LONDON: It takes nerves of steel to take a Panenka in any game — let alone in the Baghdad derby with the league leaders when the game is deadlocked.
But Arkan Ammar showed he is the man for the big occasion by dinking the ball past the despairing dive of the Al-Zawraa keeper to put his side in front after just six minutes of the match at the Al Talaba Stadium.
You're not going to see many a Panenka better than this! Arkan Ammar dinks it in to put Al-Talaba ahead in the Baghdad Derby against Al-Zawraa. pic.twitter.com/5qwdjrbBkG
— Soccer Iraq (@SoccerIraq) February 16, 2018
His country’s U-23 side could certainly have done with his penalty skills during the AFC U-23 Championship penalty shootout defeat to Vietnam last month.
But the audacious goal was not enough to hand mid-table Al-Zawraa all three points and inflict a first defeat in 20 matches on league leaders Al-Zawraa. The visitors equalized five minutes later through Mohanad Abdulraheem and that is how the match stayed, with Al-Zawraa maintaining their two-goal lead at the top of the Super League.
