Category: DTotD

DTotD: Costa Rican player gets fouled, then kicked in the face by Club America

Costa Rican side Herediano beat Club America 3-0 in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League semifinal, prompting the losing side to take out their frustration on one player specifically.

Herediano’s Cristhian Lagos took the ball off of Michael Arroyo, who retaliated by planting his studs in Lagos’ ankle. This sent the Costa Rican to the ground and when Arroyo’s teammate went to kick the ball away, he connected with Lagos’ face instead.

Arroyo was shown a red card for the initial challenge, but Paolo Goltz went unpunished for the face kick. Lagos was substituted in the 78th minute and his replacement, Jonathan Hansen, went on to score Herediano’s third goal four minutes later.

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

DTotD: River Plate goalkeeper knocks out teammate with knee to the face

The Copa Libertadores is serious business and River Plate goalkeeper Julio Cesar Chiarini proved that during his side’s match against Tigres by putting his desire to make a clearance ahead of his own teammate’s well being. While going for the ball, Chiarini delivered an uppercut with his knee to defender Ramiro Funes Muri, putting Muri down for the count.

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DTotD: Brazilian goalkeeper punches opponent’s face instead of the ball

With Ponte Preta’s Fabio Santos barreling towards him and the ball bouncing up towards his head, Vilhera goalkeeper Jamilton knew he had to act. So, he charged off his line fist first in the hopes of making contact with the ball before his opponent could. But it didn’t work out that way. Fabio Santos headed the ball a split second before Jamilton’s fist could connect. And since a fist must connect with something, Jamilton’s decided to smash itself into Fabio Santos’ face instead.

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DTotD: Beijing Guoan player sent off for stomping on opponent’s chest

Stomping on someone’s chest is traditionally frowned upon in most human endeavors, yet Beijing Guoan’s Erton Fejzullahu still seemed rather surprised after getting sent off for doing just that in a match against Brisbane Roar.

After Brisbane’s Adam Sarota fell to the ground while trying to keep Fejzullahu from getting to the ball, the Beijing player attempted to take a shortcut over Sarota’s vital organs in reaching his desired destination. But the referee didn’t appreciate this route and pulled out a red card.

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

DTotD: Marseille’s Mario Lemina sent off for punching opponent in the balls

In the 84th minute of Marseille’s 1-1 draw at Rennes, midfielder Mario Lemina decided to punish Ola Toivonen for forming a human canopy above him by punching the Rennes goal scorer square in the balls. Lemina was shown a red card for this and Toivonen was also booked.

Don’t punch people in the balls.

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

DTotD: Morelia player gets tackled by the invisible man

Colombian midfielder Yorleys Mena came on in the 56th minute of Morelia’s Liga MX match against Leon on Friday. With the game still deadlocked at 0-0, Mena was eager to make his mark and got his chance when Morelia launched a counter attack after a Leon corner kick was foiled. With the ball at his feet and plenty of wide open space to roam, all Mena had to do was put in a cross to his streaking teammate for a clear shot on goal. Instead, he tripped over his own foot, and fell on top of the ball.

The match ended 0-0, but it remains unclear how Leon were able to register an invisible defender. In related news, Yorleys Mena has made it his life’s mission to ban invisible footballers from the game.

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