Stormwatch912

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC The problem with waiting until now to post this is that all the good "I wasn't accidentally added to the group text" jokes have already been made. But no, I have not been added to the Tormenta Coaching Staff group text where they discuss tactics and strategy.  But we won’t let that deter us from our appointed rounds as we forge ahead, steadfast in the knowledge that South Georgia’s game plan is more secure than our National Security. Omaha has been the class of USL1. I don’t think there’s any denying that. I suppose in the land of Alternative Facts you could deny it, but if nothing else, we try to spend our time in this reality. They were the best team in the regular season last year and also earned another star with their romp through the playoffs.  And as Bryan from the League One On the Rocks podcasts likes to point out, Tormenta has never beaten Omaha. Is this the match that streak ends?  While they lost some key players from last year’s squ...

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC I hate trying to come up with titles to these things. Three in the Wall just means we've got three distinct sections. Maybe we'll stick with it, maybe not.  When last week started, I figured it would be a nice, relatively slow week. Tormenta had a Thursday match in the US Open Cup and a weekend off and so I wasn't expecting a lot. Wow was I wrong.  Tuesday night I got a message from the Tormenta Media Relations staff letting me know there was going to be a press conference Wednesday with Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron and Co-Owner and President Darin Van Tassell. Specifics weren't given, just that it related to USL news.  A few hours later, The Athletic  reported that the USL owners had agreed by a supermajority vote to implement Promotion and Relegation within the USL system. Details haven't been announced, or even fully finalized, but if you're reading this, you likely know that resulted in a flurry of articles and podcasts and reportin...

It was a good weekend for Tormenta. Yaniv Bazini scored his first two professional goals after being a standout at the University of Vermont. Goalkeeper Austin Pack made a couple of saves and the defense played well even as AV Alta maintained possession for a good part of the game. It was an exciting game, though even I was getting a little annoyed at the time wasting by Tormenta in which multiple players were issued yellow cards for. (My game story from the Statesboro Herald can be found here. ) Where Is Everyone? The attendance was reported at 539 and, to be honest, even that seemed high (granted, I thought the reported attendance last week of 911 seemed low as it looked like more people were there.) What that means is I'm going to try not to come across as defensive as I get into this section.  I'm not above laughing a a fun joke about sports attendance. Did I closely follow the Oakland Athletics' attendance last year to see if it would average more than the capacity for...

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Tormenta will take on AV Alta Saturday night. I've already expressed my complaints that Antelope Valley isn't actually named after Antelope, but Pronghorns , but I've failed to take into account what Alta means. As one does, I went straight to the source, wikipedia, where I learned Alta could stand for a number of things. My initial hope was that AV Alta was named after the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance , but it turns out that is an initiative between Russia and western conservation organizations to secure a future for both Amur Leopards and Amur Tigers in far eastern Russia and northeast China. So likely not the source of our AV Alta.  After quickly realizing the acronyms listed on Wikipedia were likely a dead end (again, I assumed it wasn't the Australeasian Language Technology Association ) so we had to take a new approach if this mystery was to be solved. (To be clear, a mystery to me, I'm sure many, many people knew the answer alrea...

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC All the talk and preseason prognostications came to end Friday night as Tormenta and Richmond stepped on the field to open the 2025 campaign. While Tormenta dominated possession, it was Richmond who took advantage of their limited opportunities, at one point having three goals scored on just four touches inside the Tormenta penalty area .  "For how many goals they had and how many attacks, that ratio, we've got to look at that and work it out because I imagine they arrived five or six times and scored four goals off it," Tormenta manager Ian Cameron said. "That'e really clinical. It looks really bad. But at the same token, I think it's just a couple of areas that we have to clean up and we certainly got punished on it tonight." Here's a link to my game recap at the Statesboro Herald.   Now that the season is finally underway (well, eight teams still need to kick off, but I don't make the schedule so please don't blam...

The entirety of existence in the universe has been leading up to this moment. That may be a bit overdramatic, even if it's factually true, when it comes to tonight's Tormenta vs. Richmond match. I mean, technically it's true when you sit down for that meeting that could have been an email or when you're scrolling through Netflix on a Friday night and just decide to start How I Met Your Mother for the fifth time. Setting aside the billions of years and millions of decisions large and small that have gotten us to where we are today, we're here now, and there's a game to play. It's the first game of the USL League One season. Spring is... well not officially here but it's certainly within shouting distance. A revamped Tormenta team will be looking to recapture the glory days of 2022 that saw them claim a title. (I'm so glad the preseason is finally over so I can stop saying "retooled" or "revamped" or "overhauled")   Richmo...