skip navigation

Tactical Switch Key To Tormenta’s Turnaround

By CAMERON KOUBEK - cameron.koubek@uslsoccer.com, 06/22/21, 12:30PM EDT

Share

South Georgia’s four-game win streak follows a change in approach from Head Coach Ian Cameron


Micaletto celebrates after netting his fourth goal of the season / Photo courtesy South Georgia Tormenta FC

STATESBORO, Ga. - It happens all the time in sports movies: a team struggles mightily until all of sudden, something clicks. Said team can then seemingly do no wrong, and a happy montage shows the magic of the team’s rediscovered joy for its sport.

That script doesn’t happen so often in real life, but something similar has happened at South Georgia Tormenta FC in recent weeks. The club lost six of its opening seven games this USL League One season, and with only three points from the first quarter of the 2021 campaign, its playoff hopes looked to already be hanging by a thread.

But following a four-game losing streak in May, June has been a very different month in Statesboro. Tormenta FC has yet to drop a point this month, winning all four of its games and conceding just one goal during that stretch. Three of the victories have been by 1-0 scorelines, and the team turned over both Chattanooga Red Wolves SC and Greenville Triumph SC - currently in second and third place, respectively - at home.

"We're under no illusions that results were not good in April and May, but the players and staff never felt we were a team incapable of winning games," said Tormenta FC Head Coach Ian Cameron. "Equally now, we're under no illusions that in June we have all the solutions. Our key was not getting too low with the bad period and definitely not getting too high on recent results."

The team's stark, sudden reversal in form begs the question - what changed? The most obvious answer is the defense. During that seven-game spell to open the season, Cameron most often set his squad up in a 4-3-3, and the team failed to keep a single clean sheet.

In all four games of the current winning streak though, Cameron switched to more of a 5-4-1 approach, and it has worked wonders. The presence of three big center backs - usually Lars Eckenrode, Josh Phelps, and Sergi Nus - concedes less space in promising areas to opposing attackers and makes the team harder to break down, while giving fullbacks Nick O’Callaghan and Curtis Thorn license to get up and down the flanks.


Ian Cameron's change in formation is a big reason behind Tormenta's turnaround / Photo courtesy South Georgia Tormenta FC

"Some tactical adjustments had to be made. We were too open as a team without the rewards of pressing aggressively, and that's on me," said Cameron. "We are not dead on the principles of pre-season, but we had to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We also had to put teams under more pressure in their back third, so tweaks have been made to our positional play to improve."

It’s not been “bunker ball” by any stretch of the imagination since the tactical switch, despite the more defensive appearance of the formation at surface level. Tormenta is averaging 45.5 percent possession per match of its winning streak - slightly less than half, but not nearly enough to say that the team is setting up in a defensive shell and looking to nick a goal on the counter.

In fact, across the four wins, Tormenta has out-created its opposition by 36 chances to 28. Marco Micaletto has continued to be the team’s talisman, with the midfielder tied for fourth in League One on four goals. 

"There's no one great solution," said Cameron. "Later in the season we may have to transform ourselves again with tweaks, but the guys have continued to buy into the staff's message, and we remain in this challenge together."


Micaletto celebrates with his teammates after converting a late penalty kick against Greenville / Photo courtesy South Georgia Tormenta FC

Aside from Micaletto, it’s been attack by committee, and that versatility just might be one of the team’s biggest strengths. Seven Tormenta players have scored one goal on the season, making it difficult for opponents to key on any individual, even with the attention Micaletto’s quality commands.

Up next for Tormenta are two meetings with Toronto FC II, followed by a visit from North Carolina FC. Those contests offer a chance to build on the side’s current fourth-place position against two of the teams currently in the bottom three of the standings, and also to put pressure on the teams now looking up at South Georgia while holding games in hand to match it win for win.

Tormenta’s six early losses may count the same in April and May as they would in October, and will be tough to erase. But Cameron’s team has revived its season, and if it can keep this run going, who knows where it will be in the table come crunch time?

"We keep working together as one united club, through the good and the bad," said Cameron of building on the team's recent run of form. "Our front office has been great with the guys week in week out, showing support in any way they can, as have the back room staff in different departments and our special fans.

"The guys feel that support and know even when we fall short that everyone remains motivated to make the most of our potential, starting with the next training session, team meeting, or community outreach event."


Follow USL League One

Most Recent USL League One News

Most Read USL League One News

USL League One News