On Wednesday evening (7), Argentine soccer superstar Mace was away to Kobe Victory ship in a warm-up match at Inter Miami. Although he only played 30 minutes as a substitute, he sparked an incident that upset the local fans. The 36-year-old striker was not allowed to take the penalty when the two teams were tied at 0-0 and a penalty shootout was needed to determine the winner, and the boos in the stadium were loud and clear, triggering a strong reaction from the public again after the "sit-in" incident during his last visit to Hong Kong.
Whenever a penalty shootout was needed to decide the winner, he was always given the responsibility of taking the first penalty when playing for his club or for the Argentine national team, including in the last eight of the last World Cup against the Netherlands and in the final against France, where he was Argentina's first penalty taker. Since joining Internacional Mayamil, he has taken penalties against FC Dallas, Nashville, and FC Cincinnati in the Cup in August of last year.
Japanese fans were holding their cameras in anticipation of capturing the moment when Misi took the penalty kick in this warm-up match, but were never able to do so. The Japanese media noted that boos rose at the end of the match, with many fans expressing their displeasure that Inter Miami coach Martino did not allow Mays to take the first penalty kick.
The Japanese media also pointed out that only 28,614 people showed up for the match, and the stadium was meant to hold 68,000 spectators, making the empty stands look particularly harsh. This figure is far lower than the 47,335 that turned out for Kobe Victory against Barcelona in June of last year, not to mention the 61,618 that turned out for Yokohama Marinos against Manchester City in July of last year.
