Excuse the non-technical thread title. The coach in question (Dragan Stojkovic) is dismissed for behaving irresponsibly by kicking a ball onto the field of play during a stoppage, and it just happens to result in a beautiful goal. This is something on the lighter side, but I'm sure it could result in some debate. As humorous as it might be, I think he has to go. Here are two videos (one showing the send off clearly, so that won't be debated--the other shows how great a shot it was). [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QUINdfStzc"]YouTube - A nice goal by Manager, Dragan Stojkovic ejected him out from the pitch.[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPW2jC_URY"]YouTube - head coach Dragan Stojkovic got a fine goal and was sent off[/ame]
Maybe he'll become a player-manager... That was a beautiful one-timer. I would agree that it was a very inappropriate thing to do during an injury stoppage. Doesn't show much respect for the player down.
I guess I'm having a hard time figuring this out. Was play stopped before the player kicked the ball out of play? My original assumption was that it was and that the coach merely returned the ball to the field and just happened to "get lucky" and pop it into the goal. If that's the case, I don't really support dismissing him. Seems pretty harsh for something that in that case is pretty innocuous. Now, if play had not been stopped and the player kicked the ball out to stop play for the injury and the coach out of frustration bombed it goal-ward (when it should have stayed where he was), then I can see giving him the boot. There are some facts not in evidence here that'd I'd need in order to read the situation before deciding if he should have been sent to the locker room.
This seems quite harsh. At :51 of the second video it appears as if the referee is moving rapidly toward the injured player, possibly having already stopped the game. Simultaneously, the goal keeper in yellow is purposely punting the ball into touch. That it falls directly to the manager who pops it back onto the field of play, presumably toward where the drop ball restart might occur, is really no big deal. That it goes into the goal is simply funny. If the referee wants a bit of match control he can warn the coach, share a laugh about the "goal", and admonish him to please leave stray balls alone so that no-one risks getting whacked on the head by his next "shot" while they are tending to injured players. They could share a laugh, shake hands, and get on with it. Dismissal here seems an extraordinary response to something trivial. Perhaps something else was going on and this was a last straw? We may never know.
It looked to me like he was kicking the ball back to where (he assumed) there would be a dropped ball. I reminds me of something that happened to me when I was a coach. Practice was over and we were waiting for some of the boys' rides. I was serving in some corner kicks and letting them try to score. I had done several to the near post and the 'keeper was starting to cheat forward. I told him that wasn't a very good idea but he kept cheating toward me. On of the kids saw what was going on so when I raised my hand he curled around toward the corner of the six on the far post. I tried to kick it too him but it didn't go where I had intended. But... It would have made David Beckham proud. It started out looking like it would drop on the far corner of the area but then it bent and dropped. It went in the goal just in front of the far post und barely under the crossbar. Positioned at the near post the 'keeper didn't have a chance. The boys just stood there slack-jawed, then "WHOA! Teach me how to do that! That was cool! Do it again!" I just told tham that they couldn't consistently kick a straight ball with accuracy. No way was I going to teach them an advanced skill like that until they had mastered the basics. (There was no way I was going to try it again. They would figure out it was a fluke ) I stumbled into a lot of respect that day after practice
Interesting stuff. I respectfully disagree that it is "irresponsible behavior". Watching the replay, it seems spontaneous and not disrespectful to the match officials, the players or the game itself. An expulsion of this type can make the referee's job harder; if he takes a hard line where one is not required. FWIW
NO way to make a judgement on this little piece of data. Who knows what all had been occurring throughout the match? This might have been the final straw of a coach who had been pushing the limits all day long.
My DD (15 yo) loves this play. She practices it and has scored in games directly from corner kicks 3 times in the last year :-D