Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart has signed a three-year deal with newly promoted Real Betis, bringing him back to La Liga after leaving Real Madrid in 2010. Van der Vaart chose to join Betis because his mother’s family is from the area (his mother Spanish and his father is Dutch)…and because his second stint at HSV was rather poor.
So to honor his local heritage, Van der Vaart brought his family with him to his unveiling and his grandmother took a special place on the bench.
Today in massive overreactions, we have the case of Alejandro Roncaglia, brother of Argentina national team defender Facundo Roncaglia. But while Facundo is representing his country at Copa America, Alejandro is playing in a regional league and taking out his aggression on match officials.
Roncaglia was shown a yellow card and responded by throwing a haymaker that caught the ref square in the jaw, knocking him out cold.
According to Clarin, the referee was taken to a hospital and has no memory of what happened. He did say that Roncaglia’s parents apologized for their son’s awful behavior, though. It’s just a shame they couldn’t teach their kid to use his words, too.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Video via Brasil Mundial FC
@JackGrealish1 had a great night, opposite my apartment in the wonderful tenerife 😂 pic.twitter.com/CDecFX80kw
— Briony King (@brionyking0913) June 14, 2015
Jack Grealish, Aston Villa’s talented 19-year-old midfielder and background actor in the period drama Peaky Blinders, was photographed sleeping in the middle of a street while on holiday in Tenerife, Spain.
On the one hand, his willingness to experience the plight of the less fortunate and sleep rough is refreshing in an age of pampered footballers who make racist sex tapes. It shows character. But on the other, it’s also very sad. As a Premier League player, he can afford much better accommodations and shouldn’t be ashamed of that.
Villa have acknowledged the photographs and said they will meet privately with Grealish, presumably to inform him of the more enjoyable options he has at his disposal when traveling abroad.
These are some of the Tenerife choices the club might tell him about…
It was only a matter of time before it happened and on matchday five, it finally did. Copa America 2015’s first face kick came in Bolivia’s surprising upset against Ecuador. Naturally, the moment occurred once the frustration of falling behind 2-0 within the firs 20 minutes of the match and then missing a penalty in the 38th minute (Enner Valencia) set in.
Frickson Erazo attempted a kung-fu overhead clearance, but connected with Damian Lizio’s forehead in addition to the ball, earning himself a yellow card and gifting Bolivia with a penalty that would put them up 3-0 before halftime.
Ecuador went on to score twice in the second half, but lost 3-2 to allow overlooked Bolivia to take the lead in Group A (at least momentarily).
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Jack Wilshere scored two exceptional goals during England’s 3-2 win against Slovenia in Euro qualifiers. His second was the best of the bunch though, and it earned high praise from Match of the Day’s Gary Lineker, illustrating the widespread tendency to confuse the latest great goal for the greatest.
How would you look if a mythical creature appeared before you, bathing you in a majestic light and revealing all that is good to you? Eight-year-old Melwin Löwdahl and 10-year-old Frank Johansson Czarnecki discovered the answer to this question when they came face to face with Zlatan Ibrahimovic before Sweden’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Montenegro.
Ponte Preta’s Roni came off the bench in the 74th minute of his side’s Brasileiro match against Goias. It was scoreless and Roni knew he had to do something to bring the match to life. So he kicked the ball well over the goal and into the open window of a pitchside ambulance, giving the driver a surprise.
The match still ended 0-0, but Roni gave the fans their money’s worth with this one.
Germany lost to the USA in a friendly earlier this week, but the world champions were able to regain their likely shattered confidence with a 7-0 win against Gibraltar in Euro 2016 qualifying. In fact, Jogi Löw was so comfortable that he filed his nails during the match.
How did the referee miss this ridiculous Colombia handball? pic.twitter.com/9PMKWpcAZj #COL #FRA #FIFAWWC
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) June 13, 2015
Colombia (ranked 28th in the world) beat France (ranked third) 2-0 in Group F of the Women’s World Cup thanks in part to a blatant handball. The referee somehow didn’t see it, so France were denied a penalty that could have made it 1-1. This was almost certainly karmic payback for what Thierry Henry did to Ireland in 2009.
With that massive upset, Colombia jump to the top of Group F. And now all three of the world’s top teams (Germany, USA, and France) look far from invincible after their second group-stage matches.
A U-14 Scottish cup final between Hutchison Vale and Newcraighall Leith Vics ended in confusion thanks to one of the goals scored in the shootout required to separate the two teams. The Newcraigcall goalkeeper made a brilliant diving save, but after catching the ball, he dropped it on the ground as he celebrated, allowing it to roll over the goal line.
As the dejected Hutchison Vale shooter was hiding his face in his shirt, the ref ruled that it was a goal and the shootout continued with Hutchison Vale eventually winning the cup. But was this the right decision?