Impact Subs
MD17 — Spokane Velocity FC vs Fort Wayne FC — 2026
Match Recap & Analysis
Fort Wayne FC led at the break in Spokane, then watched the home side’s veteran bench take the match away, exposing squad depth as the differentiator between the two sides.
Spokane Velocity FC 3 – 1 Fort Wayne FC · USL League One 🏟 ONE Spokane Stadium, Spokane, Wash. 📅 July 25, 2026 ⚽ SPK: Shavon John-Brown (66’), Shavon John-Brown (81’), Luis Gil (84’) | FWFC: Jack Thomas (15’) 📋 FWFC Record: 7-4-6 · 27 pts · Matchday 17
The Match
Fort Wayne Football Club arrived at ONE Spokane Stadium with its full-strength side restored. Mike Avery set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Jeremy Garay and Javier Armas as the double pivot and Taig Healy underneath Lilian Ricol with Jack Thomas and Kabiru Gafar wide. Spokane Velocity’s head coach, Leigh Veidman, rotated heavily off a midweek win, lining his side up in a 5-3-2 with new signing Ali Elmasnaouy handed his midfield debut, keeping captain Luis Gil on the bench. Elmasnaouy is on loan from USL Championship side Oakland Roots.
The opener came in the 15th min., and it started from a Spokane goal kick. James Musa rose to win the first ball and headed it forward. Thomas collected it 40 yards from goal, dipped past Spokane centerback Camron Miller, and ripped a shot from the top of the penalty area. Sean Lewis, back-to-back USL League One Goalkeeper of the Year winner, got a hand to it but pushed the ball back into traffic, and Thomas ran onto his own rebound and buried it on the half volley from just right of the penalty spot.
Spokane sat in a mid block for the rest of the half and offered little in the attack. It had the same look and feel as the first meeting between the two sides. Fort Wayne FC took the lead into the interval.
The second half was a different story for Spokane Velocity FC. Around the hour mark, head coach Veidman and his coaching staff put their stamp on the match by subbing in Shavon John-Brown. John-Brown would finish the night with two goals and an assist, completely changing the trajectory of a Spokane side that failed to make the right changes back on July 4.
In the 66th min., Spokane midfielder Nil Vinyals lifted a ball over our back line for John-Brown who ran clear of Tiago Dias, and finished through the legs of Bernd Schipmann. In the 77th min., Spokane captain Luis Gil subbed in alongside Jack Denton. Four minutes later, Denton would find John-Brown running at our back line once more, and he would finish his second similar to his first, under Schipmann. The dagger took place in the 84th min., when Fort Wayne FC defender James Musa played a poor pass out of the back. John-Brown collected it and found Gil arriving in the box for the third. Thirty minutes after John-Brown was subbed into the match, Fort Wayne FC would go on to lose 3-1 after leading at the half.
The Defender’s Verdict
For 45 minutes the scoreline said we were the better team, on the road, against a side sitting above us in the table. Credit to Spokane, their coaching staff and players, for showing us why they have played in back-to-back USL League One Finals.
If there is one area to point to, it’s veteran depth. Look at who came off the bench on Saturday for Spokane. Shavon John-Brown. Luis Gil. Derek Waldeck. Add up the professional years among those three and you understand how a home side goes into halftime down a goal and never panics. The Spokane coaching staff trusted their starters to keep the fight close, then let their veterans come in and take the match over. Those coaching decisions proved the difference on the night, and it came down to individual quality that turned a potential home loss into yet another home victory.
Look inward and the picture is just as clear. John-Brown beat us the way he has been beating this league for years, pulling center backs out of position and punishing what is left behind. Tiago Dias is a first-year professional, and a seasoned veteran read him and went past him twice. Schipmann had two go through his legs on arguably his worst night of the season. Gil floated into the box and finished like a man who has done it his whole career. Professional goals, all three of them. Looking at the data, Spokane edged us on expected goals (xG), 1.78 to 1.57. This wasn’t a dismantling, it was a night where their goalkeeper overperformed and ours underperformed. A lopsided scoreline in what was actually a fairly even match.
But we had no answer off our bench, and that is where the second half of the season could be decided. Depth matters. Veterans matter. Both will show up again, and whether we have enough of either is the question this Year One squad needs to ask itself. A strong first half can be outdone by a poor second half. It was true of the match on Saturday. Let’s hope it will not be true of the season.
Always FWD