It was a Lamar Hunt US Open Cup instant classic Tuesday night in Statesboro, Georgia as South Georgia Tormenta defeated visiting FORO SC 3-2. The UPSL side from Texas just refused to go away and twice leveled the game in the final 20 minutes before Tormenta found the late, late winner to advance.
The match started with both teams looking to control the midfield spaces with Tormenta studying their opponent as they read and reacted to the visitors from Texas. This was all part of the plan for Tormenta Head Coach Ian Cameron.
“It was a quick turnaround (from the USL One game last Saturday) and the mentality of the group was to see what they bring and then test ourselves as a staff and players to see if we can adapt to their tactics within the game”.
In the 38th minute, Tormenta adapted their attacking pattern and found space down the right flank to drive the ball deep and FORO SC in their penalty box. The ball was then dropped to the 18 where defender JP Perez floated a ball into the center of the box as midfielder Aaron Walker rose first and rose highest to head the ball down into the left corner of the net for the 1-0 advantage.
The score line stayed in the hosts favor all the way into the 65th minute when Tormenta thought they had scored a second goal only to see the offside flag wipe it away. From this moment on the match went bonkers.
FORO SC found their first goal in the 67th minute as Gibran Rayo pressed forward from his right back position and hit a curling shot into the back post upper 90 to level the match at 1-1. FORO SC had dribbled into the attacking third of the field followed by some quick passes from the center to the right flank which opened up the Tormenta defense. This allowed the ball to be cut back to Rayo for the first-time shot at the edge of the penalty box. The scrambling Tormenta keeper Austin Pack had no chance of even getting a touch to the bending shot up over his outstretched arms.
The match picked up tempo as both teams pressed for the game-winner and Tormenta substitute Yaniv Bazini was slipped a ball at the top of the box in the 85th minute and he perfectly timed his run and calmly converted the chance versus the onrushing FORO SC keeper low to the left post for the 2-1 Tormenta lead.
FORO SC threw everything forward after the Tormenta goal and a scrambling save by Austin Pack in the 90th minute looked to preserve the result.
The following run of play saw FORO SC deliver the ball into a dangerous area of the Tormenta box where a penalty kick was won by FORO SC to send US Open Cup first round hero Brayan Padilla to the spot. Padilla converted the penalty at 90+2 minutes and again FORO SC had leveled the match and looked to be sending the match to extra time.
Tormenta forward Sebastian Vivas had other ideas and scored the decisive goal for the hosts at the 90+4 minute mark taking all the wind out of the Cupset minded FORO SC attack. Tormenta pushed the ball down the right flank and won a very physical duel 1v1 to serve the ball into Vivas at the goal box where he nodded the ball down to the right past the frozen FORO SC goalkeeper. The hosts finished out the final minutes of the match and claimed the win to advance to Round Three.
“I thought they (FORO SC) were terrific,” said Tormenta Head Coach Ian Cameron. “Their touch, their movement, their togetherness…they are all on the same page. They made it really difficult. It wasn’t just spirit, or their World Cup Final with them playing up; it was proper football they played. It was really cool to see.”
The win keeps South Georgia Tormenta’s home US Open Cup undefeated streak alive at 5-0-0 in home matches played inside Tormenta Stadium which opened in the fall of 2022
Tormenta now awaits the third round draw to see who their next opponent will be.