Nick and Night
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| Did you know Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block recorded an album together? |
Typically Tormenta press conferences are... I don't want to say routine, but I have a general idea of how they're going to go. I ask about injuries and Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron doesn't get into specifics about any players. I'll ask about individuals who stood out at practice and he'll defer to talking about the team before eventually (perhaps begrudgingly, perhaps not, it's not my place to ascribe motive) he'll talk about a player that's made improvements and is pushing the coaches to make a decision about more playing time. A couple questions about the upcoming opponent, what he sees on film and what he expects and a couple questions about the team's performance, where he sees improvement and where they still need to get better, maybe we hit on a formation change and then I get back to my day job because running a free blog is not exactly lucrative.
Thursday's press conference was not that. First off, Co-owner and President Darin Van Tassell was on hand to answer questions. He's usually in the room (at least for the ones I can attend in person), but not in front of the camera. Secondly, there were more than just me asking questions (which I greatly appreciated.) A lot was covered. I'm going to do my best to hit the high points as Tormenta typically puts them online if you'd like to watch it in its entirety.
The headline was, of course, more talk about the historic transfer of Nick Akoto to Burton Albion. The move came together fairly quickly, with Burton Albion first reaching out last Thursday and the deal being agreed upon. Van Tassell said this was not the first time a club had inquired about Akoto, but this is the first club that met the price that Tormenta felt made it worth their while to make the move.
"This is the first time we've moved anybody into England and to League One and thanks to Ryan Reynolds and crew, League One is getting more attention," he said, referring to the FX show Welcome to Wrexham. "It'll be great fun to watch Nick perform at those levels."
Cameron said with the European season and the USL season in the United States running at different parts of the year, there is always a plan in place to be prepared if an offer is made on one of Tormenta's players.
"The nice thing from our side is this is not the first offer we received for Nick Akoto," Cameron said. This is, at least, the fourth concrete offer that we've received. So these are meetings that we have throughout the year on the right timing. Is it at the end of the season? Is it midyear?
Cameron said there are frequent meetings about available players and potential departures.
"We're trying to stay one step ahead," he said.
Cameron said Akoto's transfer is part of what he and his staff are there to do.
"The staff and I are charged by the ownership with two challenges. To win championships, which clearly we endeavor to do and I think our fan base would know that from our endeavors the past couple of years. And to find what we'd call 'undervalued assets' out there in the soccer world and trust that our environment can take those undervalue assets and then let them fulfill their protentional," he said.
To that end of winning a title, Tormenta announced the signing of midfield Aaron Walker Thursday, though Van Tassell said the timing with Akoto's transfer had nothing to do with Walker's acquisition.
Cameron described Walker as "somebody that has championship caliber, (a) championship mindset running through his veins."
"For the second half of the season, the squad could always benefit from a character like Aaron Walker and what he brings to the table. Joining the group, reinforcing us in midfield, his leadership, his habits, his ability to mentor the multiple young professionals we have on our squad and that was a chance that we couldn't give up," he said.
Walker played from 2019 to 2022 with Greenville Triumph, scoring 15 goals during his time there. He'll join veterans Conor Doyle and Daniel Steedman in the midfield directing the Tormenta attack.
"Today was his first training session. He showed really well. He immersed himself with the group with humility and work rate that we expected of Aaron Walker and I thin he's going to be a big pillar in our endeavors to go and win a championship," Cameron said.
Fire and Rain matchup in Fresno
Tormenta faces Central Valley Fuego Saturday night (and in to the wee hours of Sunday morning if you're watching on the East Coast) for the third and final time this season. Central Valley won the first matchup 2-1 in the season opener in what was former US Men's National Team player Jermaine Jones' coaching debut. Tormenta and Fuego met again last month in Jagermeister Cup action with the two teams battling to a 1-1 draw with South Georgia taking the extra point with a penalty win.
"You've got somebody in Jermaine Jones who's played in the very, very highest level with very very good habits and very high standards," Cameron said. "As he matriculates into being a coach, what he'll be trying to do is instill what he was capable of doing and how he applied himself as a professional and instill that into the young players in his team."
He said there is no quick process for that to happen, but he sees Fuego taking on more and more of the characteristics of Jones' personality through their play on the field.
"That group is still fighting and still running a lot. They're still pressing even more aggressively now than they were even at the start of the season," he said.
Fuego currently sits at the bottom of the standings with a 1-7-2 record in League Play and a 1-4-1 record in Jagermesiter Cup action. They fell to Forward Madison on Wednesday 2-1. Tormenta, meanwhile is 4-6-3 in league action and 0-3-3 in Cup play so far.
"You get to this halfway point in the season and teams that haven't had the best results have that challenge of 'Do we change our script? Do we just really reinvent ourselves for the second half?' You've got the teams at the tip, they're just trying to stay in the same flow and then you've got the middle ground teams that have a choice," Cameron said. "Do we tear up the work that we've done or do we trust the process and double down on what we're doing right now."
"We're in a position where we're doubling down on who we are. We have always designed ourselves to get better and better and better throughout the year. We always have high turnover so we expect to get better throughout the year," Camerson said. "Fuego, I think, in the last few weeks you've seen a different dynamic to them. So they are trying to change and to cultivate a difference in their outcomes. That's a hard challenge. This is a little period in the next three to four weeks where you're going to get a ferocious Fuego team who are still at it and still trying to prove to their coaching staff that they should be earning the contract next year or deserving to wear the shirt."
"Our guys need that same hunger but we're going about it with a little bit more of a sustained methodology in which we started the season and trying to get better and better at it. There's no right or wrong way to do it, but that's probably the two places the clubs are in," he said.
"It's going to be a feisty match," Cameron said. "The last game we were, by far, the better team in the first half and they were, by far, the better team in the second half. What we're looking for from our boys is a cleaner 90-minute performance and hopefully you see that when you're tuning in on Saturday."
Kickoff is at 11 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+. See, we talked about Nick Akoto and the team plays late at night. Nick and Night, get it? Ehhhh, it was a forced joke anyway that I used because I learned that Nick Carter and Jordan Knight made an album together. I haven't listened to it. I just like knowing it's out there in the world. Anyway, will I be awake to see the end? Will I be awake to see the beginning? No one knows, but if I were a betting man, I would not bet on me making it to the end. Either way, we'll have a recap here on Monday.
Previous Stormwatch912 Posts this week:
Recap from Saturday's draw with Charlotte.
News and Notes:
Akoto speaks about his time at Tormenta
John Morrissey (@usltactics) on Akoto's skillset.
Alex Ashton (@Leagueoneupdater) on Tormenta's big week.
El Fuego Pod with a look at Central Valley's week and a preview of Saturday's Match
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