time-outAn action by Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow against Twente last weekend is going around the world. In an attempt to prevent opponent Virgil Misidjan from taking advantage of Bijlow’s injudicious throw-in with a quick throw-in, the keeper deliberately threw another ball into the field. An extremely unsportsmanlike action according to many, genius according to others.
Bijlow came out in the 37th minute with a 0-1 lead by Feyenoord like a raging goal to stop Misidjan. He then threw another ball into the field to prevent the winger from throwing in quickly while Bijlow was out of bounds. Out of anger that he was deprived of a great scoring opportunity, the attacker of Twente threw a ball back in Bijlow’s direction. In the meantime, a deafening whistle sounded in the stadium.
The action of the Feyenoord keeper, who was punished with a yellow card, has also been eagerly picked up outside the Netherlands in recent days. And she couldn’t count on only negative reactions. For example, the Peruvian sports site DEPOR praised the cleverness of the Feyenoord goalkeeper. “Strange and anecdotal events happen in every football game,” the site said. “While many people see this as cheating, this is not a serious offense.”
“Dutch goalkeeper abuses the rules of the game”, headlined the Turkish sports site OdaTV. “Cheating or genius? The keeper’s quick thinking may have prevented a goal against,” they said at SkySports. “Feyenoord goalkeeper thinks out of the box and makes Twente furious”, wrote The Guardian.
“Justin time”, was The Sun’s apt pun about the goalkeeper who was able to prevent a goal just in time. “It was great thinking that his team probably saved a goal,” said the English newspaper. ‘Unfortunately, Twente had the last laugh, as they eventually equalized 20 minutes before the end and deserved a draw.’
The video received hundreds of thousands of likes and millions of views on the well-known British sports channels SPORTbible (1.9 million followers) and Out Of Context Football (3 million followers).
Poll
What do you think of Bijlow’s action?
- Unsportsmanlike (45%)
- Slim (55%)
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