Head Coach Ian Cameron is a powerhouse coach in USL League One. Few can boast a record of holding a national championship title, remaining undefeated against all USL Championship side opponents in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and having advanced to the Round of 32 twice now, and led their team to play against an MLS club twice, but Cameron has with South Georgia Tormenta FC. Hear from the coach below, as he gives his thoughts as to what defined the team’s key performance against Miami FC that sent the team hurdling toward the Round of 32 in the U.S. Open Cup.
What were the key strategies or tactics that you used to prepare that contributed to this win?
Well, the strategies we had really didn’t bear fruit in the first half. We are very good at set pieces, which showed with three goals, so that’s part of the strategy. Credit to Jordan Melia for what he drew up. It was brilliant and so were the boys executing it, but look we knew that we’d have to try to frame the game wee bit better, move the ball a bit faster, be dynamic in the frontline, all these things. They changed their shape, as it was different than we expected, so it was more about the adjustments we made in the game rather than the tactics beforehand.
The odds of playing an MLS club in the fourth round of the Open Cup is fairly high. How do you feel going into the drawing?
To be honest, that’s what you want. They’re trying to get through these rounds, so that these boys and this club can have a platform that they deserve, and we’ve managed to do that in the last two years. We played MLS clubs twice and have done decent both times and not won. If we get another one this time, it would be brilliant for the club to get a win against an MLS club. We’ve seen Omaha do it, we have seen Northern Colorado do it. So, with our club, we think we can do it and we would love that opportunity to be honest.
Looking ahead, how do you hope to build off of the momentum for upcoming matches?
Well, look we’ve got on Sunday night, a very, very good Greenville team. We’ve watched them, and I’ll be honest I’ve loved watching them. I’ve loved analyzing them. I think what Rick’s doing with that group, and the foundation that obviously the previous coaches gave given them, is really exciting to see. So, we’ve got a tough test, and it’s how they build from this that’s the key. Young boys, did they get too high with highs? Or did they take the good parts and get better with the bad parts? If they do that, then Sunday’s is going to be quite a contest.
U.S. Open Cup matches always provide teams with opportunities to play others that they may not normally. Today your team played against former Tormenta FC player Daltyn Knutson, what was it like to see his performance today?
It was great. Ajmeer, we know we’ve got a really, really special talent with and I thought Daltyn was really good on him. He marked him tremendously well, was great in the pocket, so Daltyn should be proud, and we are happy to see him move on. Cabral is part of this organization too, and we are a platform and when we see guys along the road that have once been part of our organization, it’s great to share that memory with them and then try to beat them on the field. The more often, we do that the better.
What does winning a championship side match represent to you as a coaching staff?
This is a good litmus test to see where we’re at as an organization. We like to say that the difference between USL One and USL Championship isn’t that big, but it’s up to us clubs to prove that. They played a very strong line up tonight, and we played a strong line up. Thankfully tonight we came out on top. I thought the game was relatively even, so that’s good. These boys want contracts at that level, so it’s their job to go and perform against them and try to catch eyes and I think they did that.
With spirits high right now, what message do you have for fans who watched at home tonight, ahead of the match Sunday?
Well, I hope they saw the passion of the boys. I hope they saw the commitment. And I think and hope they saw something that represents them well. We are a group that is spirited, a group that works really hard, the group that’s got good quality, so I think our home fans were watching the game should be really proud of their efforts. Hopefully they’re excited, like ‘Oh, we get to see these guys live soon, we get to see them on Sunday night against Greenville, and we get to see them against Charlotte Independence the following week live, in person.’ Our Academy players, our local community, I hope they saw that game tonight thought, ‘Oh, let’s get down to Tormenta Stadium and watch these guys in the flesh.’
Fans can purchase tickets to the upcoming match against Greenville Triumph here!