The equivalent in basketball to racing down the court with 10 seconds left in the game to dunk the ball and your team is up by 30, UAE’s Awana Diab had no problem rubbing the 6-2 victory in Lebanon’s soccer team’s face.
The United Arab Emirates set up for a penalty kick, already with a commanding lead, and Diab saw it fit to run up to the ball and turn his body to kick the ball with his back to the goal. The goalkeeper seemed stunned by his boldness and didn’t even attempt to block the ball. Diab was greeted by teammates with smiles and laughter, but everyone from the team didn’t think it was so funny.
UAE’s manager Srecko Katanec failed to find the humor in Diab’s kick and quickly substituted him after the kick and promised that he would be disciplined for the “disrespectful act.” They get serious in other countries about things like this. Hopefully we don’t hear about Diab coming up with a mysterious injury or missing in the upcoming weeks. Awana will definitely be a marked man the next time they play Lebanon.
