Extra Time!

The last week has obviously been dominated by acrimony and gamesmanship between the British and Croatian football worlds. First of all Eduardo’s now infamous dive (still has nothing on our favourite tumble ever) caused uproar amongst fans of almost every club following his acrobatic ‘simulation’ in last Wednesday’s Champions League tie with Celtic. Uefa has today hit him with a two game ban.

In a neat little twist Celtic’s Aiden McGeady was sent off over the weekend for diving too.  Bhoys boss Tony Mowbray defended McGeady because he was tired after a little sprint. "McGeady probably ran 40 yards, he skips past one challenge and when he sees another coming,” said Moybray “he goes down." That was the Gooner’s crime after all, he just hadn’t earned the right to dive. Next time run a bit further before you flop to the floor Eduardo!

Meanwhile Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic smells a conspiracy following Luka Modric’s injury for Spurs this weekend. "First Eduardo, now Luka Modric. This is horrible. I can only ask myself if it was really an accident," said Markovic "I’m close to thinking it was done to us deliberately before the England match. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what happened to Luka. He is irreplaceable."

Even the Eduardo horror-break, given the latest revelations after last week’s Celtic game, could have been a dive. And while Modric’s injury did just look like a pretty regular tangle of legs with an unlucky result, who can say in these confusing times! It’s one for The X Files.

Continuing with the cheat theme that seems to have developed check out ODD Grenland striker Peter Kovacs’ reaction when he spots a fellow pro in trouble. Yes, he takes total advantage and celebrates with a pretty gormless ‘nothing to do with me Guv’  look on his face. Nice.

While the preceding stories have all been pretty black and white, this video of FC Twente bending the rules is a little murkier. Of course it’s cheating but more in a ‘You Are The Ref Style’ which somehow makes it more acceptable. Steve McClaren thought it was hilarious anyway, although it did go for his team.

For those of you longing for a return to Corinthian values of sportsmanship and fair play after glimpsing football’s heart of darkness we sympathise. This Extra Time! has all been a bit cheat heavy so how can we possibly finish on a high? With the heart warming tones of Paul Whitehouse’s Ron Manager, of course.

Cheers!