LIEL ABADA was involved in a Miss of the Season candidate in the scoreless stalemate in the Sydney Super Cup against Everton this morning.
Only one minute of regulation time was left at the Accor Stadium when James Forrest chased down a Giorgos Giakoumakis pass on the right.
The evergreen winger battled for the ball, won a challenge with the opposing defender and looked up before squaring a pass across the face of the goal.
OVER TO YOU…James Forrest whips in a pass with Liel Abada unmarked in the area.
IT’S GOT TO BE…Abada goes for the ball with his right foot.
HIGH, WIDE AND HORRIBLE…Abada gets it all terribly wrong as he somehow misses the target.
OVER AND OUT…Abada is grounded as he realises he has blown the chance to win the game.
FLAT OUT…Abada is still trying to work out what went wrong.
Abada was lurking completely unmarked inside the six-yard box. Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic must have thought his next action would be to retrieve the ball from the back of his net as Forrest’s pass dropped right at the feet of the Israeli international.
Amazingly, though, the forward contrived to miskick with the goal gaping and managed to knock the ball waywardly past the post.
It was a truly extraordinary and inexplicable moment from the winger who lay in utter misery hoping the ground would swallow him up.
A goal at that stage would almost certainly have given the Hoops a victory in Ange Postecoglou’s adopted homeland at the second time of asking after Thursday’s disappointing 2-1 loss to the local A-League side.
Componding the disappointment, Postecoglou’s side lost 4-2 on penalty-kicks although, to be fair, Abada was one of the team’s successes along with Forrest. Culprits are the spot-kicks were Giakoumakis and Reo Hatate.
Celtic fans will be hoping Abada, who has claimed nine goals this season, finds his shooting boots for the Premiership restarting after the World Cup break when the champions are scheduled to meet Aberdeen at Pittodrie on December 17.
ABADA BLUNDER IN BLANKETY BLANK STALEMATE
