World Football's Biggest FAILs of the Week

Michael CummingsJun 7, 2018

The key word in this week's edition of the B/R World Football's Biggest FAILs of the Week is flying.

The Japanese women's national team flew to London recently ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics tournament. But their status as reigning world champs apparently didn't count for much.

Meanwhile, in Italy, one club's mascot decided to fly away. And in South America, a lower-league player recently let fly with perhaps the worst corner you'll ever see.

All the details are inside, along with an imaginary footballer, a graphic goal celebration and a creative pronunciation of Copa Libertadores.

World Champs Fly Economy

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Japan's women won the 2011 Women's World Cup. The men's team has never advanced farther than the Round of 16 in the men's event.

Why, then, did the Japanese women fly to the 2012 Summer Olympics in economy class while the men enjoyed business class?

Here's what reigning women's world player of the year Homare Sawa (pictured) had to say about it, per Time:

“I guess it should have been the other way around. Even in terms of age, we are senior."

If it were me, I probably wouldn't have been quite so polite.

Free as a Bird

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How does one lose an eagle?

Let's ask Lazio! From ESPNSoccernet:

"
The Biancocelesti's American eagle, which normally excites the fans with a few laps of the Stadio Olimpico before home matches, was performing a test flight in front of dozens of supporters at around 7pm local time when it decided to head to the hills.

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the club's falconer then used an ultrasonic device to track Olimpia but was horrified when he located a different golden eagle instead.
"

Don't worry, though. The eagle is back with the team and ready to excite the fans for another season.

As of Tuesday morning, however, we could neither confirm nor deny reports that the eagle is set to write a tell-all memoir about his wild romp through the Alban Hills.

The Trialist Who Wasn't

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Last week, Australian club Adelaide United announced it was taking a former United States youth international named Dexter Rosales on trial.

Rosales supposedly came highly recommended and apparently even starred in a YouTube highlights video (at left).

The only problem was that Dexter Rosales doesn't actually exist.

Goal.com (via Yahoo! Sports) explains:

"
Adelaide acknowledged on Monday that Rosales had not arrived and the club had been fooled by an elaborate hoax.

"It has been a strange few days with all the speculation around this mystery man - it doesn't look great from our end," a Reds media spokesman told Sportal. "We're not the first club to be given a false lead with a supposed trialist, but other clubs probably just don't promote it to the world like we did."
"

So, which is worse?

A club falling for a fake player?

Or a real player faking his own recruitment?