The worst I can think of was the Enckelman own goal, with video below for those that have never seen it: http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96781308/K=E...home.online.no/~ebaxevan/Video/enckelman.mpeg Is there any Bunder that is worst that this one?
Not at all. Very tragic that he lost his life, but there is no way that it was the worst blunder ever. We shouldn't let the actions of a murderer dictate what we think about Escobar. He does not deserve mention in this thread.
In the Dutch competition there was, in late sventies/early eighties, a legendary blunder by a keeper. Don't know his name but he had the ball in the right outside of the penalty area. There was no pressure whatsoever while he wanted to throw the ball to the (i think) rightback. The problem was when he threw, the ball got stuck on his gloves or something (not sure) but the guy ended up throwing the ball in his own goal. hahah, legendary.
I remember when West Ham Played Villa in the Cup and Beat them but they brought Manny Omoyimni on as a sub and he had already played in the competition, so mthey had to replay and they lost i think
Cerezo's pass in the Italy-Brasil match in the 1982 has to be right up there-arguably cost Brasil a championship. A recent play was Luis Garcia pass this weekend vs Slovakia...at the time it happened, it looked like it could have major consequences for Spain. Things look good for Spain now, but boy, that was a terrible play on his part.
Actually, I thought it was the spelling on the title of this thread. In the '78 World Cup, the Dutch keeper (Schiivers??) collided with Ernie Brandts, a Dutch defender, resulting in an own-goal in favor of Italy. Had it stood up, Italy and not Holland would have played Argentina in the '78 final. But Brandts himself made up for the foul-up by scoring to tie the game, and Arend Haan's 30-meter bullet gave Holland the win. Irony of ironies, 21 years later, someone else whose name begins with "Brand" scored an own-goal in a crucial game and scored a make-up tying goal in the same game (Brandi Chastain, '99 WWC). Brandts crossed his "t"; Chastain dotted her "i".
I've seen better than the Enkleman one. The ball was played from further out too. Peter van de Kwaak for Reading. On his debut. this guy would give him a run for his money http://www.schwarzsauer.de/Video/olli.mpg He's another keeper mistake http://www.funrunner.co.uk/movies/strangegoal.mpeg here's a nice miss http://www.sunecards.co.uk/greatest_ever_miss.wmv?a and another http://www.funrunner.co.uk/movies/soccermiss.mpeg sometimes you can try to be too clever http://www.schwarzsauer.de/Video/elfer2.mpg My favourite. A quality penalty http://www.schwarzsauer.de/Video/elfer1.mpg
A few years ago a local news channel in their sports highlights (lowlights?) showed where an unfortunate player (English league I seem to recall) had THREE own-goals in the same match.
The answer is one by Graeme Souness when he was manager of Southampton in the English Premier League. He got a phone call from someone pretending to be George Weah asking him to give his cousin a trial as he was exceptionally good. The guy turned up in a week when Southampton were beset by injuries, so Sounness put the guy (Ali Dai) on the bench. In the first half Someone got injured so Souness sent the guy on.......and took him off again after 10 minutes when he realised that the guy couldn't actually kick a ball. Turned out that the phone call from George Weah was a fake.
The Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake did that in the 1970s. Leeds centre half Jackie Charlton was running out of the penalty area when he heard the crowd start laughing and cheering. Without turning round he asked "What's the stupid **** done now?"
Colombian GK Rene Higuita, R16, 1990. Attempting to dribble out almost into the midfield against Cameroon, he was dispossessed by Cameroon forward Roger Milla, who promptly dispatched the ball into the net. Colombia ended up losing that match 2-1. You may close the thread now.
Maybe not the worst, but one of the craziest. Not exactly a play but very costly. September 3, 1989. 1990 World Cup qualifying match. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil up 1x0 when at the 67th minute someone threw a firecracker on the field. Chilean goalkeeper, Roberto Rojas, goes down and fakes an injury, cutting himself on the forehead. Chilean players and coaches refused to return claiming conditions were not safe although it had been one single object thrown. The match never finished. After reviewing the videos it was clear that nothing hit Rojas, the object falling a few yards away. Brazil was awarded the game, eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup. Chile was banned from qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. Rojas was banned for life. He was allowed back in 2001. Roberto Rojas cost Chile two chances to go to a world cup. http://www.brimagens.com.br/fotos/g4154