Brave SC 1–0 Dothan United · Fort Lauderdale United FC 3–0 Brave SC
Hosts first: Dothan
Rip Hewes Stadium, in front of a loud home crowd, against a side missing Ryan Holmes — the league's leading scorer with seven — and Evan Howard, both injured.
They still came at us for ninety minutes, and we won it with one goal.
Kante Ishii scored it, in the last minute before half time. Takumi drove inside the box and dropped it to Ishii on the far right. No pressure on him. He put it into the bottom left corner.
Dothan had around 60% of the ball in that first half and spent much of it in our box. We took our chance on the break. Their own commentary was blunt about how the night went for them:
"They capitalise with the second or third break on the goal. Before that, Dothan were in the ascendancy."
"That's how the whole night has gone for Dothan."
They had two goals ruled out for offside across the match, one of which their own broadcast disputed.
And we finished the match with ten men, a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity late on. We defended the last stretch a man down and the clean sheet held.
1–0.
Worth noting what the two defences had done to get here. We had conceded 13 goals all season, Dothan 8. Both sides had scored exactly 27. Dothan had nine different goalscorers; we had fifteen.
Their commentary also picked out something about our goalkeeper we have never put on this website: Youssef Moumban is blind in his left eye. Six foot four, out of Maryland, second season with this club, and he started every match of the campaign.
"Hasn't let it keep him down. Has done a great job all year. That's hugely impressive. Great story."
Then the other Floridian team: Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale United set up in a 4-2-3-1 and rotated the three behind the striker constantly. They took it 3–0 and went on to the final.
Our season ended there.
A word about Dothan United. They staged that weekend, looked after every visiting club properly, and made a long trip a good one for our players and for the families who travelled. Beating your hosts is one thing. Being made welcome while you do it is another, and they deserve the credit for it.
We would be glad to go back.
The championship went to Vermont Green FC, who beat Flint City Bucks 2–1 in the final to become the first club to win back-to-back USL League Two titles since 2003.
Sixth division title. A playoff win in Alabama. See you in 2027.
