Quick Thinking Soccer Sub Runs Onto Field to Block a Goal, Gets Sent Off For His Troubles

If you’re going to watch only one Iranian soccer highlight today, make sure it’s this one. In a recent game between Nassaji Mazandaran and Shahrdari Yasuj a smart-thinking substitute saved his team a goal.

As a Yasuj player rounded the keeper and thought he had a wide-open goal to shoot on–not so fast!–a Mazandaran sub warming up on the sideline ran into the goal and blocked the shot.

The kicker here is that the refs didn’t award an automatic goal. Instead, Yasuj got an indirect free kick, which they were unable to score even from that close a range. The sub who blocked the ball was sent off. I’d have gone, as always, with the ol’ George Costanza, “Is that wrong?” defense.

[H/T @aimorris]