After players like Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho started to get sneaky, teams worldwide popularized what Croatian player Marcelo Brozovic christened the crocodile: the idea of setting a defender lying on the ground to avoid a free kick goal under the wall.
Watch any game of any league on any day of the year, and you'll see it.
However, our guys from Tigres forgot the lessons of modern football and decided to go without a crocodile during their game against Toluca in the quarterfinals' 1st leg of the Clausura 2023, and boy, oh boy, they ended up regretting it.
Free kick goal under the wall
Tigres' goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán is known for having moments of excessive confidence that have ended with him biting the dust. And this one, surely, is another piece for his collection.
He might have thought that his defenders would not jump or that Leo Fernández, the free-kick taker, would not have the guile to attempt it.
But he was so wrong, so wrong.
Fernández is a guy with street smarts and after seeing no crocodile in the wall, he immediately cracked a plan to shoot low. And Tigres' players helped him by jumping when they should have stayed standing still.
Goal!
Luckily for Tigres, Fernández's goal was the only one for the visitors. After the mishap, Los Felinos put their sh*t together and ended up winning the game by a resounding 4-1.
Both play the quarterfinals' second leg on Sunday, May 14 (2 p.m. ET).