Chaos at the Cup

It almost happened y'all. Tormenta was fourth coming in to the final match of the Jagermeister Cup Group Stage and needed everything to break perfectly to advance. And for a brief window, all those things looked to be falling into place.

The most obvious thing needed is that Tormenta had to win against Miami and score at least two goals. That wasn't looking so good early as Miami were able to maintain possession for a lot of the first half and had several chances that, fortunately for Tormenta, didn't come to fruition. 

And it stayed that way until just before halftime when Kevin Hoyos put Miami ahead in the 41st minute. 

As that was going on, we were also keeping an eye on Greenville and Naples as Tormenta needed Greenville to lose to Naples while scoring three or fewer goals. Naples started out doing their part, getting a goal in the second minute from Tyler Pasnik to give the Florida squad a very early lead.

But South Georgia also needed Tampa Bay to lose and be shut out by a Charleston team that had no chance of advancing and that game started a half hour after Tormenta/Miami and Naples/Greenville.

Things started looking up shortly after Tormenta's halftime. In the 54th minute, Mason Tunbridge got to the endline and snuck a shot in on an incredibly tight angle to tie the score with Miami at one. One more goal and Tormenta would have their victory and two goals needed to do their part.

Six minutes later, Conor Doyle is in the right spot at the right time as he taps in a rebound following a Jonathan Nyandjo shot and suddenly everything is looking good.

Right around while all that was happening in the Tormenta match, Charleston took a 1-0 lead over Tampa Bay while Naples and Greenville were tied at one. 

At 8:30 p.m., Nicholas Murray, senior editorial director of USL, posted on Bluesky that three teams were tied with seven points. It was glorious chaos that any sports fan has to love. 

Tormenta would do its part as they outplayed Miami in the second half and while they didn't put any more goals up, there were several opportunities for more.

Unfortunately for the Ibises, not everyone else would do their part. Charleston would win in regulation, but conceded a late goal to Tampa Bay and losing the shutout. But even that wouldn't matter as Greenville's Chevone Marsh would score in the 67th minute against Naples to put Greenville ahead. They would hold on for the win and be the lone League One representative to advance to the knockout round.

Despite the eventual outcome, it was a fun night following three games, though having your hopes dashed at the end wasn't quite as fun.

Still, Tormenta went on a three-game road trip and came away with two wins and in their only loss, they only allowed a single shot on goal. There's some work to be done by the squad if they want to get back into the playoff hunt, but they face a Greenville team on Saturday that they've already beaten in the Jagermeister Cup group stage. And while I haven't done the math, I would bet if Tormenta wins two out of every three matches they play from here on out, the playoffs would be likely. 

Let's do some very crude and back of the envelope math.

Currently Portland holds the final playoff spot at 20 points through 15 matches. With 30 matches on the schedule, that would put them on pace for 40 points. 

But Texoma is also at 30 points, but have played 16 matches, putting them on pace for 37.5 points, so lets round up to 38. 

That basically means Tormenta needs to average 1.65 points per match going forward to get to 38 points, which seems doable, but South Georgia currently is averaging 0.94 points per match. There's no time like the present to get started on making a run, especially as Tormenta has six games in August with four of those on the road. 

I will not be able to make it to Saturday's game as it's my 22nd wedding anniversary and as much as my wife loves me, she doesn't love me enough for me to spend our anniversary covering a soccer game. And as I'd like to make it to my 23rd wedding anniversary, I'm going to skip the game.