Penalty row...much to do about nothing

So I was reading how Theyab Awana will be punished for his taking of penalty kick in a manner "disrespectful" of the game, click here for article. I will give the UAE manager credit for taking action and for calling out his player. I do think it appears to have become a tempest in a tea cup. Was the kick a bit of showboating? Sure. Did it go in, yes. If the American Women's National team has demonstrated anything this past weekend is that taking and making a penalty kick is not necessarily as easy as it looks. For those who have not seen it, the actual penalty (the US Women's Team could have used him on Sunday!)



Was the manner in which Awana took his kick disrespectful? I say no. Mind you I, myself have play and have logged many matches as a goalie. Trust me, any time I give up a goal in any manner I am not happy and even less so if I think the opponent is disrespecting the game. Full disclosure, I have given up a goal on a back heel and it was not "pleasant." But the bottom line is, the keeper's job is to stop goals, regardless of how they are shot at you. The brilliance of the manner in which Awana took his PK was that the keeper was completely thrown off his rhythm. As the UAE player approaches the ball then pirouettes the keeper stutter steps, leans to his right and is caught completely flat footed....mission accomplished by the penalty taker. Had the keeper not been completely thrown off, he could have made what would have been a routine save to his left.

The UAE manager is entirely in his right to punish the player. And I am sure that Awana would not have attempted this had the match been a World Cup qualification match. But it will make the next keeper give pause for thought when facing him in a penalty kick situation. That too is mission accomplished as a PK taker.

I will say, if I were Awana I would be careful next time he plays that keeper and drifts into the penalty box on a cross or had a 1v1 with the keeper. Goalkeepers tend to have long memories...