On 21 May 2011 Independiente striker Andrés Silvera scored a hat-trick against Colón in the 15th round of the Clausura 2011 tournament to secure a valuable 3-1 win which shifted his club away from the Primera División relegation zone. The third goal highlighted some real communication problems in the Colon defence.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
After his dreadful own goal in the Superclásico derby against Boca Juniors in round 14, River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo was hoping to keep out of trouble in their game against San Lorenzo in the 15th round however he had no such luck letting a long range shot from opposition striker Jonathan Ferrari slip through his hands. The game ended 1-1 and left River in the relegation places with only four games of the season remaining.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 15 May 2011 Boca Juniors hosted River Plate in the famous Superclásico derby. The visitors were under an enormous amount of pressure lying only one place above the relegation zone, their goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo couldn't have found a worse moment to make one of the biggest errors of his career by knocking a harmless looking cross into is own net. Boca Juniors legendary all time top scorer Martín Palermo scored a second goal to secure the 2-0 win.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 9 April 2011 Olimpo played Colón in Santa Fe in the ninth round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. The visitors were already one goal ahead when Marcos Litre made his first appearance of the Clausura as a second half substitute. Within one minute he found himself presented with a nearly unmissable shot after a mixup between Colón defender Juan Quiroga and goalkeeper Diego Pozo. He tapped the ball in for his first ever top flight goal to secure an impressive 0-2 away win for his club.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 14 March 2011 Under new manager Ricardo Caruso Lombardi Argentine side Quilmes played in a classic relegation six-pointer against Huracán in the fifth round of the Clausura. Both sides were in the relegation zone, Quilmes hopelessly adrift at the bottom of the promedios relegation table and bottom of the Clausura 2011 table having lost all of their first four games. The game did not go well for Quilmes, they conceded two sloppy goals and lost the game 2-1. Veteral goalkeeper Emanuel Tripodi was badly at fault for the first one.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 13 March 2011 River Plate hosted Vélez Sársfield in the fifth round of the Clausura 2011 tournament. The home side were unbeaten in their first four games and their rookie goalkeeper 20 year old Leandro Chichizola hadn't conceded a single goal. After 395 minutes without conceding a goal Chichizola finally let one in and he had nobody to blame but himself after gifting the ball to Vélez striker Santiago Silva.
Mariano Pavone equalised for River in the second half but Santiago Silva scored again late in the game to give Vélez a 1-2 away win.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
Bolivia U-20 had a dismal campaign in the 2009 South American Youth Championship losing all four of their group games and only scoring two goals. They lost their game against Paraguay U-20 5-1 however their goal is worth a look. The quick corner is a real rarity in modern football. The Bolivians can be glad of the generosity of the Paraguayan goalkeeper who passed the ball into the corner long before any of his defenders were back in position.
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In December 2010 Argentine goalkeeper Roberto "pato" Abbondanzieri announced his retirement from football. He will be fondly remembered by fans of Boca Juniors where he won six league titles, three Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, two Copa Sudamericanas and one Recopa Sudamericana. He also won the Copa Libertadores in 2010 as the goalkeeper for Internacional of Brazil, the Ricardo Zamora trophy as the best goalkeeper in La Liga in 2006-07 and won 49 caps for the Argentina national team.
In this clip Abbondanzieri gifted Real Zaragoza a goal by leaving the goal open to remonstrate with the referee about the positioning of the free kick when he was playing for Getafe. Fellow Argentine Andrés D'Alessandro took the free kick quickly firing into the unguarded net.
It seems a bit harsh to point out one of his mistakesin in the week that he announced his retirement but it is only being done as a demonstration that even the most highly decorated players in world football sometimes make mistakes.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
In 2007 Argentina U-20 played Ecuador U-20 in the first round of matches in the Sudamericano Sub-20 (South American under 20) tournament. 19 year old River Plate forward Gonzalo Aban scored the opening game after a couple of ludicrous Ecuadorian clearances presented him with an unmissable* open goal.
On the final day of the Apertura 2010 tournament Lanús hosted River Plate in a game that would guaruntee a 4th place finish to the winners. River plate were already 1-3 up when Lanús goalkeeper Cesár Carranza gifted Mariano Pavone his 2nd goal of the game.
In the 18th round of the Brasileirão 2010 Santos' latest 18 year old wonderkid Neymar took the opportunity to do some showboating in a game against Avaí, His attempted back-heel didn't exactly come off, but to be fair to the kid it normally does.
To be fair to him, Nicolás Cambiasso could never have been expecting such a long range backpass, however it is still no excuse for what happened next in this game between divisional new boys Quilmes and All Boys in the 16th round of the Apertura 2010 tournament in the Argentine Primera Division 2010-11 season.
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You have to feel a bit sorry for the Sinop goalkeeper in this clip, it was raining heavily, the pitch was covered in standing water and the floodlights didn't seem to be working properly, however it is still hard to fathom how he misjudged the flight of the ball so badly in this game against Opérario in the Copa Mato Grosso which finished 2-1 to Sinop.
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For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 15 May 2008 Argentine side San Lorenzo hosted Liga de Quito of Ecuador in the 1st leg of their Copa Libertadores quarter final. San Lorenzo were overwhelming favourites to win the game, they had eliminated River Plate in the previous round coming back from 2-0 down away from home with only 9 players.
When the San Lorenzo goalkeeper Agustín Orión received the ball he inexplicably decided to try some kick-ups instead of clearing it, he was closed down by Liga's Argentine striker Claudio Bieler who nipped in to knock the ball into the net. Adrián González equalised for San Lorenzo with a free kick but a 1-1 draw was a brilliant result for the Ecuadorians to take back to their high altitude fortress in Quito for the 2nd leg.
The teams drew 1-1 in the second leg and Liga won the penalty shootout to eliminate San Lorenzo. The Ecuadorians went on to win the tournament beating Brazilian side Fluminense in the highest scoring final in the history of the competition to become the first Ecuadorian side to win a major international tournament. Since then they have also won the Copa Sudamericana in 2009 and established themselves as one of the powerhouses of South American football.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
On 6 November 2010 in the 34th round of the Brasileirão 2010, Internacional gifted Atlético Goianeinse's Juninho an early goal after this calamitous mix up between defender Bolívar and former Argentina international goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo is well known for his gambetas (like these and this and this) but he was extremely lucky to get away with this lack of concentration back in 2008.
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7 February 2009: In an Argentine 4th division game between El Porvenir and Luján, El Porvenir are awarded an indirect free kick near the halfway line. El Porvenir hammer the ball into the Luján penalty area, but the only way it would count as a goal is if somebody were to get a touch before it went in the net.....
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29 November 2008: 3rd round of the semi-final group stage of the Cluasura 2008 tournament in Colombia Atlético Junior's striker Emerson Acuña pulled off one of the most notorious dives in football history, throwing himself to the floor to win a penalty against América de Cali despite being offside and having no opposition players within metres of him.
Junior get a 1-1 draw out of the game, but América had the last laugh winning the return fixture 2-0 and eventually going on to win the championship.
For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.
