Kickers and Tormenta battle In Jagermeister Cup Saturday

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC
Richmond and Tormenta will renew their rivalry Saturday. 

South Georgia vs. Richmond.

Tormenta vs. Kickers.

Need I say more? 

You can throw the records out when these two rivals meet. 

No, seriously, Tormenta is eliminated from winning the East Group of the Jagermeister Cup and, if I figured the math correctly, Richmond has a narrow path to tying for the group lead, so you can essentially throw the records out because, like the points in Whose Line is it Anyway, the records don't matter at this point.

Through six Cup games, Tormenta has three losses and three draws (with two penalty shootout wins) for five points while Richmond sits at 1-3-2 (W-L-D) and seven points. Group leader Greenville has 12 points while Charlotte has eight points. Greenville and Charlotte play each other twice to conclude the round robin competition. If Charlotte wins once, draws and wins the penalty shootout in the other, they'll be tied at 13 points. Richmond can still get to 13 points with two wins in regulation. (Huh, I guess the records do matter).

At that point, it would come down to tiebreakers and I'm going to be honest with you all, I'm not sure how that would work. Someone smarter than me will hopefully explain it. Presumably Richmond still has a path to win the group as they aren't listed as eliminated on the League's website, but I can't quite figure out how they actually claim the top spot.

Richmond and Tormenta have played twice already this season. Way back in March, Tormenta got a 3-1 win over the Kickers in Virginia. Conor Doyle's goal in the 4th minute open the scoring. Niall Watson's goal early in the second half extended the lead for South Georgia. 

The lead would be cut to one early in stoppage time on an own goal from Tormenta, but Mason Tunbridge's goal a few minutes later put the game away for South Georgia.

In their Jagermeister Cup matchup in May, former Tormenta legend Adrian Billhardt scored twice, including a goal he described as a "once in a lifetime" goal in the second half as Tormenta was held to just one Sebastian Vivas goal in a 2-1 win for the Kickers. 

Tormenta comes in to Saturday's matchup 1-1-2 in their last four games, including a weather postponed 3-3 draw against Spokane on Sunday. Richmond, meanwhile, has won only once since their victory over Tormenta, a 2-1 win over Madison on July 3rd. The Kickers have scored three goals in their last four games combined. 

Unfortunately, due to a work commitment that I couldn't get out of, I wasn't able to ask Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron the approach to this Cup game for Tormenta. To advance into the knockout round, Tormenta would need to be the highest scoring of the teams not to win their group. Currently, Omaha has 12 goals scored and leads the wildcard chase. Tormenta, meanwhile, has seven. Is it possible to outscore Omaha by five goals over two games? Sure. I mean, South Georgia has scored five in their last two games so the offense is clicking. 

Does Tormenta throw caution to the wind and just try to score as many goals as possible and not caring if they win the game? Or do they work on the new formation that saw them play with Preston Kilwien, normally a center back, on the defensive left side and a more attacking midfield? 

If I had to guess, Cameron isn't one to play a game just to score goals. He plays to win every match and I would expect that on Saturday and using the Jagermeister Cup as a chance to experiment and refine tactics as Tormenta prepares for their final playoff push.

Richmond is dealing with Hurricane Debby today, something that Statesboro has been dealing with since Tuesday, but the forecast for Saturday night looks pretty good as I write this on Thursday night. 

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at City Stadium in Richmond and can be streamed on ESPN+.