Dayne St. Clair came away from Thursday night’s Leagues Cup defeat against the Chicago Fire looking the fool for more than one reason.
The Minnesota United goalkeeper was called into action in the second half when United gave away a penalty while 1-0 ahead, and up stepped the Fire’s former Premier League, Bundesliga, and Primera Liga star Xherdan Shaqiri to take it.
“You have no balls! You have no balls!” St. Clair can be seen shouting at Shaqiri, who won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 with Liverpool, ahead of the penalty.
It’s quite the decision to mock as having “no balls” a Swiss man of Kosovan descent who once caused an international incident by displaying an Albanian nationalist symbol after scoring against Serbia (which does not recognize the independence of Kosovo) during a 2018 World Cup game.
Shaqiri, who made a sign suggesting St. Clair was running his mouth before taking the penalty, promptly stepped up and smashed it past him.
Keeper yells “you have no balls” to Shaqiri before he gets silenced😭🤫 pic.twitter.com/HE77xZ7CdY
— LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) July 28, 2023
It wasn’t the last time that St. Clair would be embarrassed during the game, making an absolute mess of a header by Kei Kamara in the 83rd minute, which handed Chicago a 3-2 win.
Now in fairness, Kamara’s goal shouldn’t have been allowed to stand given he kicked United’s DJ Taylor in the face as he jumped up for the ball – with Taylor subsequently requiring stitches. Still, St. Clair didn’t exactly cover himself in glory with his attempted save.
Kei Kamara heads @ChicagoFire in front. 😤
The visitors lead after going behind twice. #LeaguesCup pic.twitter.com/pSvXVbsT8k
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 28, 2023
Video courtesy @mnufcnews
Here’s the best angle of the incident.
Kei Kamara’s boot makes contact with the face of DJ Taylor prior to heading the ball into the back of the net.
I don’t know how this isn’t a foul. pic.twitter.com/UkgNRXphDy
— Jacob Schneider (@_jacobschneider) July 28, 2023
