Kicking our heels waiting for Saturday
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| Sunset at Tormenta Stadium remains undefeated. |
So it's been a minute since I've written anything here. Sorry about that. Sometimes real life gets in the way of a blog. It'll happen again. Thanks for your understanding and patience. A lot has happened since we last met so lets get to it.
On Saturday, Tormenta got a late goal from Niall Watson in the closing minutes of stoppage time snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat. There's a link below to my story in the Statesboro Herald about that game.
On Tuesday, I watched my kid's soccer team go up 1-0, give up two goals to fall behind and then score with three minutes left in regulation to force overtime where a...let's be charitable and say it was questionable... handball call in the box against Statesboro resulted in the game winning penalty kick as the Blue Devils fell 3-2. You, however, were likely following along Tormenta's U.S. Open Cup first round game that saw Nick Akoto score early in the match and Tormenta cruise to 1-0 win. There are links below to stories about that game.
Early today (Thursday), Jackson Khoury and the Lebanese national team took on Australia with the Soccerroos pulling out a 2-0 win.
Callum Strech and Joshua Ramos also were called up to national team duty for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, respectively. All three will obviously be unavailable for Saturday's match.
Did I miss anything? Probably, but I think that brings us up to speed as Tormenta turns its attention to the first road game of the season when they travel Saturday to take on Richmond.
The Kickers fell, 2-1, in their season opener on the road at Spokane at a sold out One Spokane stadium in League One action but won 1-0 Wednesday night in their first round of the Open Cup. Old friend* Adrian Billhardt has scored both of the Kickers' goals this season. He joins other old friends Pablo Jara, Arthur Bosua and Nil Vinyals on the Kickers roster as Richmond looks to rebound after a disastrous 2023 campaign.
"When I watch from afar, I wish them all the best," Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron said at Thursday's press conference of the former Tormenta players. "When we play against them on any given Saturday we'll put that aside quite quickly and make sure we focus on the task at hand but still treasure any good moments."
"Saturday is all abut stopping them and having them have the worst performance they've ever had in their careers," he said.
As mentioned above, Tormenta will be without three guys who were called up for their national team duty as they take on Richmond.
"We're excited to get to watch them play," Cameron said. (Sorry, I didn't ask if he got up at 5 a.m. to watch Lebanon/Australia, that's my bad.) "First and foremost, to get to represent their countries is a great honor. For the squad, it's one of those where it presents an opportunity for someone else," he said, adding that they'd rather have them here than not.
What else did Cameron talk about? He said road environments like Richmond and Madison are always exciting atmospheres for players to play. "I think they're really fruitful places for the players to play. They get to celebrate the goals. They get to hush a crowd," he said. "We'll get the chance to do that Saturday and I think the boys are excited about it."
Like Richmond, Tormenta is dealing with a quick turnaround from their Open Cup game back to League One action. Cameron said these three-game weeks present challenges and force you to focus on what is most important that week.
"You've got a scarcity of time so there has to be tradeoffs," he said. "You have a hierarchy of what's the most important. X, Y, Z are the most important and you have to accept that in a normal week you may get to item four or five and give it some time. You've got to decide 'what are our big ticket items?' and make sure the team are immersed in those details."
For example, on Tuesday he wanted to give the team enough to focus on and be successful and they'll do some video review following in addition to the light training session they had today as they get ready for Richmond Saturday.
"These are pro players and they understand it's a privilege to play three games (in a week) and we want a three-game week as many times as possible because that means we're advancing in the Cup," he said.
Tormenta has had success on the road recently, finishing 7-6-3 on the road each of the past two seasons. Cameron said part of that may be attributed to playing more counterattacking as home teams may try to possess the ball more. That, in turn, can create more transitional opportunities that in the past Tormenta has been able to take advantage of.
Cameron covered a bit more, but unfortunately my day job is needing some attention so I'm going to have to end this here.
Finally, if you're in Statesboro, there's an official watch party at the Clubhouse beginning at 5:30 p.m.
*"Old friend" seems more friendly and inviting than "Former Tormenta player."
Links:
Tormenta's Clean Sheet Win In US Open Cup and also Early Diving Header by Nick Akoto gives Tormenta win over FC America CFL Spurs
Lebanese-Australian players eager to make community proud against Soccerroos (Jackson Khoury featured in the article.)
Lebanese fans celebrate despite loss.
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