The Popcorn Stand: Who knew soccer had a rover?

As those of you who choose to read this Popcorn Stand know I use any excuse I can to feature my two dogs Pete the Shih Tzu and Tuf Tuf (you know Sir Tuffington something or other) the Jack Russell in this column.

So when I saw a video of a dog making an amazing save in a soccer match I couldn’t resist thinking, yeah, Tuf Tuf could do that. Pete on the other hand I know would just sit there and watch the ball go right into the goal. He wouldn’t care one way or the other.

The amazing save happened in a Federal A league match in Argentina between Juventud Unida and Defensores de Belgrano. In the video the Defensores goalie actually makes an embarrassing error as he tries to kick the ball away from the front of the goal box.

A Juventud player is right there to block the goalie’s kick. He then gathers the ball and sends a shot that’s clearly going into the net. But the dog comes running across and makes an incredible save.

Juventud was already up 3-0 and apparently no goal was awarded. Juventud would’ve taken a 4-0 lead but the final score of the game remained 3-0. Evidently there’s no rule in soccer dealing with when a rover comes on to the field.

I wonder how the official statistic was determined. Did the official scorer actually award a save to the dog or what could be the most embarrassing, luckiest save in the history of soccer to the goalie?

And of course the Latin American announcers describing the play make the video so much more entertaining.

If you watch the video close enough you can see the dog running from the corner of the screen on to the field just as the play is developing. It’s as if the dog knows what’s going to happen.

Just do a search on the tubes for dog makes save in soccer and you’ll be able to find the video.

Time now for Tuf Tuf and I to go into training. I believe Tuf Tuf can become the next Franz Becken-BowWower.

— Charles Whisnand