The South Georgia Tormenta FC slipped past the visiting FC America CFL Spurs 1-0 to gain a Round 2 berth in the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Tuesday night in Statesboro, Ga. It marked the third straight tournament where Tormenta FC has won their opening round game.
The USL League One Tormenta saw a very evenly played 90 minutes of Cup soccer from the visiting amateur side from Florida, who were up for the match and keen for its Cup debut.
The lone goal of the evening was off the head of Tormenta winger Nick Akota in the fifth minute as he neatly tucked the driven Ajmeer Spengler cross into the low-near post just out of reach of the sprawling Spurs’ keeper. This would prove to be enough to see Tormenta into the next round.
Tormenta Head Coach Ian Cameron praised both individual and team performances on the evening.
“I though Niall Watson came in and did a really nice job tonight,” Cameron said. “He made a lot of runs off the backline either to get in or make space for his teammates.”
A flick from Niall, a cross from Ajmeer, and a diving header from Nick ????#ForThe912 | 1-0 pic.twitter.com/BtrMxGuo6P
— South Georgia Tormenta FC (@Tormenta_FC) March 19, 2024
For the others it was about management according to Cameron with the quick turnaround from USL League One action on Saturday to the US Open Cup match on Tuesday.
“From Saturday the movement of the frontline had to get better and a willingness to mix up the game between playing it and being more direct,” Cameron said. “We probably flipped the wrong way and went too direct at times but that’s with no training and that’s just off video. That’s improvement from Saturday but we have more things to work on.”
The early minutes of the match that were all Tormenta seemed to flip to the Spurs as they became more aggressive and direct over the next 15 minutes of play. Several waves of Spurs’ attacks had Tormenta pinned deep in their defensive third as the hosts absorbed the pressure and weathered the storm.
Tormenta goalkeeper Drew Romig made a spectacular diving save in the 15th minute as centerbacks Jake Dengler and Preston Kilwien settled down the back line and was able to answer every Spurs question to keep the hosts in the advantage.
In the 20th minute, Tormenta took the air out of the game and began to circulated the ball around their half to regain the momentum and control of the match. A ball off the post and several other scrambles inside the box including what looked like a handball on Spurs saw Tormenta go into the halftime break winning 1-0.
The second half saw mostly Tormenta possession translating into pressure on the Spurs defense but with neither team able to outduel their opponents in front of goal to find the critical final touch. Late in the match, Spurs made a few final attacks throwing everything forward but just couldn’t break down the concentrated Tormenta defensive block to level the match.
Tormenta travels to Richmond for league play this weekend and then looks forward to the US Open Cup match in two weeks.
“If we are lining up on a field, if we’re in a parking lot, I don’t care. If we’re playing another team, we’re going to try and win the game,” Cameron said.
