From afar, Chandler Hoffman’s celebration Saturday night after a 41st-minute goal against the Wilmington Hammerheads looked like a dab — the dropped-head, raised-elbow dance. But Hoffman’s pose had much more meaning.
After seeing his header hit the back of the net, Hoffman raised his arms and opened stride, an ode to Muhammad Ali’s floating. Then he stopped to kiss the armband stitched with “Ali” and worn Saturday by all of LouCity’s players.
Hoffman posted to Instagram a video of the goal with this Ali quote: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
The Birmingham, Ala., native Hoffman moved into a tie for second in the United Soccer League in scoring this season with 10 in all when he scored a second goal in the 48th minute against the Hammerheads, who forced a 2-2 draw with a stoppage-time set piece.
LouCity, first place in the USL’s Eastern Conference, next plays Saturday at Rochester before returning home June 21 to meet Toronto FC II at Louisville Slugger Field.
