From America to Saudi Arabia: the curse of Yassine Bono strikes Al-Hilal's star!
A fresh shock
Crysencio Summerville just can't shake Yassine Bounou. The Netherlands winger missed another penalty in an Al-Hilal shirt during the clash with Al-Feiha, dredging up memories of a near-identical moment against the Morocco goalkeeper only weeks earlier at the 2026 World Cup.
Al-Hilal swept Al-Feiha aside 3-0 on Thursday evening in the second round of the Roshn League, moving to 6 points and top of the table for now. Yet Summerville's 81st-minute miss stole some of the limelight, thanks to the strange irony tying him to the Moroccan goalkeeper once again.
Bono lives on in Somerville's memory
Rewind just 51 days. The Netherlands met Morocco in the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup, a match that went to penalties after both regular and extra time finished level.
Yassine Bounou stole the show in the shootout, brilliantly denying Summerville from the spot to hand Morocco a decisive edge before the Atlas Lions completed the job and went through.
The irony? Summerville went on to miss another penalty soon after, this time wearing an Al-Hilal shirt against Al-Feiha. He found himself in a scenario strikingly similar to the one Bounou had inflicted on him at the World Cup.
From facing Bono to playing alongside him
The greatest irony is that Sommerville moved to Al-Hilal after the World Cup, becoming a teammate of Bono rather than facing him as an opponent. The memory of that penalty refused to fade. In the 81st minute against Al-Feiha, he missed again, and the old incident came flooding back.
The miss barely mattered. Al-Hilal had already wrapped things up with a clean sweep of three goals, extending their perfect start in the Roshn League and claiming a second straight win.
Penalties, then, have become a strange thread running through the start of Sommerville's time at Al-Hilal. A few weeks earlier, Bono denied him from the spot in the shootout against the Netherlands. Now the Moroccan goalkeeper is his teammate, and Sommerville keeps missing from twelve yards. It's a subplot that could throw up plenty more ironies as the season unfolds.
For all the gloom, this is really just a curious statistical quirk in Sommerville's career. Yet the fact that it has repeated itself so soon makes it one of the most intriguing stories of Al-Hilal's opening spell, all the more so because the man once beaten by Bono now leans on him as the last line of defence.
