR PLACE FOR "BOYS IN BLUE"

While Indy Eleven is in the midst of a three-game losing streak in NASL play, it can take comfort in the fact that it was in a similar slide last season when it began its U.S. Open Cup slate, having gone winless in its first seven contests before beating up then-USL PRO side Dayton Dutch Lions, 5-2, at "The Mike."  

On the flip side, Louisville City FC has no qualms about its recent form, collecting a comeback draw last weekend in Saint Louis, which followed their Open Cup win at Lansing United and league wins over Toronto FC II and the Wilmington Hammerheads the previous week.

ALREADY FAMILIAR FOES

While Louisville City FC is in its inaugural season and in a different division, Indy Eleven is already familiar with the Kentucky outfit after hosting LCFC in a preseason contest on March 21, which the visitors won by a 2-1 margin at UIndy's Key Stadium. Greg Janicki's 57th minute tally was sandwiched by goals from Niall McCabe (53^’) and Matt Fondy (64'). 

INFIRMARY UPDATE

Indy Eleven will be without the services of midfielder Sergio Peña, who continues to recover from a lower leg ailment that forced him from Saturday's match in Ottawa after a half hour.  His running mate in central midfield, Brad Ring, will be questionable for the lineup on Wednesday night after suffering from a sore right hamstring following the Ottawa match over the weekend.

On the good news side of things, defender Erick Norales suffered a dislocated right thumb in the second half on Saturday, but the gritty Honduran will be able to play through the pain and is expected to be available on Wednesday. Midfielder Dragan Stojkov has missed the last two matches due to a right ankle sprain, but the Macedonian is expected to be available for limited minutes against LCFC if called upon.

GET SMART?

Midfielder Don Smart was used to being a spark off the bench last season, but the Jamaican winger showed he could produce in a pair of starting roles as well during U.S. Open Cup play in 2014, when he assisted on a Blake Smith goal in both of Indy Eleven's tournament appearances [5-2 W v Dayton Dutch Lions on May 27; 1-2 L (aet) on June 17 at Columbus Crew].  Midfielder Dylan Mares is the only other player still on the Indy Eleven roster to have scored in USOC play last year, as he put in the fourth of Indy's five goals against Dayton in their third round encounter at Carroll Stadium.

WHO TO WATCH, INDY ELEVEN EDITION – ???

Head coach Juergen Sommer has shown that he's willing to shake up the lineup in order to get results during the team's current three-game slide. Some of that has been due to injuries and part has been due to form, but there's no escaping the fact that the search to find the team's best-look starting XI continues. With schedule congestion rearing its ugly head for the team's first three-games-in-eight-days stretch this season, it will be interesting to see how Sommer & Co. decides to manage the roster for the team's Open Cup debut - and how that plan differs from the XI that took the field Saturday up in Ottawa.

WHO TO WATCH, LOUISVILLE CITY FC EDITION – FW MATT FONDY

The reigning USL Player of the Week might seem like an obvious choice, so we're going to run with it. Fondy equalized twice in City FC's wild 3-3 comeback draw against "The Fighting Ambersleys" (aka St. Louis FC) on Saturday night. His latest brace gives Fondy five goals on the season (tied for 3rd in USL) - and four in the last two games - while his 29 shots leads the third division in attempts at goal.  Not a bad output for the former MLSer (Chicago in 2014, Chivas USA 2013) who has three links to the Indy Eleven roster in former Fire teammates Victor Pineda and Marco Franco and ex-LA Blues running mate Cory Miller (back in 2012 USL PRO season).

FIRE AWAITS THE WINNER

U.S. Soccer likes to look ahead a couple of rounds, which it did last Thursday by announcing the potential Fifth Round pairings and host locations.  The winner of the Indy Eleven-Louisville City FC affair will next travel to Chicagoland to face off against Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., on either June 16 or 17.