PLAYER OF THE MONTH | Indy Forward Eamon Zayed
The month of June may have only had two league games on the schedule for Indy Eleven, but forward Eamon Zayed made quite an impact in that short period of time.
The Irish veteran’s incredible hat trick against the Carolina RailHawks on June 11 helped the Boys in Blue bring home the NASL Spring Season Championship in dramatic fashion. For his heroic efforts, Zayed was voted as NASL Player of the Month.
“Individual honors are extremely rewarding, so I’m delighted, but this Player of the Month award is a reflection of the hard work and teamwork put in by all the players and staff,” Zayed said. “This was Indy Eleven’s month, but it’s only the beginning. The real challenge starts now if we want to bring home the NASL Championship.”
Indy Eleven entered its game against Carolina needing to score four goals and win by at least three, and they did just that with a 4-1 victory. Zayed found the net in the 16th, 65th, and 85th minutes to help the Boys in Blue clinch their first piece of NASL silverware and guarantee themselves a home semifinal game in The Championship, the league’s four-team postseason tournament, in November.
Zayed, 32, enters the NASL Fall Season atop the scoring chart with six league goals – one above Minnesota United’s Christian Ramirez and Rayo OKC’s Michel. In addition to scoring Indy’s biggest goals of the Spring Season, the Irish forward, who represents Libya at the international level, tallied the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Liga Bancomer MX Champion CF Pachuca on June 26.
“Down the stretch in important games leading up to the Spring Season Championship, Eamon put himself in a great spot to finish his chances and that certainly, along with our defense, was the difference maker in being able to win it,” Indy Eleven head coach Tim Hankinson said. “In a series of games like that, you have to have a striker that knows where to be, when to be there, and how to finish his chances. Eamon was crucial to our success in that area.”
The 6-foot-2 forward joined the Boys in Blue prior to the 2016 Spring Season after spending last year in the Malaysian Premier League with Sabah. Prior to that stint, Zayed was a prolific goalscorer in the League of Ireland. The Dublin native starred for the likes of Bray Wanderers, Drogheda United, Sporting Fingal, and Derry City, among others. A Leicester City youth product, Zayed has also played at the professional level in England, Norway, and Iran.
Zayed took home more individual league honors than any other NASL player over the course of the 10-game Spring Season, winning Player of the Week twice to go along with today’s Player of the Month award.
Indy returns to action this Saturday, traveling to the Caribbean to take on Puerto Rico FC in its inaugural game at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and the game can be seen live on ESPN3 (U.S.) and NASL.com (Canada).
