The right winger takes a touch and beats his defender with a quick feint. He plays it to a teammate centrally, who drives forward before slipping a chip over the defense into the channel. The cross comes in toward the edge of the six-yard box where Gabi Morad is waiting.
The striker takes a step back, launches himself into the air, and connects with a bicycle kick. Full power with his right foot. The goalkeeper doesn't move.
The ball hits the net. Morad lands, his teammates swarm him. At 38 years old, he's just scored the goal his son has been challenging him to score for years.
Swedish side LSW IF needed this win. Every match in Division 4 mattered if they wanted promotion, and Morad had been carrying the scoring burden all season. This goal, in this moment, kept them on track for what would become a league title and promotion to Division 3. Morad would finish as top scorer with 33 goals in 22 matches.
But the goal itself wasn't about the league table. It was about something his younger son had been asking him to do.
The challenge from home
"The only way to reach it was to attempt a bicycle kick, a technique my younger son absolutely loves," Morad says. "He has challenged me many times to score a bicycle-kick goal, so in that split second, I almost felt his voice in my mind."
Bicycle kicks aren't something most 38-year-old players attempt in competitive matches. The timing has to be perfect, the technique exact, and the consequences of getting it wrong at that age are real. But when the cross came in, Morad didn't think about any of that.
"I simply reacted," he says. "I trusted my instincts, and I'm grateful to God for giving me the strength and physical ability to still perform at this level."
The connection was clean. The kind of strike where you know immediately it's going in. His son practices bicycle kicks constantly, talks about them, dreams about them. Now his father had actually scored one in a match that mattered.
"When I saw the ball hit the net, I felt overwhelming gratitude to my teammates and especially to my son, who inspires me more than he knows," Morad says.
What it means at 38
Playing Division 4 football at 38 requires something different than it did at 28. The body doesn't recover the same way. Every match is a reminder that time keeps moving.
"At 38, I don't take any moment on the pitch for granted," Morad says.
That awareness makes moments like this one matter more. The bicycle kick his son wanted to see. The goal that helped secure three points in a promotion race. The proof that he can still do things most players his age have stopped attempting.
Morad has watched the goal back many times since the match. Each viewing brings the same response.
"I'm filled with both joy and gratitude," he says. "A bicycle kick is such a difficult technique, and seeing it executed so well makes me reflect more on the inspiration behind it."
The inspiration is his younger son. The boy who practices bicycle kicks in the garden, who challenges his father to score one in a real match, who believes his dad can still do impossible things on a football pitch.
"Being able to give him that joy, to show him that his father actually did it, fills me with pride and happiness," Morad says.
Documented proof
The goal was recorded on Veo, giving Morad something he can share with his family for years.
"It feels incredible, and honestly a bit surreal," he says. "These moments don't happen often, especially not at my age, so being able to share it with my family and show my son that I finally achieved the challenge he set for me means a lot."
Football has been part of Morad's entire life. Years of work, discipline, injuries, recovery. The support from his family. The passion from his children. Having this moment captured means something specific.
"To share this memory with my family, and especially with my son who inspired the goal, makes it even more meaningful," Morad says.
LSW IF won the league that season and earned promotion to Division 3. Morad's 33 goals in 22 matches made him top scorer. The bicycle kick against a defense that couldn't stop it was just one of those 33, but it's the one his son will remember.
Submitted for recognition
Morad's goal has been submitted for this year's People's Puskas, which spotlights the best goals scored away from the biggest arenas.
"It's a huge honor," Morad says. "I never imagined that a goal of mine, especially at 38, would be considered for something like the People's Puskas."
The nomination is dedicated to his family. The wife and children who support him through every season, every match, every recovery from injury. The younger son who finally got to see his father score a bicycle kick in a competitive match.
"Moments like this feel even more special knowing how much joy it brings to them," Morad says.
At 38, playing Division 4 football in Sweden, carrying a team to promotion with 33 goals, then scoring a bicycle kick because your son challenged you to do it. That's the story. That's what matters.
Can you beat that?
