Welcome to Miami

Niall Watson's three goals across all competitions have been
critical to Tormenta's early season success. (photo from Tormenta FC)

I almost went with Ian Cameron and the Goblet of Fire for the title, but I never actually read the Harry Potter books and while goblet is a fun word, using it in place of Cup for the Open Cup seemed a bit much. But hey, if Tormenta wins, there's always the next round.

Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron has said he likes three-game weeks because it means South Georgia keeps winning in the Open Cup. This week isn't one of those thanks to a bye this past weekend, but a midweek Cup game and a Sunday League One game is still a good thing. We'll look ahead to Sunday's game closer to the weekend, for now, we're on our way to Miami (well, the team is, as we'll see below, I'm not going to Miami.)

Tormenta will take on Miami FC Wednesday night with kickoff at the FIU soccer stadium set for 7:30 p.m. You'll be able to stream the game here. 

Miami FC comes in to Wednesday's match with only one win in their first six games on the season. Miami is coming off a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rowdies last Thursday and have not pitched a shutout since their season-opening win against Colorado Springs.

Tormenta fans will see a couple of familiar faces on the Miami FC roster with Daltyn Knutson and Gabrial Cabral both on the Miami roster. For what it's worth (and it's worth nothing, to be clear), Cabral was my favorite player just in terms of watching him play while he was at Tormenta. He always seemed so calm and made smart decisions with the ball when he played in Statesboro and I'm excited for him that he's got the opportunity to play in Miami. Having said that, I hope he and Miami lose on Wednesday night.

For more on Miami, please go read this excellent story by Michael Battista on the "new-look Miami FC."

Just doing some box score scouting, Miami is led by former Greenville Triumph player Allen Gavilanes on offense. He has four goals so far in his six appearances so far for Miami. Four other players, including Cabral, each have one goal for Miami so far this season. 

Tormenta, meanwhile, comes in to Wednesday's game fresh off a bye this past weekend and riding a hot streak, combining to win two games by a combined 7-0 score the previous week against Savannah Clovers in the Open Cup and Lexington in USL1 action.

South Georgia has won its last three games against USL Championship sides in US Open Cup play in its history, having defeated Charleston and Birmingham in 2022 and Rio Grande Valley in 2023 before losing to MLS sides.

As has become a tradition during the 2024 US Open Cup, I'll once again have divided attention due to my kid. You'll recall in the opening round, my son had a high school game so I missed Tormenta's 1-0 win over FC America CFL Spurs at Tormenta Stadium. Two weeks ago, I was all set to go to the game, but my son ended up in the emergency room and I missed Tormenta's 4-0 win over Savannah.

This time, well, I wasn't going to make it Miami anyway, but my kid has a high school playoff game (boo Chamblee, go Statesboro) on Wednesday night. The good news is that game is at 5 p.m. so I should be home in time to try to catch a good part of Tormenta's game and will hopefully have a quick recap here Wednesday night or Thursday morning. For those of you who choose to skip out on some high school soccer playoff action, there is a watch party at The Clubhouse Wednesday night starting at 7 p.m.