‘Just Got To Laugh About It’: Akio Analyzes His Viral Miss In New YouTube Video

Valour’s William Akio has created a YouTube video analyzing his viral miss that has now surpassed ten million views.

The 23-year-old striker made waves around the globe following a shock goal-line miss in a Canadian Premier League match against the Halifax Wanderers, following which he made an official statement and now, too, an analysis video for his YouTube channel which boasts over 30,000 followers.

In his new video, the striker details what was going through his mind in the build-up to the now-infamous moment, and also reveals that he has been ‘absolutely bashed’ on social media and even by some friends and family.

Despite it all, Akio maintains a positive attitude: “I’m just trying to go through the motions and let everything pass on by,” he says. “it’s how you get over it, and how you respond the next game. Simple as that. “

Here’s the video below, in which he does a moment-by-moment analysis of the viral moment:

Akio clarifies that he wasn’t trying to steal the goal from his teammate Alessandro Riggi, who thought he had bagged one over his former team. He also makes it clear that the fluffed hit was not related to match-fixing by any means, either: “It just happened so fast in the moment, and it was one of the worst misses in history,” he says.

Akio’s YouTube channel has actively followed the progression of his career from college ball to the professional level, providing a unique inside view on the growing level of Canadian soccer. Despite how the highlight looks, Akio’s time with Valour has been largely successful: he’s the club’s second all-time top goalscorer behind Moses Dyer, who eventually bagged the team a win with a well-placed goal later on.

“Riggi gets a touch on it and it goes over the keeper. It’s trickling in, and at this moment everything is slow moment for me. I’m just thinking we scored a goal, we’re up early, I’m just going to run, smash the ball, celebrate with my boys, and pick up Riggi because he fell into the net,” explains Akio in the video above. “As I get to ball, I don’t know what happened. I just blanked out a little bit. The ball hit the left side of my toe, and it literally just went straight out and I was trying to smash it into the side netting. It’s very, very embarrassing. There’s not much I can do about it now. I’ve just got to laugh about it. It is what it is.”

Akio has been a rumoured transfer target of Scottish Premiership side Ross County, who recently signed his younger brother. While he’s made headlines for the wrong reason this week, the future still appears to be bright for the South Sudan international.

For now, he’s focused on keeping strong mentally after facing plenty of negativity online.

“At the end of the day, people are going to say what they’re going to say. It is what it is. It was a horrible miss, and it probably made you guys laugh. Some people are angry. There’s nothing I can do about it now – just got to stay positive and let it pass by.”

“I’m definitely going to learn from this situation. I don’t think I’ll ever make a bad miss like that ever again,” he says as he pauses to knock on wood. “I’m still going to have hundreds and hundreds of games left out of my career, God willing. I’ll make the most of it. This one little mistake doesn’t define who I am as a player.”