South Georgia Tormenta FC continued its US Open Cup undefeated mark against Second Division competition as the USL League One side scored three second-half goals with a man advantage in a 4-2 victory over host USL-C’s Miami FC on Wednesday night at Florida International University.
The win gave South Georgia a third win in a single tournament for the first time in club history.
It wrapped a game full of drama that overshadowed the night with many calls from the referees coming into question that certainly gave manager Antonio Nocerino plenty to assess going forward for his team.
It was apparent in the first few minutes that Tormenta hadn’t lost momentum after a dominant Round Two win against Savannah Clovers.
Early in the first half, Tormenta seemed to step on the pedal and apply pressure, causing multiple issues at the back with Miami defender Dalton Knuston mistiming his passes playing from the back.
This sent Nocerino into a frenzy immediately, clearly not impressed with how his team was handling the game.
Nerves were on the rise as the referee made no mistake on a foul in the 13th minute by Knuston which led to a free kick outside the penalty box. The defense seemingly asleep and confused, miscommunicated with keeper Khadom Ndiaye, who could not prairie the ball properly, and fell to a simple tap-in header for defender Jake Dengler in the 12th that left Miami FC stunned in front of their fans.
Despite shouts of frustration — especially with Frank Lopez and Nicolas Cardona who seemed to not able to connect on the switch-up play — Miami immediately had their answer in the 20th minute with forward Luisinho producing a moment of brilliance turning over his marker and shooting from distance with a thunderous shot in the top right corner that even Miami’s bench stood to celebrate with the forward.
After that it was Miami’s game to play for, with Tormenta sitting back and absorbing the offensive pressure until the end of the half.
Ndiaye, who had a nightmarish first few minutes, clashed with Gabriel Rodriguez in a corner that sent both tumbling to the ground with Ndiaye instantly shown a red card without any hesitation and left Miami down to 10 men for the remaining five minutes.
Miami’s bench and staff were furious as they shouted “This is not American football! This is soccer. That is no way a red card!”
Miami FC’s academy product Daniel Gagliardi came in as a substitute keeper. Making his debut at only 19 years old, he seemingly showed no nerves.
With Miami stuck in their half in the final minutes, all they did well was hope and pray for another moment of brilliance. Their prayers were surprisingly answered quickly after Frank Lopez wrestled out defender Callum Stretch — beating him with physicality — and darted forward, slotting in a low cross for Luisinho to score his second of the night, sending Miami into halftime despite being a man down, 2-1.
Tormenta’s creator of ideas with two assists already in the tournament, Philip Spengler, immediately made an impact, slicing in a through pass that allowed captain Conor Doyle to tie up the match at 2-2 in the 70th.
Unlike in the first half, Miami lost its legs in the second half with their only hope being that they could maybe hold on until extra time. That never came as Tormenta, with fresh substitutes, had the team firing on all cylinders.
Tormenta scored to take the lead again, with Stretch redeeming himself after his mistake at the end of the first half from a rebounded header into the bottom corner.
With Miami having no choice but to send players forward to salvage some luck, even if it meant leaving the back exposed, it proved faulty in the end. Another corner allowed Tormenta to go on the counter which left a 3-on-2 which allowed Foneca to easily cutback and square it for late substitute Sebastian Vivas who sealed Tormenta’s comeback win in an impressive style.
Ian Cameron could be heard from the sidelines calmly congratulating his team, “Well managed lads, these things matter.”
An upset Daltyn Knuston admitted that the referee’s decision proved too much in the end.
“We knew the lead going in (second half) and we were just gonna have to sit in and try to catch a breakaway but, they kept up the pressure for 45 minutes so it was always going to be hard,” Knuston said.