Forward Madison Falls Short Against South Georgia Tormenta

A second-half red card proves too much for the Flamingos to overcome

Forward Madison FC welcomed South Georgia Tormenta FC to Breese Stevens Field for a match on Saturday, September 24th at 7:00 pm CT. The match resulted in a 0-1 loss for the ‘Mingos after going down to 10 men in the early part of the second half.

The first moments of the match began with South Georgia applying pressure on the FMFC backline. Raiko Arozarena and Eric Leonard worked together to stop a dangerous Tormenta chance in the 3rd minute. At the 15th minute mark, Cyrus Rad was issued the first yellow card of the match in an effort to prevent a Tormenta breakaway. Forward Madison recorded a great chance in the 20th minute when Rad stole the ball from a South Georgia attacker and passed it up the field to Alann Torres. Torres provided a good ball to a cutting Mikey Maldonado but Maldonado was ruled offside. The half went on as neither team recorded many quality chances. After back-to-back yellow cards were issued to Tormenta in the 41st and 42nd minutes, Rad crossed the ball to Abdou Mbacke-Thiam in the box who headed the ball just over the goalpost. Just moments later, after five minutes of stoppage time was added, Mitch Osmond played another great cross to Mbacke-Thiam, who couldn’t connect his head with the ball. Neither team could log a goal in the first half, as the squads entered the halftime break tied at zero.

The second half of Saturday’s contest began with Abdou Mbacke-Thiam being issued his second yellow card of the match for running into a Tormenta defender. After Mbacke-Thiam received his second yellow, the Flamingos were forced to finish the match a man down. In the 49th minute, South Georgia took a corner kick and got a shot off on Arozarena which he managed to hit away. The Arozarena deflection rebounded to a Tormenta player who managed to shoot the ball into the net, giving South Georgia a 1-0 lead. In the 65th minute, coach Matt Glaeser subbed on some fresh legs. Christian Enriquez, Jeremiah Streng, and Rojay Smith entered the match for Alann Torres, Nazeem Bartman, and Derek Gebhard. The second half continued on as both squads struggled to create chances. Forward Madison logged its first shot of the match in the 88th minute, when Rojay Smith got into the box and shot a curling shot at the keeper, which got saved. With six minutes of stoppage time added, the Flamingos recorded a corner kick but couldn’t tally any shots in the added time. Forward Madison ended up falling 0-1 at home.

Next up on the USL League One schedule, Forward Madison FC will host the Richmond Kickers in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, October 8th at 7:00 pm CT. As for South Georgia, they’ll return home to take on the Kickers on October 1st.

Forward Madison FC:

56 Raiko Arozarena

3 Eric Leonard

4 Mitch Osmond ©

7 Abdou Mbacke-Thiam

15 Mikey Maldonado

17 Derek Gebhard

18 Alann Torres

19 Justin Sukow

24 Nazeem Bartman

28 Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu

47 Cyrus Rad