The 10...


...best football dives

Sunday November 2, 2003
Observer Sport Monthly

1: Roberto Rojas
Brazil v Chile, World Cup qualifier, 3 September 1989

Overrun and intimidated, Chile needed a way out. The plan: force an abandonment and a replay in a neutral venue. The execution: on 69 minutes, goalkeeper Rojas threw himself into the smoke of a firecracker, which had landed nearby, pulled a razor blade from his glove and stabbed himself in the head. The result: lots of blood, a mass brawl, a walkout, an abandonment - but, after video evidence, no replay. Instead, Brazil were awarded the game, Chile were out of one World Cup and excluded from the next, Rojas was banned for life and the woman who threw the firecracker was signed up by Playboy Brazil. In May 2001, Fifa lifted the ban. 'At 43, I'm unlikely to play again,' said Rojas, now coach at São Paulo, 'but at least this pardon will cleanse my soul.'

2: Jurgen Klinsmann
West Germany v Argentina, World Cup Final, 8 July 1990

Germany had no answer to Argentina's solid, anti-football until Klinsmann collected the ball on the right and tried to go past Pedro Monzon. Monzon was lining something up - a tackle, perhaps even a foul - but before he'd had a chance, Klinsmann was soaring above him. Arcing through the air, he broke into three jarring, electric rolls. He'd done enough to see Monzon sent off - the first red card in a World Cup Final. Germany won with a penalty, awarded following a late Rudi Völler air trip.

3: Diego Simeone
Argentina v England, World Cup, 30 June 1998

Before he was deified, David Beckham was a sack hanging from lamp posts. He owed his unpopularity to Diego Simeone, who, flicked by Becks's back heel in retaliation after a foul, toppled theatrically in this World Cup last-16 match in Saint-Etienne. 'I took advantage,' Simeone told OSM in May last year. 'I think anyone would have done so in just the same way.' Beckham was naturally unimpressed. 'Simeone went down as if he'd been shot,' he said. 'My first thought was, "I've made a big mistake here."'

4: Robbie Savage
Derby v Leicester, 15 September 2001

Robbie makes it so high in the list for sheer effort: a corrosive 90 minutes, a last-minute dive in the area, a hopeful look to the referee and a fist-pumping explosion in front of the home fans. Derby players chased him all the way to the corner flag, then tried to mug him in the tunnel afterwards. 'We've seen players for years who are very clever at diving for penalties,' said Derby boss Jim Smith. 'But he's not very clever and his penalties become riots. It's always him.' Robbie said: 'I've never dived in my career. I was blameless.'

5: Slaven Bilic
Croatia v France, World Cup semi-final, 8 July 1998

Feeling the hairs on the back of Laurent Blanc's hand brush his cheek, Bilic went down, his hands covering his face. He stayed down until Blanc had been dismissed, which meant he was suspended for the World Cup Final. 'He only had himself to blame,' said Bilic. 'I am not a cheat, I am honest. I am not to blame. After all, he hit me in my face.' Bilic was condemned by the PFA, colleagues and fans across Europe, including his own in Croatia.

6: El-Hadji Diouf
Senegal v Uruguay, World Cup, 11 June 2002

On his way round Uruguay keeper Fabian Carini, El-Hadji Diouf felt the keeper's breath on his shin. The gust blew him up, then down, then all over the penalty area. Replays confirmed no contact - as in, none at all - had been made. Later, Richard Morales did the same for Uruguay and the ref gave that, too. When he wasn't giving penalties, he was taking names: 12 players booked and Senegal through to the last 16. 'We'll keep playing to our strengths,' said Diouf. 'Above all, I feel proud.'

7: Francis Jeffers
Arsenal v Liverpool, December 2002

'He's the biggest cheat in football,' said Peter Osgood. 'I'd love to see him get really hurt.' Jeffers's greatest moment in an Arsenal shirt, a last-gasp trip over a space where John Arne Riise's leg might have been but wasn't, earned Arsenal a penalty and a point. 'The referee was conned,' said Gérard Houllier. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he practised diving in training,' said Ron 'Chopper' Harris. 'Since the foreigners came over here everyone's at it, even the English lads.'

'I'm not a conman or a diver,' said Franny, now back at Everton. 'I'm an honest player.'

8: Paul Alcock
Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal, 26 September 1998

Just before half-time, Patrick Vieira and Petter Rudi drew handbags, Paolo Di Canio kicked Martin Keown's shin and Paul Alcock sent the latter pair off. Di Canio reacted by pushing the referee, who staggered backwards several paces before splaying like a new-born foal. 'I gave him a shove, but it was hardly done with force,' said Paolo. 'He took sideways steps then fell over in a rather strange way - like someone acting for a penalty.' Di Canio was banned for 11 games and Alcock threatened to retire. 'I did not expect to be branded a psycho,' said Paolo.

9: Rivaldo
Brazil v Turkey, World Cup, 3 June 2002

Hit in the leg by a football - always nasty - Rivaldo felt the pain searing in his face. Referee Yung Joo Kim, seeing him clutch his head, sent off the ball-kicker, Hakan Unsal. Fifa fined Rivaldo £5,180. 'I'm calm about the punishment, and I am not sorry about anything,' he told reporters. 'I was both the victim and the person who got fined. Obviously the ball didn't hit me in the face, but I was still the victim. I did not hit anyone in the face! Nobody remembers what that Turk did to me. I'm not a player who fakes fouls.'

10: Mark Hughes
Manchester United v Montpellier, Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final, 6 March 1991

Millions watched as Mark Hughes was thrown backwards by the weight of a Pascal Baills air-butt. Uefa wouldn't allow Baills to use TV evidence to prove he hadn't made contact. Hughes was warned not to travel for the second leg by Montpellier president, Louis Nicollin. 'What Nicollin said is intimidation,' said Alex Ferguson. 'This is 1991. They can't get away with these things.' In the event, Hughes travelled; Jean-Manuel Thetis was booked for fouling him and sent off for spitting at him. United won 2-0.

· Rationale

This month's 10 was selected by Observer football writer David Hills. Here he justifies his choice:

So where's Ruud? Like Franny Lee, the game's first great English diver, Van Nistelrooy's effective dive-for-penalty/score-from-penalty routine knocks him way down the list. This list is about showmanship, about falling with an eye on the cameras.

Among those to nearly make it were Italy's Alessandro Del Piero against England in 1997; Klinsmann for Monaco against Milan in the 1994 Champions League semi-final; Bernd Hölzenbein for Germany in the 1974 World Cup Final; Robert Pires for Arsenal against Portsmouth this season; and Peter Schmeichel, in 1993, knocked down by a Micky Quinn punch that missed. Quinn's red card was one of the first to be overturned on TV evidence.

Other contenders included David Speedie, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, David Ginola, Anders Limpar, Sasa Curcic, Vitor Baia, Maradona, Christian Panucci and Hakan Sukur, whose air sprawl against England in Turkey last month was genre-defining. Michael Owen, against Argentina in 1998, was ruled out for patriotic reasons.

One other near miss: Ariel Ortega in the 1998 World Cup quarter-final. In the 88th minute, Ortega plunged over but missed Jaap Stam's leg; he was so incensed at being booked, instead of winning a penalty, that he head-butted keeper Edwin van der Sar, who, writhing in pain, threw himself to the ground. Ortega - out-dived and humiliated - was sent off.

Roberto Rojas was the clear winner, however, not least because he inspired a copycat self-slashing from Esperance keeper Chokri el Ouaer in the 2000 African Champions League final. Chokri's attempt at self-knifing, though, was seen by all, including the officials. He was substituted and banned for a year.

Jurgen Klinsmann... Now thats a guy who deserve an Academy award...

i hate players who dive and acting like the opponent had punch his face.. the opponent made a foot tackle but the player cover his face. 

There you have it. The ever dirty Rivaldo. That was seriously the worst acting I've ever seen in football.

i smell flaming and fanboyism here. close this thread. it's useless. almost every single player will dive if he get the chances.

Shearer wont dive...