Huntsville City beat Fort Lauderdale 2:0 at Joe W. Davis Stadium on Saturday evening in a MLS Next Pro Group Stage fixture. The hosts claimed all three points after a match that opened with discipline issues and closed with late drama. Both sides had already played slightly different numbers of games before this encounter.
M. Molina opened the scoring in the eighty-ninth minute, giving Huntsville City a lead they had not held at any point during the ninety minutes. Fort Lauderdale had controlled possession at fifty-four per cent but could not create clear chances, managing only two shots on target compared to four for the home side. And here's the thing about matches like this — you can dominate the ball and still finish empty-handed.
There were nine yellow cards in total, with Fort Lauderdale collecting six and Huntsville City three. The bookings started early with M. Acevedo cautioned in the eighth minute and X. Aguilar following in the thirty-ninth. By the time substitutions began in the fifty-eighth minute, the referee had already shown more cards than most referees show in a full season.
Molina doubled his tally in the ninety-seventh minute, a moment that sealed the result before anything else could happen. Fort Lauderdale then saw a penalty missed by the same player in the ninety-ninth minute, a cruel twist that left both goals and a penalty opportunity in the same name. The home side held their nerve when they needed to most.
The statistics tell a story Huntsville City did not always reflect on the pitch. They registered one hundred and two attacks against ninety-one for the visitors, with seven corners to four. Shots accuracy was identical at forty per cent for both sides, but Huntsville City found the target twice as often. Many shots with one goal in the first half means chances went begging until the final moments.
The result keeps Huntsville City in twelfth place on thirty-eight points from twenty-five games, while Fort Lauderdale move to sixteenth on fifteen points from twenty-six matches. Neither side has a draw to their name this season, which says something about how these teams approach every fixture. The group stage still has games to play, but this one is done.