The Late Lunge: Mascot stabbings and red card for goal celebrations

In today's Late Lunge, a World Cup mascot stabbed twice in one week in Brazil, a red card for goal celebrations in Mexico and a Mozambique player is back in action after assault and robbery, the brave fella.

By Declan Whooley

Mascot stabbed twice in one week

Amid safety concerns for Brazil ahead of the 2014 World Cup, the stabbing of the seven foot inflatable armadillo mascot twice in one week will have organisers a little concerned.

The Guardian reports that the three banded mascot in Brasilia has been attacked twice in the space of a week by vandals and has now been removed.

The armadillo was chosen last month as the official mascot and its name will go to a public vote, with Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco the options. Not exactly tongue rollers for English-speakers.

Unlike actual armadillos, the inflatable mascot was unable to roll into a ball to defend itself from attack. Shame that.

Sent-off for machine gun celebration

Tijuana leap-frogged rivals Toluca to top spot in the Mexican League on Monday night with a 1-0 win over their rivals in a top of the table game. Big swing I hear you say, but the game saw a rather unusual red card.

Dubier Riascos scored the all-important goal after 50 minutes and was joined by team-mate Fidel Martinez in a pre-rehearsed celebration routine. Martinez pretended to have a gun and shoot the goalscorer, who then made a Lazarus-like recovery to perform the worm.

In a country with such high levels of violent crime, the referee was none too impressed and sent Martinez off, though on reflection, the punishment was reduced to a yellow card.

Always good to see such clinical finishing from the training ground replicated on the field of play.

Footballer back in action after burglary and assault

Mozambique winger Elias Pelembe Dominquez will travel to Morocco this weekend for his country’s clash with the hosts, but he could be forgiven for having other things on his mind.

The 28 year-old plies his trade for South African Premier League side Mamelodi Sundowns and was subject to a burglary and assault that forced him to miss last weekend’s league defeat to the Platinum Stars

SuperSport reports that Dominquez was held up in his home, assaulted and had money stolen, while his team-mate Clayton Daniels had his car stolen in the same incident. South Africa continues to battle against a high crime rate and this latest episode will do little to enhance the poor reputation it has.

The player asked not to be left out of the squad at the weekend but is happy to be included in Mozambique’s 22 man squad to face Morocco.

Puts the Ashley Cole ‘controversy’ slightly into perspective.