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Changes are happening quickly for ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC. As new faces arrive and old faces get healthy, the roster decisions are going to get tougher and tougher for coach Bradley Carnell and his staff. The MLS Western Conference leaders are on track Saturday to have everyone on the team healthy for the first time all season. At practice Wednesday, City SC had 25 field players (plus three goalkeepers) taking part, making for the most crowded — and, by extension, longest — practice of the season, on probably the hottest day of the year.

It’s a challenge for everyone. The players have more competition for the 18 game-day roster spots for field players and the coaching staff has tougher decisions to make about who plays and who doesn’t.

“I’m trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle to be successful against each opponent,� Carnell said. “So that might be in a certain formation. It might be in certain personnel. But the luxury in having that is now the competition for places. It’s up to us now to manage the group and manage the expectations and keep guys sort of modest and grounded and humble and when we get our number called that we empty the tank for the team.�

“You’re talking about possibly getting to full strength with 10 games left,� said center back and vice captain Tim Parker, “so it’s a good problem to have. I think there’s worse problems to have in this league.�

The kind of decisions the staff has to make were evident Sunday against Austin FC. Midfielder Miguel Perez and defender Lucas Bartlett, who have been regulars in the starting lineup throughout the season, along with midfielder Isak Jensen and defender Selmir Pidro spent last week training with City2 because the coaching staff knew there was no way they were going to suit up against Austin. (With three games in eight days starting Saturday, all four are back with the first team this week.)

John Nelson, the starting left back for the first 11 games, didn’t make the game-day roster when he was eligible for the first time all season as new acquisition Anthony Markanich suited up. Midfielder Indiana Vassilev didn’t start for the first time for a reason other than rest or an injury.

And as long as the team stays healthy, that’s how it’s going to stay. Assuming Carnell sticks with Eduard Lowen and Njabulo Blom in holding midfielder roles, that leaves the coach 12 choices for four spots, or eight if each starter is subbed out, in attacking roles. Samuel Adeniran had two goals Sunday, but he initially was loaned out to San Antonio in the USL Championship because Klauss and Nicholas Gioacchini were soaking up all the minutes at striker. Once Klauss gets fully healthy, there’s the potential for him and Gioacchini to start doing that all over again.

Bring it on, said Adeniran.

“Competition makes you better, pressure makes you better,� he said. “I think if you’re shying away from the opportunity to have pressure, then you’re never going to be able to reach your full potential. I think you’ve got to focus and do what you can do, control what you can control, and leave the rest.�

“I think the competition is higher than it ever was,� said Vassilev, who may go back to the defensive midfielder role this week with Blom out because of accumulated yellow cards. “Which is a good thing. I’ve always been an advocate and always spoke about how good our internal competition is over here, because everybody gives it everything every single day on the training pitch, because they want to start on the weekend. And then once the weekend comes, you have even more of an incentive to play well because then you want to keep your spot. I put our internal competition up against probably anybody in the league, and it kind of just drives our training sessions, which is always a good thing.

“I don’t think anybody should be walking into training and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, it doesn’t matter what I do. Doesn’t matter how I train, I’m going to be fine this weekend. I’m going to start.’ That’s not how it is because our coaching staff, just the way they are, is they’re going to choose the people who they feel are going to do the best job and who they feel had the best training week. And props to them because everybody loves them and I feel like they give everybody their chances. Which is fair.�

Akil Watts spent the first four months of the season as the backup to Jake Nerwinski at right back but has started six of the team’s past eight games.

“It’s tough,� Watts said of when he was fighting for more playing time. “We’ve all been in this situation. It’s part of the game. Just continue to work hard and enjoy it.�

It’s easier, of course, when a team is winning. But Carnell thinks the way this team is built has kept the spirits high regardless.

“You can see a chemistry within our group, 25 players on the field today, there’s competition, there’s demands on the field, but they’re walking off, there’s jokes,� Carnell said. “I see them smiling, I see them joking around, wherever Indy is there’s a joke, there’s good atmosphere. Talking with players that have been on other teams, they have never felt or seen anything like this. Whoever continues to play, the other guy is just as good as the teammate who supports that player, and I know that for a fact. We don’t want to all be buddy-buddy, it’s taking positions away, game time. I don’t know what it’s doing but what I see is a good supporting group and that’s the biggest thing.�