Suffering an injury on a soccer field is bad enough, but being unable to be stretchered off because the ambulance's engine fails is an unprecedented degree of bad luck.
However, that's exactly what happened in Brazil on Sunday, during Vasco da Gama's home game against Flamengo. Vasco's Bruno Silva was knocked out in the second half and needed medical attention, which prompted the ambulance to arrive onto the pitch.
However, once Silva was loaded onto the vehicle, the ambulance seemingly broke down and was unable to move. Players from both sides momentarily put rivalry aside for the greater good and joined forces to push the vehicle off the pitch, while the 54,000 spectators packed into the Mane Garrincha stadium laughed their heads off.
"That's a first," Flamengo defender Rever was quoted as saying by Brazilian network SporTV.
"What a lamentable scene. I thought the driver was kidding but he said he had turned the engine off and asked for our help. We managed to push it a little bit and it kick-started."
A 10-minute delay followed Silva's injury and the farcical attempts to wheel him off the pitch, before the match resumed as normal. The Vasco midfielder was hospitalized and then released later on Sunday.
The injury forced Vasco to finish the game with 10 men, as they had already used all their three substitutes by the time Silva got injured. Flamengo also ended the game a man short as their midfielder Diego was sent off with 13 minutes gone in the second half.
Shortly after going down to 10 men, however, Flamengo equalized when Luiz Gustavo's own goal canceled out Andre Rios' 27th-minute opener.
Flamengo remain five points adrift of league leaders Sao Paulo, who could be overtaken at the top of the table by Internacional, who are a point behind Sao Paulo but have a game in hand.
Vasco, meanwhile are joint-third from bottom alongside Chapecoense, nine points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Parana but just one point clear of 19th-placed Sport Recife.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more
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