Brazil’s Erika Fakes Injury

In what is a terrible acting performance, unless it was on a Brazilian soap opera maybe, Brazilian defender Erika acts like she’s been stabbed in the back and goes down to the ground, rolling around on the turf until the referee sees her and stops the match. She of course waited until the ball was out of bounds and it seems like it was a good time to eat up some of the clock with a fake injury. The army of trainers and emergency workers stormed the pitch to stretcher her off, even strapping her down.

However, within seconds after being removed from the pitch she was trying to undue the straps and get off the stretcher and get back into the match. Even running back up the sideline to get back into the game as soon as possible as the savvy German fans jeered her.

In what is poetic justice though, those extra minutes of injury time in the second overtime were just enough for Carli Lloyd to pass to Megan Rapinoe who whipped in the perfect cross to Abby Wambach to head home. Goal. Game tied and going to penalties. I wonder if Erika is going to fake another injury?

Wambach’s Header | Hope Solo Save | Penalty Shootout | Marta Goal