Goofing Goalkeepers and Slide Tackling Strikers

September 8th, 2010 | by: Daryl | Comments Off

Two of my favourite things in football combined not once but twice in yesterday’s international games, as a goalkeeper’s goof was met with a striker’s slide tackle in two separate games.

The most embarrassing of the two errors came from Spain’s Pepe Reina, deputizing for the World Cup winning Iker Casillas in the friendly against Argentina. Reina slipped while swinging at the ball for a routine kick up field, and the ever-alert, ever-willing-to-run Carlos Tevez beat Reina to the loose ball and scored with a very manly slide tackle. Argentina won the game 4-1, and Iker Casillas won’t lose any sleep over getting his place back. Spain and Liverpool fans be warned, the video of Reina’s goof is below:

Arguably the more important error came from Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo in a Euro 2012 qualifying game vs Norway. Eduardo took too long to clear the ball, allowing gigantic Norwegian striker John Carew to charge in with a slide tackle, which deflected the ball to Erik Huseklepp to score:

Norway won 1-0, and Portugal’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign is looking all kinds of bad.

Image: AP

- Writer wanted on Norway World Cup Blog