Tag: Dirty Tackle

Thomas Müller provides dog sound effects for Philipp Lahm interview

Thomas Müller once again proved that he can always be relied upon to do what’s needed for his team when he scored the only goal in Bayern’s win against Werder Bremen. And after the match, he demonstrated this in another way by providing a timely dog bark while Philipp Lahm praised his “dog’s nose” to the media.

There is nothing Thomas Müller can’t do.

Inter fans taunt Juventus with dreamy tifo

Juventus came up one win short of becoming just the second Italian club to ever win the treble last season, but Barcelona were just too much for them to handle in the Champions League final.

In case Juve and their fans somehow forgot this bitter end to an otherwise stellar campaign, fans of the only Italian club to ever win the treble, Inter, produced a large tifo display to remind them before Sunday’s 0-0 draw in the derby d’Italia. It also included a subtle nod to Juve’s time in Serie B as a result of their Calciopoli punishment.

Read more

Portsmouth fan comes out of the stands to replace injured match official

Late in the first half of Portsmouth’s League Two match at Newport County, the referee got hurt and could not continue. So the fourth official had to replace him, but who would replace the fourth official? That proved to be a problem.

A call was put out over the public address system asking if there were any qualified officials in the house and 28-year-old Portsmouth season ticket holder and level seven referee Mike Hurdle answered the call, giving him the story of a lifetime.

Read more

Greek stretcher bearers toss time waster around, inspire team to comeback win

Down a goal to visiting Ergotelis in their second half of their Greek second division match, all of AE Larissa began to get a little impatient. Even their stretcher bearers. So when Ergotelis’ Leonardo Koutris went down with an injury in the 66th minute, there were suspicions that he might be faking it to waste time.

The fans whistled and the stadium’s stretcher bearers tried to hurry him off the pitch as quickly as possible, so the match could continue. In doing so, they dumped Koutris onto the stretcher without warning and tried to carry him while running. This proved difficult, however, causing one of the stretcher bearers to fall and drop Koutris in the process. Then, while trying to pick the player back up, he fell again, causing him to drive his head into Koutris’ midsection.

Finally, they got him off to the side with everyone a little worse for wear. Though Koutris seemed more concerned with complaining to the ref and trying to be as much of a dead weight as possible as he was being unceremoniously hauled off, perhaps indicating that he wasn’t actually hurt, he was substituted after this, so who knows.

But the uncoordinated effort from the stretcher bearers did inspire AE Larissa, as they scored twice in the final minutes of the game to win 2-1.

Valencia official stops muslim player from removing beer sponsor’s bottle from press conference

Commerce is the only religion that modern football has room for and Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi found that out upon arriving for a press conference.

When Mustafi, who is muslim, saw that a bottle of beer had been set in front of where he would be sitting for product placement purposes, he moved it aside as a club employee adjusted the microphone. Mustafi told the man that he didn’t want the beer in front of him since his religion prohibits him from posing with alcoholic beverages. But instead of saying “Oh, ok, that’s totally understandable,” the guy picked up the beer and put it back in its original place.

Mustafi then expressed his disgust and shook his head.

And that’s what happens when a player asks their club to put him ahead of a sponsor.

Sebastian Giovinco weaves through entire Red Bulls team to score another ridiculous goal

Nothing can stop Sebastian Giovinco’s reign of terror in MLS, not even the fact that he began his Wednesday in Rome and spent the afternoon on a flight to Toronto. He didn’t start Toronto FC’s match against the New York Red Bulls (because he played the last 30 minutes in Italy’s 2-1 win over Norway a day earlier), but he did come off the bench in the 71st minute and seven minutes later, he weaved through the visiting team like a grandmother teaching a basket making class on speed.

Giovinco’s goal sealed Toronto’s first ever MLS playoff berth and it made him the league leader in both goals (22) and assists (12). And now we know for sure that he is impervious to both jet lag and MLS defending.