Unusual/Notable stuff from around the football world.

[osarusan]

Didn't see any thread where this would fit, so I started one instead.

Here's a clip from Iraq v Qatar U-19 game to decide which team advances to the Asia championship.

It has gone to a penalty shootout, and Iraq need to score to stay alive. The keeper saves, celebrations ensue, ref cuts short celebrations because keeper came off his line before the ball was kicked. Adding considerable insult to injury, he books the keeper for this, which is his second booking, so he's off.

Outfield player and captain steps into goals, and saves the retaken penalty.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNw7LSUuVvI

[pineapple stu]

Way to open and close the thread!

[OwlsFan]

Probably not what you had in mind but I see that Bate Borisov won their 12th Belarus title in a row with 96th minute goal !! http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42130159

[DeLorean]

Benevento Calcio have had a gruelling introduction to life in Serie A, losing their first fourteen games before the arrival of AC Milan on Sunday.

Their pitiful run looked destined to continue as they trailed 1-2 five minutes into stoppage time.

Then, up steps goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli to secure their first ever Serie A point with a spectacular diving header.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbQhOMZtIYc

[pineapple stu]

I don't know if historic stuff counts, but I stumbled on this cracking piece of footage on YouTube.

Leeds v Everton, 1968. A Norman Hunter cruncher, but the commentator is incredible. "I don't think Everton will risk a substitute as yet", he blithely says as the unconscious Howard Kendall is lifted off the pitch - not stretchered, but literally carried off by two physios, his head lolling from side to side. "Because once the substitute is brought on, there is no going back"

It really was a different game back then. In many ways I think it was a much better game, but in some ways the modern game is a vast improvement.

kbPPtca6ulY

[osarusan]

Early 51st birthday present for Kazuyoshi Miura (King Kazu) as he signs a contract extension with Yokohama FC, to give him a 33rd year of professional football. He may be able to break his own record as the oldest professional to score a top-level goal.

[osarusan]

Mark Clattenburg stops Saudi Arabian game to observe Muslim call to prayer.

https://twitter.com/i/moments/956248293054599170

[OwlsFan]

I don't know if historic stuff counts, but I stumbled on this cracking piece of footage on YouTube.

Leeds v Everton, 1968. A Norman Hunter cruncher, but the commentator is incredible. "I don't think Everton will risk a substitute as yet", he blithely says as the unconscious Howard Kendall is lifted off the pitch - not stretchered, but literally carried off by two physios, his head lolling from side to side. "Because once the substitute is brought on, there is no going back"

It really was a different game back then. In many ways I think it was a much better game, but in some ways the modern game is a vast improvement.

kbPPtca6ulY

The best thing about the current game, in England at least, is the state of the pitches. Some of the games used to be played on mud baths, including semi-finals of the FA Cup.

3ikiSTkF8xU

Substitutes are good but they can also be a very negative thing as well when there are two or three at the end of a game to kill time.

[pineapple stu]

Wigan 1-0 Man City in the FA Cup tonight.

That's former Sligo manager Paul Cook getting one over on Guardiola.

Man City played the entire second half with ten men, and yet still had 82% possession.

Maybe the magic of the Cup isn't quite dead yet.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Man City played the entire second half with ten men, and yet still had 82% possession.



I switched it on around 80 mins, and it took me a while to realise Wigan had an extra man. It's incredible the way City keep a hold of the ball, though it didn't work out tonight.

[osarusan]

Ex-Arsenal and current Hemel Hempstead player Sanchez Watt was sent off and then un-sent off in bizarre circumstances in a recent game.

The referee repeatedly asked him his name while giving him a yellow card, he repeatedly replied with his surname, ref thought he was taking the p!ss, sent him off for dissent. Captain came over and explained his surname, ref rescinded the red card.

[The Donie Forde]

Ex-Arsenal and current Hemel Hempstead player Sanchez Watt was sent off and then un-sent off in bizarre circumstances in a recent game.

The referee repeatedly asked him his name while giving him a yellow card, he repeatedly replied with his surname, ref thought he was taking the p!ss, sent him off for dissent. Captain came over and explained his surname, ref rescinded the red card.

This reminds me of a story (possibly an urban legend) from the 1960s, so it may only appeal to posters of a certain vintage.
At the time, Liverpool had an well-known England international striker called Roger Hunt. At the same time Coventry City had a midfielder called Ernie Hunt. Anyway, Ernie Hunt was being booked in a particular game by a ref who asked him his name (no surnames on shirts in those days). He stated he was Roger Hunt, and got sent off for being smart. Ironically, his name was indeed Roger Hunt and Ernie was just a nickname.

[pineapple stu]

I thought the Watt bit was a Waterford Whispers-type article actually.

Reminds me of this -

DBwvaxr9TAw

[osarusan]

Perhaps inspired by English fan invastions, the Greeks took it to a new level when PAOK Salonika president Ivan Savvidis entered the pitch, armed with a gun, to protest a disallowed goal that he felt shouldn't have been ruled out. The game was abandoned after the opposition AEK players left the pitch and did not return.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Not only that, but the ref apparently did change his mind and award the goal, before the game was abandoned owing to AEK refusing to continue.

[pineapple stu]

Tomorrow at 6am Irish time is the league match with the furthest possible distance to travel - Luch-Energia Vladivostok v Baltika Kaliningrad.

It's 4,500 miles away - the equivalent of a team from Dublin having a league game in Seattle. That's 50% further than I think the longest distance a LoI club ever travelled for a competitive game (Pat's v Karagandy)

It's 12½ hours by plane, with a stop-over in Moscow. 7 days by train.

You can drive too - but it's 6,500 miles by road. There's a story of three Zenit St Petersburg fans who did it once; the car didn't survive. It got the fans to the game - Zenit won 2-0 - but the car died in Vladivostok, and the three had to get the train back, only just making it in time for their next home game. The club gave them a present of a new car; the old one is in the Zenit museum now.

The time difference alone is 8 hours, so you've to factor in jetlag getting to a league game. And of course it's much worse for Vladivostok, who have to do this every second week. This map (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_Russian_National_Football_League) shows just how isolated they are.

All this in a division - the Russian second flight - with average crowds of 2000.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Wonder why Russia doesn't just regionalize things? And how do Vladivostok afford to keep going? Their Wiki says they are owned by the city/region.

[SkStu]

https://streamable.com/4n8hu

from Duisburg v Ingolstadt, Feb 24th

Duisburg scored a goal that was disallowed but the goal music still ran and was still running as the game was continuing. The Duisburg keeper, Flekken, thought the goal had been given and was pottering about waiting for "the restart". Pretty chaotic stuff and gave me a laugh. Duisburg still won...

[pineapple stu]

Ah Zlatan.

LA Galaxy 3-0 down at home in their first ever derby match against LAFC.

They pull one back on the hour, and then throw on Zlatan with less than 20 minutes to go.

They bring it back to 3-2, and then -

J15vfXqnwWw

(Warning - contains American commentary)

In injury time, he added an (offside) winner to make it pretty much a perfect Zlatan debut.

[pineapple stu]

Posted by Samhaydenjr in the Reece Grego-Cox thread, but deserves to be remembered here too.

Macclesfield v Woking last Friday. 1st v 19th; a big game at both ends of the table. 2-2 into the 94th minute when -

https://mobile.twitter.com/TerraceImages/status/980430024066129920/video/1

[John83]

This story has the bizarre financial pettiness of an LoI story.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/06/accrington-owner-efl-must-buy-burgers-for-players-if-lose

[CraftyToePoke]

You gotta hand it to these Russians, some balls on them all the same. Not content with God knows what on the front doors of former spies they had nothing to do with, and the 'what chemical weapons ? ' in Syria, state level organised drugs programs for their athletes, and a minister for sport who lauded the manhood of their steroid fed thugs in France and a hand in The Donald somehow ending up in the White House, they now give us a captive dancing bear presenting a football to the ref before a game.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43783325

[osarusan]

This is actually from 1978, but I only heard about it today.

When France played Hungary in the 1978 world cup, there was a misunderstanding about kits and both teams turned up with their white kit, which meant that viewers on black and white tvs would have found it impossible to tell them apart. So they had to scrabble around for a kit, eventually procuring one from local Argentinean club Kimberley. There were only 14 shirts, and they didn't have any numbers on them. While Kimberley didn't object to numbers being ironed on, they wanted it kept simple, with numbers 1-14 (rather than based on the squad numbers of the French players starting the game).

As a result, France took the field in green and white striped shirt. They still had their blue shorts on, and as these were numbered also, there was a mismatch between shorts and shirt number in some cases (if the original squad number was outside 1-14).

In the end, despite the fuss, France won 3-1.

https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/02/platini-france.jpg?strip=all&w=750&quality=100

[ArFella]

I'm sure most people have seen this already, but thought I'd put it here anyway.

Newcastle Jets' Riley McGree scores an incredible quasi-scorpion kick to equalise against Melbourne City in the A-League semi-final, Newcastle went on to win the match 2-1 and book their place in the A-League Grand final against Melbourne Victory.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4WSO5m6qDo

[pineapple stu]

A result just in from the Estonian Cup semi-final -

Flora Tallinn 9-3 Flora Tallinn U21s

Score was 3-0 after 6 minutes.

The 21s actually beat a top-flight side 7-3 in the quarters. Flora's U19s also entered, but were knocked out in the second round. So Flora Tallinn had three teams in the first round.

27-0 was the biggest score this year, with a top-flight side being drawn against a regional side (seventh tier and below); that has to be Sunday league level. Another regional side was beaten 18-2 by a fifth-division team. The round of 32 saw a top-flight side win 16-0 against a sixth-tier side.

The competition actually straddles two seasons. Estonia operates a summer season for the league, but a winter season for the Cup. The first round draw is made on the day of the Cup final and played two weeks later. And while the round of 16 - the third round - was in August 2017, the quarters were in April 2018.

During this time - pre-season - holders Infonet Tallinn basically folded and merged with another top-flight team, Levadia Tallinn, who lost to Cork in Europe last season. Both were in the quarter-final draw so to fill the gap, Infonet's third team - the second team had already been knocked out by the firsts 7-0 in the first round - got let into the Cup from the fourth tier. They lost 6-0.

The Estonian Cup is fantastic; it's on my football bucket list to take in an early-round match some year.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Sporting "fans" invade clubs training facility, dressing rooms, attack players after what was apparently a difficult season: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/0515/963785-sporting-players-attacked-by-their-own-fans/

They drew blood on the guy whose scored 34 goals this season!

[pineapple stu]

Wow.

They finished third, losing just four league games all season, none at home. They're in the Cup final, won the League Cup, lost 2-1 to Atlético Madrid in the Europa League quarter-finals, having drawn at home to Juventus and lost 1-0 at home against Barcelona in the Champions League groups.

Crap season alright.

Their average crowd is more than 11 of the teams in the division got through the gates all season.

[NeverFeltBetter]

If it wasn't just random yobs, there's been some kind of dispute between the players and owners this season, which culminated in an embarrassing spat after they exited the Europa League. It seems there's a perception they aren't pulling their weight, regardless of, you know, little things like winning trophies, scoring 34 goals in a season and regularly competing at high levels of European tournaments.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Also from the headlines today, Argentine Football Association's primer for journalists travelling to Russia includes a section on how to successfully chat-up Russian women, hastily removed (by hand) when it started being mocked on social media: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44137979

Edit: Deadspin has a translation. You'd expect it to be some kind of satirical send-up but it's bizarrely straightforward: https://deadspin.com/argentina-fa-puts-out-world-cup-manual-with-chapter-on-1826070754

[NeverFeltBetter]

Wasn't sure where to put this: Captain of the Indian national team records message asking for more support after only a few thousand show up for their most recent home fixture (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44346078).


"To all of you, who have lost hope or don't have any hope in Indian football, we request you to come and watch us in the stadium.
"It's not fun to criticise and abuse on internet. Come to the stadium, scream at us, shout at us."

India must have the biggest imbalance in terms of national team support to population.

[NeverFeltBetter]

British town council informs football fans they are "not welcome" in letter later acknowledged as "could have been worded better": https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45205626

[NeverFeltBetter]

Algerian football is so bent theirs an understood price list for various kinds of preferential officiating, described as "corruption a la carte":https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45549805

[osarusan]

Exeter played West Ham U-21 team in the Checkatrade Cup a couple of days ago. Due to a floodlight failure, there was a delay, and when the game resumed, at the end of the half, the 4th official signalled for 27 minutes' additional time.

I wonder what's the longest amount of additional time there has been. I'm also surprised that the ref didn't stop the watch when he took the players off, and just restart it when the game restarted.

[pineapple stu]

Wow. I remember 15 minutes being played in a friendly at the Bowl when one of our players went off on a spinal board - but the officials just let play go on until the break; there wasn't a board raised with "15" on it.

Might have been different if it wasn't a friendly of course.

[pineapple stu]

The 17 weirdest club crests in the world (https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/17-weirdest-club-badges-world-football), according to Four-Four-Two

Won by a (Northern) Irish team.

Some absolute crackers in there.

[NeverFeltBetter]

That reminds me of this article on weird football-related Wikipedia pages, specfically #2 on defunct North American teams like the "Utah Freez" and the "Myrtle Beach Seadawgs": https://thesetpieces.com/features/citation-needed-top-10-football-related-wikipedia-pages/

Thought it was the deadpan recitation of Rio Ferdinand's prank show that made me smile the most.

[DeLorean]

Marcelo Brozovic of Inter Milan last night showing the way forward for defending 'under the wall' free kicks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X94TDDmDgqA

[DeLorean]

14 year old scores in Paraguay's 'Superclasico' between Cerro Porteno and Olimpia.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSVW9ytJpOg

[pineapple stu]

Bloody heck.

Wiki says his grandfather was playing in the league in the 80s

[NeverFeltBetter]

Clearly trying to ape the LOI's #greatestleague shtick, Bundesliga Twitter jokingly offer the league title to Borussia Monchengladbach if they can get 50 million retweets: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46345448

I did quite like RB Leipzeig's rejoinder.

[pineapple stu]

Probe launched as amateur club fakes player's death (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/1127/1013740-furore-as-amateur-club-fakes-players-death/)

What barmy league is this, you ask?

The LSL...

[osarusan]

Argentinean 3rd division match between the gloriously named Juventud Unida de Gualeguaychu and Defensores de Belgrano de Villa Ramallo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKK3y4M0cUg

[DeLorean]

'Stray Given' was one caption I saw for that :)

[NeverFeltBetter]

300 or so fans at a 16K stadium watch Qatar thump North Korea in the Asian Cup group stages, since a diplomatic blockade stopped Qatari fans travelling, and North Korea only ever lets a select group of fans attend away games: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/afc-asian-cup-sound-of-silence-as-qatar-hit-north-korea-for-six/articleshow/67513572.cms

As I recall when North Korea made it to the World Cup some of their fans were later revealed to be Chinese.

[NeverFeltBetter]

One goal separated four teams at the end of the Asian Cup group stage when it came to the third place sides moving forward - 2 "disciplinary points" of a difference sent Lebanon home and Vietnam to the knockouts. Lebanon needed to beat North Korea by four but managed a winning margin of three. How devastating must that have been?

[NeverFeltBetter]

And in additional news from the Asian Cup, Qatar players get shoes thrown at them by UAE's fans after strolling through their semi-final against the hosts 4-0: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jan/29/qatar-beat-uae-4-0-to-set-up-asian-cup-2019-final-against-japan

Qatar making it to the final is notable enough on its own. Obviously some work has been done on that team since they were awarded the World Cup.

[pineapple stu]

Lecce v Ascoli in Serie B was abandoned this evening after effectively seven seconds. The very first challenge resulted in a clash of heads and a nasty landing for Lecce's Scavone. Certainly knocked out cold; maybe worse. Ambulance drove onto the pitch to take him to hospital, and that was the end of the game. No news as yet on his condition

[NeverFeltBetter]

Tomorrow at 6am Irish time is the league match with the furthest possible distance to travel - Luch-Energia Vladivostok v Baltika Kaliningrad.

It's 4,500 miles away - the equivalent of a team from Dublin having a league game in Seattle. That's 50% further than I think the longest distance a LoI club ever travelled for a competitive game (Pat's v Karagandy)

It's 12½ hours by plane, with a stop-over in Moscow. 7 days by train.

You can drive too - but it's 6,500 miles by road. There's a story of three Zenit St Petersburg fans who did it once; the car didn't survive. It got the fans to the game - Zenit won 2-0 - but the car died in Vladivostok, and the three had to get the train back, only just making it in time for their next home game. The club gave them a present of a new car; the old one is in the Zenit museum now.

The time difference alone is 8 hours, so you've to factor in jetlag getting to a league game. And of course it's much worse for Vladivostok, who have to do this every second week. This map (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_Russian_National_Football_League) shows just how isolated they are.

All this in a division - the Russian second flight - with average crowds of 2000.

Was reminded of the above when reading about Canada's new professional league: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46988859

Canada has three teams in MLS but lacked their own league until now. Seven teams to start with, with nearly 4'500 km's between Pacific FC and HFX Wanderers.

[pineapple stu]

Cuneo are playing Pro Piacenza in Serie C at the moment. Pro Piacenza (who aren't Piacenza; that's a different team in the same division) scratched their last four games and to avoid further sanctions, they've turned up today with seven players from the youth team.

Score was 16-0 at half time, and it's 19-0 now with a few minutes to go.

Cuneo had scored 18 goals all season before this

[NeverFeltBetter]

Cuneo are playing Pro Piacenza in Serie C at the moment. Pro Piacenza (who aren't Piacenza; that's a different team in the same division) scratched their last four games and to avoid further sanctions, they've turned up today with seven players from the youth team.

Score was 16-0 at half time, and it's 19-0 now with a few minutes to go.

Cuneo had scored 18 goals all season before this

Thrown out of the league:
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/0218/1031374-italian-club-that-lost-20-0-thrown-out-of-serie-c/