Indonesian Soccer Game Featured Five Own Goals in Final Four Minutes

Here’s a story that everyone who frequents American-based sports blogs can’t stop talking about — the Indonesia soccer match between PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang last week. At this rate, the next time the two teams play ESPN is going to do a live, 24-hour pregame show outside the stadium. Jokes aside, the match is making headlines around the globe for some weird circumstances in the games final minutes. Let the BBC explain:

"Sleman win the game 3-2, but a committee decided both sides attempted to lose in order to avoid a semi-final match with Borneo FC, a club rumoured to be backed by a local mafia. The game was scoreless until the 86th minute before Sleman score two own goals in quick succession, Semarang then score three own goals and lose the tie."

Although I’m an admitted fan of a soccer in this nation, the subtleties of the game in Indonesia are lost on me. This particular story seemed to get traction via the site 101 Great Goals earlier this week and has now spread. For whatever it’s worth, a media outlet like the BBC — presumably with much greater global news-gathering resources — didn’t add much to the story. Both teams got their wish in the end and were disqualified from the tournament.