Peru's Union Comercio could be described as Latin America’s unluckiest soccer team after going through a comedy of errors in their three league matches this month.
First there was the blunder committed earlier this month by goalkeeper Juan Flores against Sporting Cristal. While trying to waste time in early in the scoreless match he coughed up the ball to a rival player for the opening goal in what ended up as a 2-0 loss.
One week later, the San Martin-based side played a home match against Universitario when defender Renzo Reanos kicked the ball in anger at a referee’s decision. Unfortunately for him, his shot ended up in hs own team’s net for an own goal that ended up being the lone goal of the match.
The latest defensive lapse by “El Poderoso del Alto Mayo” occurred last Sunday against Leon de Huanuco. As you can see in the video below, the Union backline misplayed a low cross to concede an own goal from close range:
Joaquin Lencinas’s error led to another 1-0 defeat for Union and left the team in the penultimate position among the sixteen top division teams.
“I don't think anything like this has happened to any team in the world,” declared Union coach Edgar Ospina after the latest match.
"We deserve to be in the Guinness Book of Records. I've never seen anything like it," added Ospina who admitted that the team’s exploits have gained them worldwide attention.
“Fifteen days ago, they thought we were an organization of shopkeepers. At least, now they know we are a football team.”
Last week twenty-two El Salvador players were suspended for allegedly accepting bribes to fix Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying matches. Perhaps the Union Comercio players could be thankful that they’re going through an agonizing August instead of not playing at all.
Video Source– YouTube via CMD
Online Sources – SI.com; NBC News
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment