No. I believe that Joel saw that Rice was making no effort to get away from the ball, so was looking to kick it - aiming for Rice to be seen to be 'failing to retreat' and hoping he'd get a second yellow.Do you HONESTLY believe poor Joel just wanted to take the quick free kick and didn't think he would get ANY of the player standing directly in front of it?
Genuinely?
He didn't expect Rice to be MUG enough to get actively involved in the exercise, thus guaranteeing he'd walk.