viagramof – Declan Rice, the England national team star, stole the show after he refused to celebrate
Declan Rice scores for his former team 🔥#UEFA_Nations_League pic.twitter.com/xi3LPiE0i4
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 7, 2024
The phenomenon of not celebrating goals is not new in the world of football, as football stars refuse to celebrate when they score against their former teams at the club level.
But when it comes to national teams, it gets even more interesting, and Rice certainly wasn’t first on the list:
(1)
Hakan Yakin scores against the Turks
On June 11, 2008, the Swiss national team met its guest, the Turkish national team, at St. Jakob Park in the group stage of the European Nations Championship “Euro 2008”.
The Swiss managed to score in the 32nd minute, and the goal was scored by the star Hakan Yakin, who is not difficult to guess is of Turkish origin.
Yakin refused to celebrate the goal, and the Turks succeeded in turning the tables by scoring two goals through Semih Senturk and Erdan Turan, and the Turkish national team achieved a 2-1 victory.
(2)
Podolski refuses to provoke the country of his ancestors
The second star on the list is the German star of Polish origin, Lukas Podolski, who scored against the country of his ancestors and refused to celebrate in front of them.
In the same tournament, Euro 2008, the German national team met Poland on June 8 in the group stage, and Podolski succeeded in scoring two goals for the Mannschaft against his home country.
Podolski stole the show by refusing to celebrate in front of the Polish fans.
Just saying..
A #to celebrate This hurts.#Podolski against #Poland pic.twitter.com/WsSM084uox— Yousef Al-Saadi 🔻 (₿) (@Youseff_Alsadi) June 24, 2018
(3)
The night player shakes the nets of his own kind
On October 8, 2010, the German national team hosted the Turkish national team at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in a friendly match.
The Mannschaft managed to win 3-0, and the star of Turkish origin, Mesut Ozil, succeeded in scoring against his own people in the 79th minute, and refused to celebrate the goal.
(4)
Embolo shows loyalty to Cameroon
On November 24, 2022, Switzerland will play Cameroon in the group stage of the World Cup.
Breel Embolo scored against Cameroon, but refused to celebrate.
International newspapers later explained this behaviour by asserting that Cameroon was Embolo’s country of birth before he later moved to Europe, where he was raised and acquired Swiss citizenship.
Embolo did not celebrate his goal against Cameroon because he was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon. pic.twitter.com/xMIk6B8PPw
— Total Football (@TotalFootbol) November 24, 2022
(5)
Loyalty to father’s country
On February 3, 2024, Mali national team met Côte d’Ivoire national team in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mali took the lead first through Nene Dorgeles, but he refused to celebrate.
It later emerged that Dorgeles’ father was from Côte d’Ivoire and his mother from Mali, and that the refusal to celebrate was out of loyalty to his father’s country of birth.
Nene opens the scoring for Mali against Ivory Coast#Africa_Cup_of_Nations | #financial | #Cote_d’Ivoire#UN_CUP_2023_Energies pic.twitter.com/RwviqlTe5S
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 3, 2024
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