Bizarre Phenomenon That Interrupted the Football Game

Watching a football game is exciting enough. However, what’s more exciting is watching a match where things end up weird. During a match between Austria and Denmark, a mysterious hole popped up from nowhere and stopped the game. The players were furious but also confused by this weird deep hole. It was a Danish player who brought this to everyone’s attention when his leg got stuck — the hole was deep enough to consume his ankle. Luckily he found it before the game started: such a situation lead to a career-ending accident. He was just showing everyone how deep the hole was. On top of that, the match was delayed by 90 minutes due to a power outage. The fans were confused: some were frustrated that the team they wanted to support couldn’t play, while others found it... amusing!

During a game between Colombia and Brazil at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a giant green locust decided to land on James Rodriguez’s arm right after he scored a penalty. The player did not notice it at first. I guess that green guy was a huge football fan or the locust just wanted to congratulate him in its own way. It’s certainly not the first animal to appear in the middle of a football game. Another Brazil-related incident happened when 2 local clubs were going head-to-head.

While the game was in heat, a dog decided that it wanted a piece of the action. It got in the game and furiously went for the ball and turned it into its chew toy. The players were left stunned and agitated with the dog disrupting the flow of the game. Eventually, the officials intervened and spoiled all the fun for our little doggo. In 2006, during a Champions League match between Villareal (Vee-yah Rey-yal) and Arsenal, a little grey squirrel zipped across the pitch near the striker. It was also probably just a huge fan.

Ever heard of a group of foxes invading a pitch? In Dens Park, a bunch of foxes decided to dig around the pitch probably on the lookout for rabbits. Diego Maradona is one of the best football players in history. The Argentinean was quick, energetic, and wowed audiences all over the world with his passion. However, in a quarter-final match between Argentina and England during the 1986 World Cup things went too far when he extended his fist in the air and punched the ball only for it to go behind the opposition’s net. Much to the fan’s fury, the goal stood! The refs didn’t have a clear vision of the goal even though they should have kept their eyes on the ball. The Argentinians were up by 1 goal and the match eventually ended 2-1 in favor of the Argentinians. They eventually lifted the Cup which solidified Maradona’s presence as the Greatest Of All Time.

One of the most unforgettable nights was Brazil vs Germany during the 2014 World Cup. Both are giants in the game, both with star-studded players ready to make their country proud. Both teams were crying but for different reasons. Brazil conceded a whopping 7 goals on their own turf. The Brazilian fans were furious during this historic moment. Germany ended up lifting the World Cup with Argentina as the runner ups.The Champions League final in 2018 between Real (Rey-yal) Madrid and Liverpool was one of the most anticipated games of the year where Liverpool was eyeing victory. Their goalie Loris Karius was in tip-top shape but that night was not his night. The team and fans across the world were shocked when he made not one but two costly mistakes.

The first one was when he accidentally passed the goal to Real Madrid’s striker, Karim Benzema, near the goal. Karius recovered the goal and didn’t see the striker nearby. He miscalculated his pass and awarded the goal to Madrid. The second mistake was when Gareth Bale let loose a curling shot where Karius could’ve easily caught the ball. But instead of that, he tried to deflect it and the ball slipped past his hand and into the back of the net. Madrid ended up lifting the Champions League trophy and Karius’s career was just not the same anymore. But it’s cool because Liverpool ended up winning the trophy years later against Tottenham.

Another strange fiasco happened during the 2014 World Cup qualifier but not everyone saw this game. It was the United States versus Costa Rica and they were playing under some of the worst conditions. It was snowing nonstop and the players were furious. The Costa Rican team even sent out an appeal suggesting that the game should never have been played but was ultimately rejected. Team US ended up winning the match 1-0. Another bizarre scene occurred when a goalkeeper decided to check his phone during the game. The player played for Atlético Paranaense of the Brazilian League. No one knew what he was doing, but it was just impressive that he was wearing his goalkeeper gloves while handling his phone.

There was a lot of drama in the match between France and Kuwait on June 21, 1982, as the latter were losing 3-1. And just like that, Kuwait conceded another goal. Nothing special except that Kuwait’s leader at the time decided to march down the stands and confront the referee himself in the middle of the ongoing match. He just couldn’t accept the goal and urged the team to leave the pitch. The ref was pressured to disallow the goal and the game continued. They still ended up conceding a goal late in the game. Arsenal has had a lot of legends in their squad over the decades, but none other than Nicklas Bendtner’s 1.8-second goal can be matched. It’s considered to be the fastest goal ever scored as a substitute in the Premier League. The Danish striker came in as a sub and headed a corner set up by Cesc Fabregas against their ultimate rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Turning your head to check your phone or go to the bathroom when someone scores a goal is always frustrating, but when someone bags a hat trick in 70 seconds is just on another level frustrating. Alex Torr did that during a match between Rawson Springs and Winn Gardens. The team won the game 7-1 with his goals coming in between the 11th and 13th minutes. The team was not ready for it.

One of the weirdest incidents was when a referee awarded a player a red card while being subbed off. To put it into context, the player, Samuel Inkoom, had received a yellow card during the match. The rules of football indicate that any player who takes off their jersey during the game will get a big fat yellow card no matter what. He saw his name to be subbed off and while walking to the dugout, he took off his jersey even though he knew he had the yellow card. But he figured ‘hey, I’m leaving the pitch. What could go wrong.’ An embarrassing moment happened when the ref had to run up to him and show him the second yellow card which turned into a red card, and he was sent off. The player waiting to be subbed in couldn’t play and the team had to 1 man down.

It’s a footballer’s dream as a child to play for the biggest clubs in the world. Some players decided to do that a little later. Multiple investigations were in action when they discovered that some people have been lying about their age. For example, Gouray Mukhi claimed to be 12 years younger than he was. He was 28 years old when he told his club he was only 16. A penalty shot is always nerve-racking for both the goalkeeper and the one taking the shot.

Lionel Messi, the Argentinian superstar, earned a penalty against Cleta Vigo on February 14th, 2016. While it wasn’t exactly a romantic time, no one expected what he’d do next. Instead of casually taking a kick, he ran down the spot and passed the ball to the striker Luis Suarez in a cheeky attempt to confuse the goalie and excite the crowd. It wasn’t the flashiest of moves from Messi who is considered to be one of the sport’s best players in history, but it will go down in history as one of those penalties that will be talked about for a very long time.