Football team wins match by scoring against itself. (2 Viewers)

Zlatan

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2003
23,049
#1
Claim: Football team wins match by scoring against itself.
Status: True.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000]


Forget England-Argentina/Germany/Portugal and all the rest and listen to this one.
It concerns a match played between Barbados and Grenada in cup competition.

Barbados needed to win the game by two clear goals in order to progress to the next round. Now the trouble was caused by a daft rule in the competition which stated that in the event of a game going to penalty kicks, the winner of the penalty kicks would be awarded a 2-0 victory.

With 5 minutes to go, Barbados were leading 2-1, and going out of the tournament (because they needed to win by 2 clear goals). Then, when they realized they were probably not going to score against Grenada's massed defence, they turned round, and deliberately scored on their own goal to level the scores and take the game into penalties. Grenada, themselves not being stupid, realized what was going on, and then attempted to score an own goal themselves. However, the Barbados players started defending their opponents goal to prevent this.

In the last five minutes, spectators were treated to the incredible sight of both team's defending their opponents goal against attackers desperately trying to score an own goal and goalkeepers trying to throw the ball into their own net. The game went to penalties, which Barbados won and so were awarded a 2-0 victory and progressed to the next round.




Origins: This anecdote is largely true as reported above, save for a few minor discrepancies.

The incident took place during a final group match between Barbados and Grenada for the Shell Caribbean Cup in February 1994. The Barbados team had to win the match by at least two goals in order to face Trinidad and Tobago in the finals; anything less and Grenada advanced to the next round instead. The rules in effect at the time specified that if the score were tied at the end of regulation play, the match would continue into sudden-death overtime (not a penalty kicks round, as stated above), and the first team to score during the overtime period would be considered a two-goal winner.

As detailed above, Barbados was leading 2-0 well into the second half of play, when Grenada finally managed to score a goal in the 83rd minute to make the score 2-1. Barbados realized with three minutes to play that they were unlikely to score again in the time remaining and deliberately kicked the ball into their own goal to tie the match at 2-2 and force an overtime period. Grenada then attempted to score on their own goal to prevent the match from going into overtime, but Barbados had already started defending Grenada's goal to prevent them from succeeding. The two teams then spent the remaining few minutes with Barbados defending both ends of the field as Grenada tried to put the ball into either goal, but time expired with the score still tied. Four minutes into overtime play, Barbados scored and advanced to the finals.
 

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Dan

Back & Quack
Mar 9, 2004
9,290
#8
But surely the team could just score the winner though? I mean, all they need is a goal in either net and theve won it. It should be quite easy!
 

Kiko

Junior Member
Jun 2, 2003
236
#11
++ [ originally posted by Dan ] ++
But surely the team could just score the winner though? I mean, all they need is a goal in either net and theve won it. It should be quite easy!
That's what I was thinking...I mean the goalkeeper could just walk it in the net
 

Stu

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2002
17,557
#13
++ [ originally posted by Kiko ] ++

That's what I was thinking...I mean the goalkeeper could just walk it in the net
The Grenadian goalkeeper could've scored from a goal kick even :D I can bearly imagine what it would have been like watching this madness.
 

K10

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2002
2,698
#18
++ [ originally posted by Stuart ] ++
:LOL: :rofl: I can't believe I've never heard about this before :LOL:
Yo Bajan how you been?

So I guess in the finals Trinidad beat Barbados?
 

Stu

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2002
17,557
#20
++ [ originally posted by K10 ] ++

Yo Bajan how you been?

So I guess in the finals Trinidad beat Barbados?
I'm good, man. What about you?

I'm not too sure who won that final (I would've been five or six at the time) but I suspect Trinidad probably won.
 

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