The NASLâ€™s only unbeaten team has a route to the Spring Season title

Photo credit: Indy Eleven/Matt Schlotzhauer

Justin Braun was not chasing the dream until the dream started chasing him.

Braun is now nine years into a professional soccer career that once seemed unattainable.

Braun was not so much scouted as a youngster as he was plucked from a mass of players at a tournament by a professional coach with a keen eye for talent (having been a talented former player himself).

In 2008, a few years after being named to the all-state first team in his junior and senior years of high school, Braun went unnoticed (he played at Salt Lake Community College). He was part of a Utah select team that went to Los Angeles to play in the amateur George F. Donnelly Cup.

One of the guys sitting in the stands at the Home Depot Center was the coach of Chivas USA, Preki Radosavljevic. He had been scouting someone else when all 6-foot-3 of Braun caught his eye.

“I guess he saw some potential in me as a player he could mold and who could excel in the right situation,” Braun, 29, now a striker for Indy Eleven, told NASL.com. “I didn’t think I played my best [at the tournament]. It was a bit surprising when he came up to me. I had an opportunity in preseason, did well the first few weeks, within two weeks I was offered a contract, and here I am nine years later. A dream and a wild ride.

“I do look back and it was odd I didn’t have any other opportunities. But Utah is not a huge soccer hotbed. I tried out for a U-17/18 traveling team but didn’t make the team. I had been playing on a local team and went around and found random guys, we wore T-shirts during games. Everything turned out for a reason.”

After 96 games and 24 goals for Chivas USA over four seasons, Braun bounced around the MLS (even playing a bit in 2012 for his hometown team, Real Salt Lake). Then that guy, Preki, called from his new landing spot with the Sacramento Republic ahead of the 2014 USL season.

“I got phone call from Preki, he described the vision,” Braun said. “He had a strong belief in me as a player. He put me back on track. He scouted me and gave me my first big chance.”

After 43 games and 12 goals over two seasons, Braun, along with defender Nemanja Vukovic, both made the jump to the NASL with Indy Eleven, and the club’s coach, Tim Hankinson.

“I just thought it was best for me to move on,” Braun said. “I had to find myself a new team so I called Peter Wilt [the club's GM]. The thing for me was the fan base. I have an opportunity to be part of something. I’m happy with the decision I made.”

Braun was vital in the Eleven remaining unbeaten with his performance against Minnesota. Photo credit: Indy Eleven/Matt Schlotzhauer

In last week’s engrossing 4-2 victory against visiting Minnesota United – in which Braun scored the eventual game-winning goal, his first in the NASL – Indy sent a message that the team’s revamped roster is up to the task of challenging for first place in the Spring Season. The Eleven are the league’s only undefeated team and could finish in the top spot if they can win their final three games (at Jacksonville, at Miami, and vs. Carolina) and have a result or two or three go their way.

“I think from Day 1 the goal was to win the Spring Season,” Braun said. “It’s a short season and you want to get out of the gate to be in that position. If you win, you automatically qualify for the postseason. Now it’s time to jell. We’ve come together well, but there’s room to improve and only get better. There have been some results where we’ve been lucky to walk away with a tie. But this is a really good locker room and I’m pretty excited about what we’ve done so far this year.”