FOOTBALL fans were treated to a rare type of goal in Major League Soccer in the game between Atlanta United and Toronto.
Headlines would have normally been made about the stoppage time winner alone, but it was the nature of how it came about which had fans calling it “crazy”.
In the 97th minute with the score tied at 1-1, Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran had the ball in his arms as he attempted to run down the clock.
However, unbeknownst to Gavran, Atlanta forward Jamal Thiare had sneakily gone off the pitch behind him to grab some water before quietly ambling back on to the field of play behind the Canadian.
As both attackers and defenders moved down the pitch expecting 24-year-old Gavran to boot it long, Thiare waited behind him in case he dropped the ball.
And in a stunning twist of fate, Gavran duly obliged as he dropped the ball ready to play the ball with his feet.
The Senegal ace then pounced on the loose ball in front of Gavran before dribbling it around him and shooting the ball into the back of the net for an astonishing winner.
Fans couldn’t believe what they had just seen, with one saying: “You see a goal like this maybe once every five years.
“A goal like this to win the game seven minutes into stoppage? Never seen anything like it. Not even in MLS.”
A second said: “The craziest game winner you will ever see and a team like Atlanta… they deserved a break like this.”
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The official club account shared a video of 31-year-old Thiare, proclaiming him: “Hide and seek champion.”
Interim head coach Rob Valentino added: “I would say I’m on the younger side of coaching and the younger side of being in the game, but I have never seen anything like that.
“I made the joke to Dax [McCarty], after I ridiculously went sprinting down the sideline, that he has played 20 years now and I bet he has never seen a finish like that.
“It was incredible, bizarre, but I’m glad we’re on this side of it.”
Similar goals have occurred in England, with Danny Rose scoring a cheeky goal in a similar fashion for Stevenage in 2022.
One of the most famous versions of this came when Robbie Keane scored against Birmingham for Tottenham in 2003.
However, many fans were left fuming at an apparent breach of rules from Thiare for stepping off the pitch, and believed referee Serhiy Boyko should have overturned the goal.
One fan said: “Illegal, he steps off the field of his own accord, pretty bad reffing that this didn’t get VAR‘d.”
A second said: “He left the pitch to get a drink of water. Did the referee wave him back onto the pitch or am I missing something?”
A third said: “The goal scorer leaves the field of play and re-enters without permission. That’s a yellow card, no goal.”
Under Ifab’s law 12.3 it says a player should be cautioned when “entering, re-entering or deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission”.
Ifab’s law 13.2 also states: “Free kicks for offences involving a player entering, re-entering or leaving the field of play without permission are taken from the position of the ball when play was stopped.”
