It's good to be the Mauritania President.
Why is it so good? We will explain.
If you're the president of Mauritania, you can, if you happen to be watching a soccer match in your country and get bored with the proceedings, order the match to be sent to penalties in the 63rd minute so you don't have to watch it anymore.
How do we know that you can do this sort of thing if you're the Mauritania President?
Because that's what he did in real life. We are not making this up.
Abdel Aziz, the actual President of Mauritania, is reported to have stopped an actual soccer match that he was watching and sent it to penalty kicks because he was bored.
Mauritania, for its part, has issued a super vague semi-denial of Aziz's actions that we do not believe not even for a second.
Here it is:
“I deny in the strongest terms the intervention of the President of the Republic. The decision was made due to organisational issues in accordance with the presidents and the coaches of the two teams.”
Right. We like that other version of the story better.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
