Extra Time!

Sunderland have reached a cup final, only to be beaten by Wigan. No, we’re not trying to have you on in some elaborate April Fool’s Day prank (as if you’d be daft enough to fall for that one, anyway), but football made some positive headlines in Iraq this month as the local police (in Wigan shirts) defeated a side from the RAF 903 Expeditionary Air Wing 2-0 in the final of a local tournament. Rumours that the Sunderland shirts affected the RAF’s performance are strenuously denied by those in FSF towers.

If you are unlucky enough to be caught out by a pesky friend or colleague playing a joke on you today you’ll probably want the ground to open and swallow you up. Poor Bolo Zenden had to suffer this fate while celebrating putting his side Marseille 1-0 up away at PSG. We must admit that some Boro and Liverpool fans probably won’t be surprised to read about Zenden going missing during a game, though.

Having problems staying on your feet seems to have developed into something of a theme this month; next up we see possibly the most shocking ‘dive’ ever from South America, where Corinthians’ Escudero was viciously attacked…by the linesman’s flag. His embarrassment laid bare, he probably wanted to exact some revenge against the officials. He needn’t have worried, as Austria Vienna and Kapfenburg were making sure the referee in their match got no respite at all, with this crunching tackle. As if that wasn’t enough, check out this side’s reaction to a red card – admittedly the ref probably shouldn’t have punched the player as well, but the team still give him hell! Scary. Respect Campaign, anyone?

Getting away from all the fighting and feuding, and back to some loving, we came across the story of this Cupid Stunt from Blackburn. A bit of an old story, admittedly, but any excuse to use that gag.

Some people, it seems, will go to any lengths to score. Speaking of which, this month we had the rather unusual sight of seeing a ballboy getting in on the act. Quick thinking from this Israeli lad has led Extra Time into thinking about drafting him into our next Fantasy Football team.

Time to end, but we’ll go from the ridiculous to the sublime, and finish on a couple of belting goals. This from Catania’s midfielder Mascara definitely, er, caught the eye. Ahem.

Lastly, this effort (the second on the clip) from Simon Cox would’ve had Motty creaming himself if it had been tucked away by Rooney in the Premiership. As it is, he was destined to remain relatively obscure, only to be brought fame by us good folk at the FSF. Top Effort.