Police BlotterSoccer

How To Win A Soccer Match: Have Your Club’s Home City Police Force Draw Guns On The Opposition In Their Locker Room At Halftime

by Dylan Murphy | 2:00 pm, December 13th, 2012

Playing the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final, Brazil’s Sao Paolo led Argentinian soccer club Tigre 2-0 at halftime. But before the intermission, things got a bit out of control as officials and players from both clubs brawled on the pitch. That’s when 20 Brazilian police officers reportedly intervened, attacking Tigre players in the locker room with sticks and even drawing guns.

Via Reuters:

“‘They pulled two guns on us, the rest of the match is not going to be played,’ Tigre coach Nestor Gorosito told Fox Sports.

‘They ambushed us and one of them pulled out a revolver and put it against (goalkeeper) Damian Albil’s chest. Their security and police also hit us, there were around 20 of them.’

Argentine media carried photographs of a blood stained dressing room and comments from players saying they were hit with sticks.”

Tigre refused to return to the pitch after halftime, and Sao Paolo was declared the winner of the match and tournament by Conmebol, the South American Football Confederation. The Sao Paolo fans didn’t seem to care about the circumstances of their victory, because they poured onto streets in celebration. Team officials were equally unconcerned and pleased.

“‘They were going to lose by a big score,’ Sao Paulo President Juvenal Juvencio told the club’s website (www.saopaulofc.net). “Our biggest victory is the fact that the Argentines ran away.”

Things began heating up before the match when officials tried to interrupt Tigre’s attempts to warm up. But it wasn’t until halftime that things completely erupted, and it took another three hours for Tigre to even leave the stadium. It was at this point that they went to a Sao Paolo police station to file a complaint – which will probably go nowhere because it was Sao Paolo police officers who drew guns on them in the first place.

On another note: can you imagine the Bob Costas gun control rant this would have spawned had it happened in America? Not to mention that Cris Collinsworth would have totally diagrammed the replay to point out the importance of the tertiary reinforcement officers sprinting up the right flank. Meanwhile, Roger Goodell would have found a way to blame the entire thing on Sean Peyton and Jonathan Vilma, only to have the validity of his imposed sanctions undermined by a former league executive he thought he had in his pocket.

Basically what we’re saying is that it’s a good thing guns and sports don’t mix in America.

[Reuters]

Follow @dylantmurphy

Marcus

i’d like to make some things clear before people think that São Paulo needed to draw guns on those Argentinians.

- Tigres in the Argentinian soccer scenario is really really small. It’s like comparing a college team to a professional one. In terms of techniques they are way below average.
- São Paulo is a 3 time World Champion, 3 time Libertadores Cup Champion, 6 time Brazilian Champion, not to mention the other 27 titles. São Paulo doesn’t have to “draw guns” on any game. No matter if it’s Tigres or FC Barcelona
- The first game of the finals which took place 1 week ago in Buenos Aires was marked by the extreme violent game of the Tigres players. Proving that they had no talent or ability at all they kicked the hell out of São Paulo team players. If there ever was a team with violence in mind was Tigres.
- Yesterday São Paulo delivered a class act on Tigres during the first half. 2×0 in less than 30 minutes. Tigres hadn’t kicked a single ball at São Paulo’s woodwork.
- At the end of the first period the Argentinians started their own UFC display of cowardness. They started to beat São Paulo players on every play as possible, probably to make them lose thier temper and start a brawl. That’s what happened as the whistle was blown. Tigres players, including all of their technical staff, coaches, etc, were after São Paulo players as they were leaving the pitch towards the locker room.
- Morumbi stadium has 2 exits to the lockers. One for visitors and another for São Paulo. The thing is that there’s a corridor that connects both locker room accesses. Tigre players tried to invade São Paulo’s locker room with “some” violence. That’s when São Paulo’s private security force stepped in (and not the local police as you mentioned). They just “did” their job.
- Soccer fans from Argentina are despising what Tigres did yesterday, saying that Tigres stained the image of Argentinian soccer worldwide. They are right. In this wild rivalry between Brazilian and Argentinian sides, a team has never, ever, run away from the pitch, even when a loss was imminent. That’s honor, something that Tigres doesn’t have.
- Back in 1989 during a 1990 World Cup qualifying game in Rio, Chilean goalkeeper, Roberto Rojas, cut himself in the eyebrow with a scalpel hidden in his glove in order to make Chile escape from a loss and postpone the match. That’s something that many people here in Brazil strongly consider after watching last night’s miserable act by Tigres.
- In short. They are genuine cowards.

cheers
Marcus