10 Biggest Blunders in World Football This Weekend
We've been stuck in international mode this week as domestic action takes a back-seat around the world of football—but fear not, fans of hilarious on-pitch scenes and moments of madness.
Even at what is supposed to be the very highest level of the game, mistakes can and do still happen.
This time we're doubling your money and bringing you 10 blunders from the football world this weekend, mainly taking in international games but also featuring action from Asia, minor domestic leagues and everything in between. Enjoy...unless you support one of the sides featured!
Gibraltar 'keeper Tires of Conceding, Opts to Score Instead
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Gibraltar haven't had a tremendous start to life as a competitive footballing nation, losing 7-0 in their two opening games, including against Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Jordan Perez knew he was in for a tough game pretty quickly; he conceded a hat-trick to Robbie Keane inside the first 20 minutes and later on scored a bizarre own goal.
The final ignominy was his substitution soon after, though his team still conceded a further couple without him. Watch the crazy goalkeeping antics here.
Fourth Official and His Uncontrollable Board
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Scotland beat Georgia in a crucial Euro 2016 qualifier, with a 1-0 scoreline enough to take the three points.
While the Scottish side put in a good performance, the same couldn't be said of the fourth official, who had to deal with either an unruly substitute board—either that, or his inability to work the thing.
After several attempts to make a substitution, including seeing the wrong player start to come off, Scotland just went ahead and made the change the old-fashioned way—shouting and pointing to Steven Fletcher to make way. Watch the incident here.
Youth-Level Internationals Make as Many Mistakes as the Seniors
3 of 10We often find ourselves watching these blunders each week and wondering how seasoned professionals can manage to make such basic errors.
Well, here's the secret: you start young and perfect these mistakes as you get older.
This slide stars an U19 game between Myanmar vs. Thailand, with a defensive error leading to the first goal...but what on earth is that third goal all about?! Comedy goalkeeping at its finest.
Sunday League Stardom
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Of course, a sad fact of youth football is that only a select few of those who shine—or otherwise—at that level go on and have a career in the beautiful game.
Some have to slip outside the world of professional football and make do with Sunday league. And when they do, this sometimes happens.
Warning: There is some very Sunday league-esque NSFW language if you watch the clip with the volume on!
Bosnian GK Overreacts Slightly
5 of 10Let's slowly work our way back up the football food chain. This footage comes from the Bosnian second division.
Players can get pretty fired up at times when they think a decision goes against them, moaning or gesticulating at the officials. This Bosnian goalkeeper, however, decided that being shown a yellow card warranted throwing a punch at the referee.
The Daily Mail reports that the 'keeper was then sent off and the match was subsequently abandoned.
Hopeless Higuain
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Technically, this one is from just before this weekend, but it's high-profile and blunderful enough to include.
It's from a Serie A match between Napoli and Torino on Sunday, in which Napoli had a two-on-one chance to score but couldn't finish off a series of attempts on goal, most notably £34.5 million man Gonzalo Higuain, who managed to strike two shots straight at the back-tracking defenders in the space of a few seconds.
Napoli eventually won 2-1. See the incident here.
England Get Lucky
7 of 10England had to huff and puff for a 1-0 victory over Estonia in their European Championship qualifier on Sunday, with a goalkeeping error eventually giving them the win over 10 men.
Wayne Rooney telegraphed pretty clearly where he was going to put his free-kick with a little look around the near side of the wall—but Sergei Pareiko either couldn't see it or ignored it.
Either way, he absolutely should have kept out the set piece. Instead, he got two hands to the ball but only pushed it against the post and wasn't able to stop it bouncing in.
It Gets Worse for Costa Before It Gets Better
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Diego Costa finally scored his first international goal for Spain on Sunday in La Roja's match against Luxembourg, but before he found the back of the net, he had to endure another nightmare moment in front of goal at that level.
Despite scoring for fun with Chelsea, he has been lacking in confidence for Spain and produced a howler in the Euro 2016 qualifier—after being sent through one on one, Costa completely miskicked his shot.
Watch the effort here.
Russia Drop Points to Minnows Moldova
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Can an entire match—or result—be a blunder? It can be if it costs vital points in a tough group for reaching Euro 2016.
Group G has no standout side but four teams who will all think they have a chance of finishing in the top two, let alone three, with Austria, Russia, Sweden and Montenegro all having realistic expectations of reaching the finals.
Russia, under Fabio Capello, made a huge blunder this weekend by dropping points at home to lowly Moldova. A penalty put the Russians ahead before they immediately conceded to the side ranked outside the Top 100 in the world.
A 1-1 draw at home against such a side is an abysmal result for Russia, who must be worried at the lack of progress made under Capello ahead of them hosting the 2018 World Cup. Watch the goals here.
Chiellini with a Hat-Trick... Sort of
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It all turned out alright in the end.
We finish up with Giorgio Chiellini, the Italian central defender who scored a rather clumsy and horrible own goal to put Azerbaijan back on level terms against his team this week, after he himself had scored the opener for Italy.
In trying to backtrack, mark an opponent and clear the ball all at the same time, Chiellini managed only to run the ball into his own net in horrendous fashion. But the Juventus man made amends soon after, scoring at the right end for the second time to earn his team a 2-1 win.
Watch the own goal here.
