Whether or not you agree with it, diving has become a pretty big part of modern football.
The dark arts of defenders smashing into opposing strikers “just to let them know they’re there” have been replaced by those very strikers throwing themselves to the floor – ironically as if they had just been smashed by a defender.
In a strange way, diving itself has become a skill in the modern game. And while some players have shown more of an aptitude for it than others, not everyone is so natural at “simulation”.
On Saturday night, Lucas Melano of the Portland Timbers took diving to a whole new level with his ridiculously theatrical performance against Real Salt Lake.
The 22-year-old received a light push in the back from one of the Real Salt Lake players, and responded in the only way that made sense to him – by throwing himself into the air and flipping onto his back.
We’ll give the Argentine the benefit of the doubt and say that he was cleverly parodying some of his more dishonest colleagues, but just look at the ref’s reaction. He is giving one of the Salt Lake players a talking to when he sees his flip happen, and his body language just changes from “I’m the boss here, don’t talk back to me” to “Oh for fuck’s sake, where do I even begin?”.
