Rivalry..... Renewed? Rekindled? Just continuing?
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| Photo Credit: Tormenta FC |
Do you renew rivalries? It's not really like Netflix where you renew your subscription each month. I guess if it was something like college football and teams changed conferences and stopped playing each other for years and then either found themselves in the same conference or just scheduled non-conference games against each other, that would constitute renewing a rivalry.
But Greenville and South Georgia play each other every year. Multiple times a year. And they play each other three times this season. Last year I saw enough of Greenville to last a lifetime. I still wish Lyam MacKinnon a lifetime of personal and professional joy as long as that professional joy does not entail returning to Tormenta Stadium as an opponent.
Anyway, regardless of if the two teams are renewing their rivalry, rekindling their rivalry, just continuing their rivalry or some other descriptor, Tormenta and the Triumph play tomorrow night.
("Tormenta and the Triumph" sounds like the name of a student film in college about a family that loses everything in a storm and rather than rebuilding their own lives, dedicate themselves to helping others in the community and finding true meaning and contentment in their sacrifices for others. In the end, the townsfolk all work together and give the family the home of their dreams. It was probably shot in black and white and won a few regional awards. The writer would go on to have a career writing for a variety of CBS dramas that never last more than two seasons and is never able to create their own show while the director would end up switching his major to business at the urging of his parents and get some corporate job that he hates and regret not following his dream of being a movie director. He'll push his kid into acting, but the kid is a chess prodigy but ultimately is pressured to give up chess to go into acting, continuing the cycle of parents not letting their kids follow their dreams. It's all a very sad outcome from such an uplifting student film. Where were we?)
Both teams are coming of Jagermeister Cup wins. Tormenta with a 2-1 win over Miami while Greenville topped Naples by an identical score. Greenville's win propelled them to the knockout round of the Cup and they will carry the torch for League One going forward.
That still doesn't mean I'm going to cheer for them. (Between you and me, I probably will still cheer for them. Don't tell anyone.)
Tormenta currently sits in 12th place, five points out of a playoff spot. Greenville, meanwhile, are in ninth place, just a point outside the playoffs. South Georgia can ill afford to fall farther out of the playoff race as a five point deficit will be tough to overcome. Adding to that challenge is there are also four teams ahead of them they would need to pass to get into the playoffs.
In League One play*, both teams average about the same number of goals per game with Greenville at 1.24 and Tormenta at 1.25. For our purposes, that's essentially the same number. Leo Castro leads Greenville with seven goals on the year while on the assist front Connor Evans (4) and Rodrigo Robles (3) lead the way.
Greenville has far and away the most shots with 247 on the year, averaging nearly 15 per match. Tormenta, meanwhile, is near the top of the league with 180 shots on the year, good for a little more than 11 per contest. In other words, both keepers better be on their toes.
Mason Tunbridge still leads South Georgia with five goals in league play while Yaniv Bazini is second on the team with four. Gabriel Alves has three assists to lead the team.
*We're just sticking with league play for stats, but if you're curious, Tormenta had eight goals in the four Jagermeister Cup games while Greenville had six.
Defensively, Tormenta is giving up nearly two goals a game (1.81) while Greenville is surrendering 1.35 per match. You all are smart (as well as having a refined taste in blog choices) so you don't need me to tell you that if you average giving up more goals than you score, than that's not good.
You also don't need me to tell you that past performance does not guarantee future results.
In a year that has seen Tormenta try to possess the ball and create chances that way, against Omaha they had possession for 30 percent of the game and came away with a 2-1 win. Against Miami last week, they had possession for 39 percent of the game and came away with another 2-1 win.
I've said many times before that I'm not qualified to offer any soccer analysis. I'm happy if I can tell you what happened, but asking why it happened is not my thing so take what I'm about to say with all those caveats in mind.
Tormenta has speed up top and on the wings. Back on March 20th after Tormenta's win over Harbor City in the US Open Cup, Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron told me "when you've got guys going to outrun people up top, it makes the game so much easier." Being able to spring a counter attack with the likes of Jonathan Nyandjo, Niall Reid-Stephen, Mason Tunbridge and Taylor Gray, among others, who are able to get in space, run by defenders and put pressure on the the back line is a wonderful luxury to have.
Sitting back, absorbing pressure and then finding one of those guys on an outlet pass behind the defense and allowing them to run on to it has seemed to yield results lately.
What that does, however, is put pressure on the Tormenta defense to hold the line. In the games against Omaha and Miami, both teams had chances to finish and either missed the target or Sam Jones in goal was there to thwart the attack.
Greenville, in their win against Naples, had the ball 55 percent of the time and in their most recent League One match against Portland, a 3-1 loss, they possessed the ball 52 percent of the match.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Tormenta Stadium. As I've mentioned previously, I will be off celebrating my 22nd wedding anniversary that night and if I want a 23rd anniversary (and I do), then celebrating this year by covering a Tormenta game would not be a good choice. However, I may sneak a peak at the score if I can.
It's also Back to School night with teachers, students and staff all getting $4 tickets. Or bring school supplies and get free entry.
News and Notes:
Mason Tunbridge was named to the Team of the Round for the Jagermeister Cup while Ian Cameron was named Coach of the Round.
Happy Birthday to my mom. She doesn't read this or anything, but she signed me up for soccer when I was five before I even really knew what soccer was and started me on the journey that has taken me to where I am now.
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