Bang bang Baseggio

Ajax go for bust
Two days after Baseggio's ball-bursting shot in Belgium, a similar incident spiced up an otherwise insignificant reserve team game between AFC Ajax and SC Heerenveen in the Netherlands. With Ajax leading 1-0, Jos Hooiveld stepped up to take a free-kick for the Amsterdam club. His shot was true and rocketed into the Heerenveen net, but once more, the ball had exploded before it hit the net. "I just shot the ball as hard as I could, and then I suddenly heard that bang," he said. "I had seen the exploded ball in the Anderlecht game on television, and I thought to myself: 'Hey, that is something I would like to do one day'. That it then happens in the next match that I play is very strange." However, as La Louvière will doubtless be irked to hear, the referee in the match in the Netherlands disallowed the goal, and in accordance with an admittedly obscure paragraph of the rules of the game, restarted the match with a new ball from the same position. Not that Hooiveld cared, as his side went on to win the game 4-2. "It was pretty funny," he said. "It was only an insignificant goal that was disallowed anyway."

Happy landings
From flying things that exploded to one that thankfully did not, Rodez-Aveyron Football had an unforgettable trip to Corsica to take on SC Bastia in France's amateur championship after the door of their aeroplane broke off 20 minutes before landing. "Everything not fastened down flew through the hole left by the door," said player Fabrice Pereira. "Some players were sleeping, others were reading. I was 50cm from the door. The seatbelt saved my life as I was sucked 30cm closer to it." The plane was 6500m over the Mediterrannean at the time, flying at a speed of 400km/h with temperatures at -15C outside. However, the plane's captain managed to stay calm. "He took the microphone and said that the plane could make it to Bastia," said coach Régis Brouard. "People then left their seats and held on to each other and moved to the front of the plane and the captain made a careful landing." Clearly, having reasoned that what did not kill them could only make them stronger, Rodez went on to play their game, winning 3-0, and were even brave enough to fly back home again.