Great Moments in Soccer Acting

By: Bob | October 5th, 2007

This week we saw AC Milan keeper Dida show off his theatrical skills. He is not alone in this department, of course. For better or for worse soccer has seen its share of players moonlighting as thespians on the pitch. Below are some clips of some of the great acting jobs in soccer history.

1. Robert Rojas – With his Chile side on the verge of being eliminated from World Cup qualifying by Brazil in 1989, Rojas pretended that he was hit by a firecracker thrown from the crowd. He even cut himself with a razor blade in hopes of having the game called off. Didn’t work. His actions were caught on film and he was banned from football for life.

2. Jurgen Klinsmann – Saving his greatest theatrics for the biggest moment, the German striker pulled off a perfect swan dive and managed to get Argentina defender Pedro Monzón booted out of the 1990 World Cup final.

3. Slaven Bilic – The World Cup brings out the actor in all of us. Here, Croatia’s Slaven Bilic nearly loses his eyesight pretending that he was in fact hurt by France’s Laurent Blanc in the 1998 semi-final. Blanc was shown a red card and missed out on his country’s victory in the final.

4. Rivaldo – You can almost feel Rivaldo’s pain when he is hit by the ball by Turkey’s Hakan Unsal. Everyone knows the thigh bone is connected to the face bone. For his efforts, Rivaldo got Unsal kicked out of the game and was later fined five thousand pounds for his theatrics.

5. Arjen Robben – The Dutchman has never known a piece of turf that he hasn’t liked and here against Liverpool his diving skills help to get Pepe Reina sent off.

6. Steven Taylor – You can’t fault Newcastle United’s Steven Taylor for trying. After a blatant hand ball he makes like his stomach has been shot by a sniper.

7. Alberto Gilardino – One of the classic diving efforts of all time. The AC Milan player remembers that he should hit the turf after feeling contact. The problem is that he remembers a bit too late.

8. Sean Davis – A good acting coach is hard to come by and costs a pretty penny so Lee Young-Pyo should be happy to have Sean David provide some diving tips for free,