SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – Unsportsmanlike conduct unfolded on a soccer field in southwest Miami-Dade when, a referee’s attorney said, an angry player punched his client in the head before he kicked another referee.
Video of the Sunday night soccer fight has gone viral on social media.
Attorney Andrés Vidales, who represents the arbitrator who he said was punched in the head, said his client could have lost his life.
“They told him two centimeters to the left or to the right, he probably wouldn’t have survived that impact,” he said.
Vidales said it all happened during an adult soccer game at Kendall Soccer Park in the area of Southwest 80th Street and 127th Avenue.
Vidales said his client initially gave the player in question a warning after he became aggressive and began threatening members of the opposing team.
As the game progressed, Vidales said, the player became even more aggressive and began hurling profanity at the referees.
When the referees tried to send off the player, the situation turned physical.
“Without him even looking up, everyone [my client] says is that he felt a punch to the face,” said Vidales.
He said there were no cameras rolling when the player hit the first referee, but cellphone video captured what happened next.
“After he proceeded to attack my client, [the player] he turns around and hits another officer who was on the field,” he said.
Footage captured the assailant kicking the second referee as he lay on the ground.
“He comes running violently and hits him full on the head with his right foot,” Vidales said.
Tiki-Taki USA Academy, the team that hosts the player involved, released a statement on social media acknowledging the incident. It says in part: “We want to make it clear that the academy categorically rejects any violent act and action in any field and more so in the sports field… that is why with great responsibility we ratify that the actions of that person do not represent who we are.”
As for the injured referee, his lawyer said he is being evaluated by doctors and hopes to return to the job he loves so much, but now lives in fear.
“He’s afraid to go out, he’s afraid to go back on the field,” Vidales said. “He is also afraid because he almost lost his life.”
Vidales said he and his client are in contact with Miami-Dade police and plan to press charges.
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