The Lights Go Out In Georgia And MLS Week 1

On a whim, for no other reason than I want to push myself to write about soccer on a regular basis again, Soccer Eagle is back on a Tuesday with a handful of observations from the opening weekend of Major League Soccer.

I've been writing a lot about the regression of coverage of soccer (and specifically MLS) recently, so consider this me putting my money where my mouth is, in a way.

Okay, so this is just one soccer-obsessed weirdo who makes too many podcasts and is very loud on the radio typing his thoughts into a newsletter machine and not the carefully crafted, professionally edited work American soccer fans deserve, but I do hope to add something of value to supplement the work of all the indies and smart soccer scribes doing their thing elsewhere on the internet.

First, though, I need to acknowledge a troubling development in the world of lower league soccer.

(scroll down if lower division soccer isn't your thing and you just want the MLS)

I'm not sure when my fascination with dead American soccer clubs began. From the outset of my attempts to frame my feelings about the potential of the sport in America, I've taken a special interest in the insane number of pro soccer teams have come and gone across the landscape of the game in this country.

Every new soccer team is a precious bundle of hope launched from a trebuchet into a flaming pit of vipers. Or, every new club that is not an MLS expansion franchise backed by billions is one of those sea turtles that hatches on the beach and must make a mad scramble to the ocean and hope not to get plucked off the sand and gobbled up by a sea gull.

Of course, reaching the ocean only grants our baby turtle/new soccer club a momentary reprieve. There are sharks in the ocean. Sharks eat turtles, er, lower division soccer clubs.

Enough with the pained metaphor. Here it is:

Another American soccer club is dying.

Tormenta FC, the Statesboro, Georgia-based outfit that entered the pro ranks in 2019 and took hom the USL League One championship in 2022, suspended operations just weeks ahead of the 2026 League One campaign. Lower league mavens Beyond the 90 (get off Substack, you guys) first reported problems at Tormenta late last week. Monday afternoon USL posted a two-sentence statement on its website confirming that Tormenta FC won't play in 2026.

South Georgia Tormenta FC will not compete in the USL League One season in 2026. Tormenta FC has been part of USL League One since its inaugural season and has played an important role in the league’s growth, including winning the League One title in 2022.

The club's statement is slightly better.

Worth tossing in a caveat here that Tormenta not playing the 2026 doesn't necessarily mean that the club is dead dead dead in pro soccer, though that will be the (reasonable) assumption.

The first concern should be with the club's players losing their jobs. Reports of a severance package makes the end of Tormenta a little less tragic for those players, but they will still hit the free agent market when most clubs have already locked in their season-opening rosters (rumors of a dispersal draft seems to be nothing but rumors).

And then there are the fans. While the macro view will be that the end of pro soccer in Statesboro (metro population 71,000) is no great loss for American soccer's future, every collapsed club does some measure of psychic damage to the grand project. I don't think you have to be bleeding heart soccer romantic to feel horrible for the people in Georgia who spent nearly a decade supporting a team. And for the end to come with almost no warning? Brutal.

Tormenta's story is such a typical lower division soccer story. I mentioned the club's 2022 League One championship; it was around that period when Tormenta was a semi-regular feature on the American soccer-focused radio show I was doing at the time (R.I.P The United States of Soccer). In those days (three years ago!), Tormenta was an exemplar for small-market clubs building something from the ground up. Tormenta had a youth club, a stadium (open, small, but incomplete), a women's team (in the USL W League) and often crowed about "doing it right".

And maybe they were. The failure of the club in 2026 doesn't necessarily mean they made indefensible mistakes over the preceding 10 years. Ticket sales dropped to anemic levels over the last few seasons; did the club fail on marketing front or was the market never going to sustain the club? If it's the latter, why did anyone think that pro soccer in Statesboro, Georgia was a good idea? Why did USL grant the club admission with so many obvious questions about its long term prospects?

Why doesn't USL create a better safetey net so clubs can do the hard work of growing without fear that the financial end will come after a few bad seasons in the stands?

The wisdom inherent in the axiom "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" is easy to understand but much more difficult to apply. It would be good to have more soccer clubs. Long term livelihood is nearly impossible to guarantee. What does that mean for how low the bar should be for new clubs?

Here's our segement on the news from Morning Kickaround's Monday show:

One last item: There's more than one Tormenta out there in the USL ranks, meaning there are clubs who can't be called "stable" in any real sense of the word. I'm also aware of a club that had to find a new owner after the first one proved too flaky to take the team into the professional ranks. While ultimately that situation may prove to be salvagable, its speaks to the high wire act USL is engaged in all over the country as it tries to swell its ranks ahead of USL Premier and pro/rel.

If you're a sucker for punishement, read my piece on North Carolina FC skipping the 2026 season.

Okay, finally, here are few cobbled-together thoughts from watching parts of a bunch of Major League Soccer's first match offerings of the new season:

• If the story of the New York Red Bulls in 2026 is going to be "One of the best USMNT midfielders in history leads a bunch of kids to MLS success in his first year as a senior manger", I might be a Red Bulls fan this year. I'm not always comfortable with the relationship the club has to its European overlords and there's always shadow of the failure to fill amazing venue to consider when parsing RBNY as an organization, but Michael Bradley turning a group of baby nats into a playoff team would quickly make me forgive those issues. But I don't like this from Rob Usry of Five Stripes Final. Nope, don't like it at all.

The 17 year old kid we used to watch grainy gifs of on No Short Corners is coaching now. What the fuck man

[image or embed]

— Rob Usry (@robusry.bsky.social) February 21, 2026 at 9:25 PM

• Certainly LAFC will run into teams actually able to slow them down in transition, but Bouanga, Son, and company will be worth this East Coaster staying up late to watch on most MLS matchdays. Son's frustration at being subbed off in front of 75,000 in Los Angeles speaks to his desire to bring a title to his new club and we know a nation of fans in Korea are hanging on his every move. Bouanga loves the spotlight and is always good for at least one spectacular act of insane athleticism per game. LAFC understands the assigment: Give Hollywood.
• I work with a guy (a certain U.S. soccer hall of famer) who thinks that Saturday night's tantrum from Lionel Messi—which by now you probably know he won't be punished for—was a bad sign for things to come for the Argentine great and Inter Miami. The thought is that Messi is flat out over it and that replacing Busquets and Alba won't be as easy as so many presume. I'm not buying what Wynalda is selling, but it will be interesting to see if Messi's frustration with not getting calls hangs over Miami as the season unfolds.
• Paul Rothrock almost impossible not to like. He might not reach MLS Best XI levels or make the USMNT, but Rothrock's all-out-effort style and infectious attitude make him a player anyone not from Portland can root for. Rothrock came off the bench cold for an injured Jordan Morris and collected an assist and a goal in the season opener against Colorado, retrieving the ball for the assist to Albert Rusnak following a maniacal sprint to prevent it from going out of bounds. I love that kind of effort because while I haven't been an athlete in a very long time, Rothrock's play is exactly the kind of play I prided myself on making. Need more? How about this from our friends at Sounder At Heart.
• QUICKER ONES
  • Atlanta United being bad makes me sad and I would like them to get better. Georgia pro soccer needs something good.
  • Cade Cowell looked very good for the Red Bulls on Saturday. He's way outside the World Cup squad at the moment, but a run of performances like that will get him back on Pochettino's radar.
  • I appreciated Tai Baribo celebrating his first goal for DC United against his former team on Saturday. Goals are hard and players should always celebrate—especially in front of home fans that desperately need signs of life from their club.
  • The Athletic crew is reporting that Orlando City is in talks with Antoine Griezmann. I didn't see that coming and while Orlando City has other issues that might undo them this season, Griezmann would be box office in Central Florida. As an Atleti fan, it might require me getting my hands on an Orlando City Griezmann jersey.