It’s understandable that the Algerian players would be upset after Landon Donovan scored in stoppage time to keep them from advancing to the knockout round of the World Cup. It’s not understandable for one of them to take it out on a female reporter after the game. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Rafik Saifi did. According to Deadspin, via Yahoo! Sports, Saifi slapped a female, Algerian journalist across the face following his team’s loss when he was on his way to the media room. Here’s what the reporter, Asma Halimi, had to say about the incident:
I said nothing to him and he reached over and hit me,” Halimi said to Yahoo! Sports. “So I hit him back. I said nothing to him first.”
Halimi slapped him back and drew blood from his lip. She was then escorted from the media room and Saifi fired an empty sports drink bottle at the wall. There was supposedly already bad blood between the two because of an article she wrote in her paper that Saifi disagreed with. That’s absolutely no excuse to hit a woman in the face. I’m glad she hit him back and I’m a little disappointed the security staff didn’t kick his ass.
Sources:
Algerian Player Slaps Female Reporter After Match [Deadspin]
Algeria player slaps female reporter [Yahoo! Sports]
