The past week has seen a lot of action from South Georgia Tormenta FC, with the squad having the first double game week in USL League One, opening up a month long road stretch, and getting its two U.S. Open Cup opponents revealed. While I haven’t gotten any of my lineup or score predictions right so far, I still have the results and goal differential in my favor, so I’ll take what I can get. Let’s take a look back at the barrage of action that was Week 2 and look ahead to Sunday’s matchup with Orlando City B down in Montverde, where I’ll hopefully get a prediction right.

Don’t Poke the Ibis

Because of the double game week, we saw plenty of rotation from Tormenta’s Week 1 lineup, leading to multiple professional debuts. In the Tucson match, those debutants were Lucas Coutinho, Mikie Rowe, and Conner Antley. After a scoreless first half, Tucson struck first blood when Devin Vega, on loan from Phoenix Rising, hit a perfect free kick past Pablo Jara to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The first goal conceded by Tormenta this year didn’t set the team back much, as in the next two minutes the team went on to put two goals past Tucson keeper Philip Ejimadu to reclaim the lead. Marco Micaletto was then brought in, and made an immediate impact, putting away a curler to seal the game in the 74th minute. The real player of the game, however, was Conner Antley. Antley had a dream of a debut, assisting on every Tormenta goal on the night. On the first goal, Antley charged through the Tucson defense, bodying former Atlanta United defender Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu and sending a cross over to Coutinho, who scored on his first start. His next two assists came from perfectly timed through balls, finding Alex Morrell for the go-ahead and Micaletto for a goal of the week candidate. Add this on top of a solid defensive performance and you’ve got the formula for a Player of the Week award winner.

Richmond Road Trip

Tormenta FC then packed up their fatigued legs and hauled them up the road to Richmond, Virginia, for game three of the season. A crowd of 2,853 was honored to see, in person, the first 0-0 draw in League One history. This scoreless game was not without action, however. We got to see more debuts, this time from Nick Wells and Yaw Amankwa. We also got 14 minutes of the Eckenrode brothers playing at the same time, which was better than none at all. But despite only holding just above 40% of the possession, Tormenta managed to launch some counter attacks and had the more threatening attack. Charlie Dennis came close to scoring when a free kick opportunity just before halftime was saved by Akira Fitzgerald and deflected off of the Richmond crossbar.

Keep 'Em Coming

For the second week in a row, Tormenta has featured three players on the USL League One Team of the Week. Micaletto held on to his place in the XI, while Charlie Dennis and Conner Antley joined him for their performances over past the two games. As previously mentioned, Antley went the next step, claiming Player of the Week for his three assist show against Tucson.

Open Cup Planning

On Wednesday, the First Round matchups of the 2019 U.S. Open Cup were revealed. The Open Cup gives teams a unique opportunity to play other clubs that they might not face during the regular season, and this year, Tormenta and Tormenta 2 are paired with… Greenville and Chattanooga. The Greenville game extends Tormenta’s road stretch to five games, and also gives Tormenta a fifth game against the Triumph. Tormenta 2 will stay in Statesboro to welcome the Red Wolves, but will be opening their own season with the game against a team over a month into their regular season. If anything, Tormenta should be well prepared for these opponents, as they will have played both sides before the Open Cup begins. As they say, to be the best, you gotta beat the best.

First vs. Last

Tormenta travels south this weekend to face a winless Orlando City B who have yet to play a full 90 minutes without receiving a red card. Orlando plays at the Montverde Academy, the former home of SIMA Aguilas, who came to Statesboro last year for the PDL Southern Conference Championship, only to fall to local rival The Villages in the final. The team disbanded in anticipation of OCB, and their impact can still be felt, as they have multiple players on the current roster in addition to head coach De Arglia, who led SIMA previously. OCB hasn’t seen similar results, though, losing to Tucson 3-1 and Toronto FC II 2-0. With a home-heavy start to the season, these results are far from positive for the team. However, we still have yet to see what a full eleven players can do for a full game, so the level of this squad is still up in the air. One player to watch for OCB is midfielder Alassane Ates Diouf, a SIMA product who at 19 years old is running the OCB offense with two full games played and an 88% passing rate. Another is Mercer alum Will Bagrou, who plays as a forward for OCB and played for the Birmingham Hammers last year in the PDL, but never took the field against Tormenta. Bagrou was selected by Sporting Kansas City in the Superdraft, but went unsigned before joining Birmingham and now Orlando City B. I think Tormenta picks this lineup to compete with the physicality that OCB has and to look ahead to the tough matchup in Chattanooga next week.

Projected Lineups:



Orlando City B:

Tormenta FC:

Prediction: Orlando City B 0-2 Tormenta FC

Orlando City B vs. South Georgia Tormenta FC

USL League One Regular Season

Montverde Academy, Montverde, Florida

Sunday, April 14, 5:00 P.M. EST

Watch on ESPN+ in U.S.; YouTube internationally