Kick on backside for blundering battlers

Zubizarreta is unlikely to forget that unlucky night of June 13 when Spain’s hopes of progressing in the World Cup were sabotaged — by his own hand.

It looked as if the 36-year-old goalkeeper was deliberately guiding the ball into his own net with his gloved hand when Garba Lawal fired a harmless shot across his goalmouth. The 3-2 win for Nigeria effectively blocked Spain’s progress to the second round.

Salt was rubbed in Zubizarretta’s wound when Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Chilavert pulled off one of the great saves of the tournament to deny Real Madrid striker Rual and Spain a win in their next match.

Roberto Carlos, the jet-propelled wingback from Brazil, handed Denmark a gift goal with a very un-Brazilian blunder againstDenmark. He tried to clear a deflected ball inside the area with a reckless and unnecessary bicycle kick. He missed the ball completely and Brian Laudrup, lurking behind him, hammered the ball first time into the roof of the net.

The goal levelled the scores at 2-2 and Brazil had to fight hard to win the quarter-final 3-2.

Captain Dunga told Carlos never to try a bicycle clearance in the penalty area again. “Sometimes, it’s best to keep it simple,” he said.

A blunder by Scotland saved Brazil’s blushes in the opening game of France ’98. Brazil won 2-1 thanks to Tommy Boyd, who scored an own goal.

A shot from Cafu rebounded off goalkeeper Jim Leighton than cannoned into the net from Boyd’s shoulder. “It’s not the kind of goal I like to score,” said the 32-year-old Celtic defender.

Marketing executives dropped the ball on the World Cup in an off-field blunder. They believed the cliche that women don’t watch football. But half the French audience for the World Cup was made up of women. Theadvertising moguls who decided to drop ads for baby products, cosmetics and other female-directed products must be kicking themselves.