Category: DTotD

DTotD: Maradona kicks his grandson

Six-year-old Benjamin Aguero, son of Man City striker Sergio, knocked down Grandpa Maradona’s shot in a little game of backyard one-v-one and then tried to show the old man how it’s done. But Maradona doesn’t believe in going easy on the opposition, even when the opposition is his six-year-old grandson.

So when the kid tried to cut past the portly 54-year-old World Cup winner, Maradona kicked him in the leg and brought him down. But Benjamin quickly popped right back up, leaving Grandpa Maradona in his dust before getting past the last man dog and scoring with a tidy finish.

And that’s why Benjamin isn’t getting any Christmas presents from his grandfather this year.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

DTotD: Norwegian player falls down while trying to kick a door in anger

Espen Hoff was shown a straight red in the 40th minute of IK Start’s Norwegian Tippeligaen match against Sarpsborg for preventing a scoring chance. Frustrated by his early exit, he attempted a running kick at the open door to the dressing rooms, but forgot that football boots don’t grip slick flooring too well and ended up on his ass.

Without missing a beat, he got up and walked on, suddenly more embarrassed than angry.

Start went on to lose 2-1.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

DTotD: Player sent off for cynical challenge on football playing BBQ sauce bottle mascot

Central Coast Mariners held a testimonial for retiring captain John Hutchinson and the match included a mascot dressed as a BBQ sauce bottle, because why the hell not?

The sauce bottle weaved its way through a group of players loitering around the middle of the pitch to set itself up for a clear shot on goal, but Brent Griffiths cut the bottle down with a vicious tackle from behind. This earned Griffiths a red card. In a testimonial. Against a sauce bottle.

The match also included a ball boy in goal at one point and ended 12-5 in favor of Hutchinson’s team. The main takeaway from all of this, however, is that the world needs more footballing BBQ sauce bottles.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

Video via The Mirror 

DTotD: Venezuelan player kicked in the back by pitch invader during post-match interview

Carabobo FC striker Aquiles Ocanto was minding his own business and answering questions from a TV reporter during a live post-match interview when a flying psycho delivered a spine-busting kick to his back. Ocanto was down for the count and the pitch invader who put him there quickly ran off.

According to the Guardian, Carabobo later tweeted that Ocanto was fine and hadn’t suffered any injuries in the attack. He might start conducting all interviews with his back against a wall, though.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

DTotD: Honduran player kicks pitch invader in the head

Immediately after the match between Honduran rivals Real Espana and Marathon, fans of both clubs, the players, and the police all took part in a brawl on the pitch.

During this battle royale, Real Espana defender Marlon Pena defended one of his teammates by delivering a graceful yet brutal flying kick to one pitch invader’s head. This prompted a couple of other tough guys to take a step back and seemed to calm the pitch invading brawlers down a bit, as they suddenly realized that they were dealing with people capable of kicking them in the head.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.

Video via 101GG

DTotD: Flamengo player only shown a yellow for kicking opponent in the shoulder

Vasco da Gama and Flamengo played to a scoreless draw on Sunday, but just because there were no goals does not mean there were no near decapitations. Flamengo’s Jonas demonstrated his violent flexibility in the 11th minute, planting his studs into an opponent’s shoulder.

Even more incredibly though, was the fact that he was only shown a yellow card for his very dangerous high boot.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events. 

DTotD: Champions League hero Cosmin Moti kicks opponent in the kidney, gets away with it

You might remember Cosman Moti as the Romanian superhero/defender who replaced Ludogorets’ goalkeeper against Steaua Bucharest and made two penalty shootout saves after scoring one of his own to put his side in the Champions League group stage. But one CSKA Sofia player now knows him as the guy who made him pee blood.

Moti delivered a kung-fu kick to his opponent’s midsection as a means of keeping him away from an incoming ball that was nowhere near his foot. Incredibly, the referee didn’t punish Moti at all, perhaps knowing that he is a man with powers that must be feared.

Ludogorets went on to win 4-0, presumably with Moti scoring all four goals and earning the clean sheet.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.