One (last) shot at glory

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC
Tormenta will be looking for their first win against One Knox in 2024,
having suffered a pair of 1-0 defeats so far this season. 

Hi friends, we're back. I trust you had a nice week off and found something to do without a Tormenta game to look forward to last weekend. I drove to Bleckley County, Ga. for my oldest son's cross country meet and then home with my youngest. My wife, meanwhile, took my oldest from the meet to outside of Augusta where he had soccer games. You know, a nice, relaxing weekend. 

But here we are. We've reached the final group stage round of the inaugural Jagermeister Cup with the last of the eight game round robin games taking place this weekend. Northern Colorado had wrapped up the West group before this stage even began. Madison, by virtue of their 3-3 draw last night against Omaha, clinched the Central Group, but that result worked out well for both teams as Omaha now has a six goal lead over the next closest team for the wild card spot.

In the East, Charlotte and Greenville face off with a winner take all match. (Well, more of a "winner take the group" match. "Winner take all" is overselling it a bit.) If the two teams draw, the winner of the penalty shootout will advance. If you're looking for a game to watch before Tormenta's on Sunday, this would be the one to tune in to as a casual fan.

So those are the group situations, but that still leaves the Wild Card spot, which goes to the non-group winner with the most goals. Tormenta comes in to Sunday's match with eight goals so far in the tournament while One Knox has seven. Tormenta would likely need nine goals on Sunday to clinch the Wild Card (I haven't checked the tiebreakers, but I'm thinking Omaha has them.

The good news for both Tormenta (and One Knox, for that matter) is they are the last game of the group stage. Unlike other tournaments that schedule the final games at the same time, the game Sunday is the only one of the night and the finale for the group stage. 

Do I think Tormenta and One Knox would trade goals until they were tied for the lead in goals scored and then play it out to see who advances? Not a chance. But the fact they could do that due to scheduling is something that League One needs to address going forward. To be fair, seeing One Knox and Tormenta just trade goals until it was 11-10 and then playing out the remainder of the game to get the Wild Card would be amusing. Not all teams in League One are the primary tenants of their stadium, so that can throw a wrench into things, but something needs to be done to ensure something like this isn't a possibility in the next edition of the Jagermeister Cup. 

For Tormenta, this Cup game is sandwiched between two bye weeks. They're going to go almost a month between regular season games (August 17 to September 14), so this is a chance for South Georgia to get some game competition to see how the things they've worked on in training translate to other competition.

"We've got to be really calculated with (the time off) and really the boys have a choice. Do you buy time and idly go into that or does the organization, do we really analyze and how do we maximize the back end of the season," Manager Ian Cameron said following the August 17 draw. "How do we maximize this time to try and get eyes in training on some free agent players who might come and join us for training? So as part pf preparation for the end of this season to make a push for the playoffs. So it's part preparation for the end of this this season to make a push for the playoffs, part preparation for next season and maximize this time that we have.

"You've got an ownership, you've got a front office and you've got a coaching staff that have a plan for this three weeks and it's going to be full guns blazing to get better," he said.

Defender Jake Dengler echoed Cameron's comments about using the time off to improve and focus on the end of the season.

"We're going to take each week day-by-day, work hard and push each other to make sure that we get into that Jagermeister Cup game and score some goals and the come back into League play and hopefully we take it all from there."

This is the third time One Knox and Tormenta have met this season, but the first in Jagermeister Cup action. Knoxville won 1-0 back in March on a brilliant goal from Angelo Kelly-Rosales for the game's only goal. The two teams met again in July with One Knox again taking a 1-0 victory thanks to a Kempes Tekiela goal in the 62nd minute from 25 yards out.  

In Jagermeister Cup play, One Knox has scored seven goals, with Frank Ross being the only player for them with more than one goal in the competition. In regular season play, Tekiela is leading the way with eight goals on the year which has him tied for second in the league, trailing only Juan Obregon, Jr.'s 11 goals.

We've gotten pretty far in to this and I haven't found a good place to mention it, so we're going with an abrupt break and pointing out that One Knox let head coach Mark McKeever go just two weeks ago. McKeever was investigated last October for verbal abuse and physical misconduct and coached for a good portion of this year until August 15 when the change was made. One Knox SC Partner Drew McKenna said the dismissal was unrelated to that investigation, but declined to provide any more details, according to news reports. 

Ilija Ilic, who played for One Knox in 2023 and was an assistant on McKeever's staff that year before retiring from playing after that season but stayed on the coaching staff, was elevated to interim Head Coach. 

This will be Ilic's third game as the head man, with Knoxville winning 4-1 over Chattanooga in his debut and drawing 1-1 against Spokane last week.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Tormenta Stadium and can be streamed on ESPN+.