Fort Lauderdale CF will travel to Statesboro, Ga. for its second game of the 2021 USL League One campaign against South Georgia Tormenta FC on Saturday, April 17 at 7 p.m. ET. The match, which will air live on ESPN+, will be played on Eagle Field at Erk Russell Athletic Park and will be the team’s first away match of their 28-game regular-season schedule.
“Last week we played with good tempo, good identity and created lots of chances during the course of the game... I’m really pleased with the identity of the group going into the second game, we just want to make sure we continue to be as competitive as possible and turn those opportunities into goals,” said Fort Lauderdale CF head coach Darren Powell. “It’s Tormenta’s first game, there’s some nervousness about playing your first match which our boys have already encountered. We’re over that and going into our second game, but also in that first game they’re going to have a lot of energy and home game advantage. So, it's going to be a very tight game, one that we think will be really competitive and one we’re really looking forward to.”
The 2021 USL League One season began with a hard-fought 0-1 loss for Fort Lauderdale as they fell to New England Revolution II at home on April 10. Despite the loss, there were several individual highlights for the team.
The match featured seven team debuts as George Acosta, Abel Caputo, Drew Hardin, Shaan Hundal, Braxton Najib, Ignacio Poplawski and Luis Zamudio registered their first appearances for the team. Drew Hardin, meanwhile, made his professional debut in the match after previously featuring for the Inter Miami CF Academy U-17s.
Full-back pairing Noah Allen, 16, and Christian Lue Young, 24, also stood out in the match; Allen posed a consistent danger in the final third, hitting a thundering strike into the far post in the first half and boasting an 87% pass accuracy. Young was solid defensively against Revolution II, winning five duels and making an impressive 10 ball recoveries.
Against Tormenta FC, Darren Powell will helm the team for his second match of the season after being named head coach in March.
South Georgia, the first founding member of USL League One, will open their 2021 USL League One regular season against Fort Lauderdale CF on Saturday. In 2020, Tormenta finished in sixth place in the regular season with nine wins, 10 draws, and nine losses. Their attack was spearheaded by Nil Vinyals, who now plays for the Richmond Kickers, with four goals. Of their current roster, Luca Mayr-Falten was the teams’ second top-goalscorer with three goals in 2020.
Saturday will be the third meeting between Fort Lauderdale and South Georgia, having faced each other twice in the 2020 regular season. Last season, each team won on the road, with Inter Miami CF Academy product, Edison Azcona scoring in both encounters.
New Player Announcements
Fort Lauderdale CF announced the additions of Pedro Faife and Dairon Reyes, who are registered from the Inter Miami CF Academy.
Faife, a 17-year-old Cuban midfielder, joins Fort Lauderdale’s roster ahead of the team’s second fixture of the 2021 campaign after previously featuring for the Inter Miami CF Academy U-17 side.
Dairon Reyes, Faife’s fellow countryman, returns for his second season with the team as an Inter Miami CF Academy registered player. The 17-year-old forward made five appearances for Fort Lauderdale in the Club’s inaugural campaign in 2020, starting once, registering one goal.
