Strom rolls in to Queen City
It's Jagermeister Cup time again as Tormenta and Charlotte renew pleasantries tomorrow in the sixth of eight games of the Cup competition.
We could meander our way to the chase, exploring stats and tends over the past few weeks and highlighting players and coaching tactics, but as Trevor Noah used to say on The Daily Show, "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That." We've got to cut to the chase.
Here's the deal, if Tormenta loses, they are mathematically eliminated from winning Group 1, the Eastern Group, whatever we're calling it. (Group numbers are the best USL League One could come up with? I've seen them called East, Midwest and West among writers and podcasters, but on the official League site, they're just listed as Groups 1, 2 and 3 as though they're new college freshman being broken up into groups for their orientation breakout sessions. If nothing else, someone in a position to do something please ask the League Office for better names for the groups next year. The tournament has been a lot of fun - Tormenta's results not withstanding - but the group names are so uncreative for such a creative event.)
Sorry, I got carried away there. But yes, if Tormenta loses, then Charlotte will have 10 points and Tormenta, with three points, can't catch up in their final two games. There's still the goals scored pathway to making the Cup knockout round, but realistically, Tormenta needs to reel off three wins in their final three Cup games and get some help along the way.
To that end, Tormenta fans likely want Richmond to win their game against Greenville Saturday, and not just because Greenville continues to be the home of Furman University, a place I will forever despise and I long for the day it is swallowed up into the Earth never to be seen again*. So, if Tormenta wins their final three games, and Richmond wins Saturday and then losses in their final two games, along with Charlotte getting less than five points in their last two games and Greenville getting less than 3 points in their final two games, then that will give Tormenta the Group One win. Easy Peasy.
Failing that, there is the goals scored wild card spot, with Union Omaha currently holding the wild card sport with 12 so far. Tormenta, meanwhile, has six. Granted a couple of games left where it doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as you score lots of goals could be interesting, but that's not exactly soccer and not what I really want to see.
But if that's what it takes to get to the knockout round, then I'm excited for a lineup that's eight attacking midfielders and strikers with two defenders and a goalkeeper who asks that the stats in those games not be held against him.
As for Saturday and Charlotte (remember them, the place where this blog started before getting way off track?), Saturday is the third of four meetings between the two sides. The first two matches ending in identical 1-1 scores with the Independence winning the first Jagermeister Cup shootout between the two by a score of 5-4.
This is Tormenta's second of three road games in a row and part of a larger stretch where they play seven of eight matches in June and July on the road. (That's a little bit of massaging the numbers as Tormenta had a home game the last weekend of May and have another home one the first weekend of August. Remember friends, all fun facts lie.)
Charlotte only has one win in Cup play this year, a 1-0 win over Richmond at the beginning of June. However, they've done well in their three penalty shootouts so far, going 2-1 in them to get the extra two points in the standings.
South Georgia, meanwhile, has yet to win in regulation in Cup play, currently sitting at 0-3-2 while going 1-1 in their penalty shootouts, falling to Charlotte but getting the bonus point against Fuego at the end of June.
Tormenta is coming off a 2-1 win over Lexington on Saturday while Charlotte played on Tuesday night, winning 2-0 and shutting out Chattanooga for the first time in the Red Wolves' last six games.
Offensively, Charlotte will continue to look to Juan Carlos Obregon, Jr. and his 10 goals across League and Cup play this season. He scored in the 8th minute of their match against Tormenta back in April and also scored the Independence's lone goal when the teams hooked up in June. Needless to say, he's been good.
Charlotte will also feature 35-year old Gabriel Obertan, the oldest player in League One and still quite effective with 17 chances created in just 12 games to go along with his seven assists. I promise I didn't bring him up because every time I see him play I think of this tweet.
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| Never let anyone tell you the perfect tweet doesn't exist, even if that website is awful and I really need to quit it. |
Goalkeeper Austin Pack continues to be excellent with 69 saves though 16 games. He was injured recently and late in their game on Tuesday required some medical attention but he was able to stay in the game. Presumably he'll be in net for Charlotte Saturday night, but if he can't go, Matt Levy played in Pack's place in the one game he missed.
Tormenta, meanwhile, is led offensively by Sebastian Vivas' eight goals across Cup and League play. Vivas scored late in the first Cup game against Charlotte to force penalties. Vivas scored on Saturday against Lexington as was named to the bench of the USL Team of the Week. (More on that below.)
Drew Romig is expected to start in goal on Saturday as Ford Parker, with whom he'd been sharing time, is out for several more weeks with an injury.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+. We'll have a full recap here on Monday.
*It's been a while since is needlessly** ripped on Furman. For context for newer readers, I went to Georgia Southern when they were rivals with Furman. They haven't been in the same conference for about a decade, but I'm not letting that fact get in the way of me carrying my college hatred of them forward.
**All ripping of Furman is, indeed, needed.
News and Notes:
Pedro Fonseca was named to USL League One Team of the Week.
Sebastian Vivas was named to the bench for Team of the Week.
All I want for the rest of the season is for Ford Parker to get healthy so he can recreate this graphic in real life.
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