Tag: Liga de Expansion MX

Dog on the field! Match in Mexico blessed by excellent canine

You’ve got to check this dog out, it’s an excellent dog

Most people, and most animals, are by definition pretty average. Some have a gift or two that set them apart, while others may lack in some categories. The spectrum of possible experiences is vast, but most creatures sit in a pretty narrow sliver of that spectrum.

Every once in a while though, you get to see a true genius at work.

Which of course brings us to a dog on the field in Mexico. The dog in question decided to grace the Liga de Expansión match between Oaxaca and Sinaloa, two teams struggling to qualify for the Apertura playoffs. In other words, the natural venue for such brilliance to reveal itself.

Unfortunately, there is no video showing us the exact beginnings of the joyful sequence below, in which a dog runs off with the ball for about 70 seconds in stoppage time of what became a 4-0 win for Oaxaca. All we know for sure is that, with los Alebrijes pushing for yet another goal on the night, this dog was already racing out onto the field, being pursued by one hapless minder.

Credit: ESPN

Why does a situation exist in which this person, in some kind of stadium staff garb, would find themselves with a dog on what seems like a very long leash? Wouldn’t this game be played without this interruption if the dog were just, not in the stadium?

Look, if those are your concerns, this is not the article for you. Think about it: this dog is on the field! Check out the dog, he’s out there running around! That’s what we’re about here at Pro Soccer Wire.

As the dog announced its presence, Sinaloa goalkeeper Víctor Mendoza came off his line to claim a cross, and had eyes to spring a counter. The referee stopped play, what with the dog being out there, but this seemingly minor stoppage is the spark for some magic.

Mendoza, disappointed to be denied even this one chance to create an attack in the final moments of an ugly loss, glanced down at the dog, and then out of frustration sort of half-heartedly tossed the ball away to no one in particular.

The dog couldn’t quite corral the ball at first, with Sinaloa’s Felipe Félix even getting a touch in the process, but once our hero — this canine conqueror — slowed the ball down, it was time for some classic dog stuff.

The dog got a firm grip on the ball and, despite the original staffer gaining two compatriots, escaped the pressure to expertly move towards space in midfield. With little help coming from the players or referees, who did at least announce three minutes of stoppage time amid all of this, the stadium staffers were repeatedly put in the spin cycle by this excellent dog.

Sensing the moment, the crowd at Estadio Tecnológico de Oaxaca and the match announcer on ESPN began to show their appreciation, giving the staffers the “olé!” treatment as the dog repeatedly evaded attempts to get the game going again.

Oaxaca’s Bryan García tried at one point to slow the dog down, but the forward’s heart just wasn’t in it. For los Dorados, a more serious attempt came from Franco Valentini — who probably at this point just wanted to go home — but nothing could stop this world-class dog from bounding around the pitch.

Finally, after 70 full seconds and a slowly increasing numbers of stadium staffers and just random people chasing fruitlessly after this playful dog, Oaxaca’s Julio César Cruz slowed the dog down long enough that a herd of people could remove the dog (and presumably the ball, which by now the dog seemed to have possibly lodged its teeth into) from the field.

After the match, Oaxaca gave the world an important update: the dog is fine.

“Our new best friend, he is doing well and is with us at Templo Alebrije after having debuted in Liga de Expansión,” read an Instagram post from Oaxaca after the match.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxuhrlROWlL/

Oaxaca’s big win — on the field, not the fact that the club was clearly blessed by this dog — pushed the club into a tie for the final Liga de Expansión playoff spot.

Please enjoy this wonderful dog on the field

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Watch this goalkeeper score by punting the ball across the entire dang field

We’ve discovered a new category of goalkeeper goal

Most goalkeeper goals from open play come in one of two ways.

It’s either a last-second equalizer after a keeper has gone up for a stoppage-time set piece, like we’ve already seen in the NWSL this season. Or there’s the long clearance that accidentally embarrasses the opposing keeper, like Tim Howard’s infamous goal for Everton.

But this week’s playoffs in the Liga de Expansión MX has brought us a new category: the incredibly powerful and accurate punt that takes advantage of the aforementioned goalkeeper looking to score a stoppage-time set piece.

Celaya goalkeeper Guillermo Allison so nearly scored a goal of his own, but his header ended up right in Santiago Ramírez’s hands. The Club Atlético Morelia keeper then proceeded to punt the ball all the way across the entire dang field and into the dang net.

Goodness!

Ramírez’s goal helped seal a 4-2 aggregate win for Morelia, who will face Tapatío in the two-leg Clausura final.

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