It was the second clash of Vlora FC and Dakota Young Stars in this 2022 season. The first meeting was to claim the top spot in the West Division regular season table that ended in a tie. This time around the match would decide who advances to the West Division final. The first 15 minutes of the match would prove to excite with both teams creating multiple chances. Later in the half it would Leo Anthony (assisted by Suad Suljic) who would break the deadlock on a volley that looked as though the Dakota keeper made a clean pick up and then… just like that the ball was in the back of net.
From that point forward Vlora FC control most of the match. It was match that saw such high emotions that saw Dakota finish the match with only 8 players due to red cards. After picking up the first red card, conceded on a cross from Anthony that finished by Suljic at the back post. It would be Vlora’s third and final goal of the match that led to the unraveling of Dakota Young Stars. It would be Josiah Colman who would earn a penalty than didn’t sit well with Dakota. This decision by the referee would lead to the sending off of Dakota Young Stars head coach and another Dakota player who picked up his second yellow of the match after having words with the referee.
Pablo Campos would then step up to take the penalty and calm putting in the bottom left corner to make it 3-0. Dakota looked in complete self-destruct mode until the final whistle as another player would pick up a straight red for what appeared to be a very intentional late tackle that caused quite a scene in final moments of the match. It was a very unfortunate display for team that had such a positive result when looking back on their season.
