Al-Taawoun Fires Coach Zarko Lazetic After Bizarre Substitution Error

Al-Taawoun, a Saudi Arabian football club, has officially dismissed Serbian coach Zarko Lazetic after just 79 days in charge. Lazetic, who previously managed Maccabi Tel Aviv, becomes the first coach to be fired this season in the Saudi Pro League. The club is already searching for a replacement.

The decision followed a heavy 6-0 home defeat to Al-Hilal in the seventh round of matches, with Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli scoring a hat-trick for the winning side. This loss marked Al-Taawoun's fourth league defeat of the season.

However, the scoreline was overshadowed by a peculiar incident during the game. In the 58th minute, with his team trailing 5-0, Lazetic made all five of his allowed substitutions simultaneously. Nine minutes later, in the 67th minute, an Al-Taawoun player was injured and unable to continue. As all substitutions had been used, the team was forced to play the remaining nearly half hour with only ten players on the field, without any red cards being issued.

At the post-match press conference, Lazetic took responsibility for the substitution error, stating, "If I had known someone would get injured, I wouldn't have made all the substitutions so early. It's my mistake and I apologize for it, but when you are losing by such a large margin, you try to make all the changes to improve the performance."

He also addressed criticism for sitting passively on the bench in the final fifteen minutes, explaining, "This is not the first time I've sat like this. When you lose, everything looks black. It happened in previous games too, but when you lose by such a score, all the focus is always on the negative things." Lazetic also clarified a mistranslated quote, stating he meant he would smile only after a win, not after that specific match.

Despite his explanations, the club proceeded with his dismissal shortly after the press conference, ending his brief tenure.