Barbados intentionally scored an own goal to help them win by two thanks to a weird golden goal rule

Barbados needed to win by two, but they were only up one. So instead of scoring in the traditional way they intentionally kicked in an own goal to get to extra time. That way, they'd have a chance at a golden goal that for some reason was worth two goals instead of just the usual one. Grenada spent three minutes trying to score on either net to keep themselves from getting knocked out, and the mayhem is still worth talking about today.

Written and produced by Ryan Simmons and Will Buikema
Shot and edited by Mike Imhoff
Animations and graphics by Philip Pasternak

[SecretBaseSBN]

This video came from the comment section of one of the first episodes we did. So, thanks to all of you who have enjoyed this series. Think of it like the holiday present you didn't totally want but are fine with.

[mrbetabombs]

Barbados: Scores own goal
Granada: Haha they're so dumb wtf
Barbados: *I'm 5 parallel universes ahead of you*

[ogeid]

But imagine if Grenada scored an own goal and now Barbados has to score another own goal, and the match just devolves into both teams just trying to score own goals to get/prevent the tie

[highground]

Barbados: scores own goal

Grenada: Haha what were they thinking

Barbados: You wouldn’t get it

[cyberyash]

What will happen if we use 100% of our brain?
Barbados: yes

[_IronLion_]

Being from Barbados, I remember that match vividly. I swear to this day my side is still hurting from all the laughing while trying to watch this comedy of errors. 🤣

[TheGauravkumarrathore]

it was so humiliating for Granada that they moved to laliga.

[ariestheram]

Barbados : "We're gonna do what's called a pro-gamer move"

[sevret]

Perfect example on why you don't introduce weird rules for the "fun" of it.

[AblemanSy]

Here is why they made that rule: Golden Goal wasn't an official thing yet, so they wanted to test it in this Carribbean Cup. Usually in the group stages games can be tied but as they wanted to test the golden goal they decided that this time they wouldn't be tied but go into extra time as they would have more games in which the new golden goal could be tested. But why did count for two goals I hear you ask? Well, as was stated in the video goal difference matters. So they thought it would be unfair for teams who need a better goal difference to end the game when the golden goal is scored. So they decided that it would count double. And that's how we got here. Welcome to a moment in hist... no wait, wrong series.

[eldenlord]

Phil Jones: This looks like a job for me

[indiegum]

In case any of you are wondering, IFAB got rid of the golden goal from the Laws of The Game after Euro 2004

[Pabig]

Why was their even extra time in a group stage?

[owl-arm]

Just read up about this! Grenada only had the superior goal difference (of +2) because they themselves had beaten Puerto Rico "2-0" in the previous match because of a double-point golden goal!

So, if you ignore any extra time period and ignore that every match required a winner (for some reason), and the fact that, therefore, Barbados wouldn't have scored the deliberate own goal, then the table would have looked like this;

W D L GF GA GD Pts
Puerto Rico 1 1 0 1 0 +1 4
Barbados 1 0 1 2 2 0 3
Grenada 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1



Puerto Rico would have therefore gone through to the 'Final Tournament'

It gets weirder though....

In group 4, Dominica progressed, but only after beating Saint Kitts & Nevis using the same 2-point extra time malarky. If the game between them had finished a draw (as it was 2-2 at full time), then Saint Kitts & Nevis would have been ahead of Dominica on goal difference. However, (and to add to the weirdness) there was still one more game each in their group to be played, yet seemingly the game between Saint Kitts & Nevis never went ahead (?), whilst the game between Dominica and Monserrat was cancelled because of crowd trouble! So who knows how that would have actually panned out there!?

In the 'Final Tournament' the absurd rules were seemingly abolished, and the organisers reverted to a '3 points for a win, 1 for a draw' system that was the standard practise before they got creative. In the 1st round of the 'Final Tournament' there were 2 groups of 4 teams made up of the 6 group 'winners', the hosts, Trinidad & Tobago, and the previous winners, Martinique, with the top 2 teams in each group progressing to the Semi Final.

In a final piece of irony, the Final ended up being played between Martinique and Trinidad & Tobago, the only 2 teams not to have played in the madness of the Qualifying Tournament, which rendered the whole thing pointless in the first place!

[CamD]

I can’t think of the amount of memes this would generate if it happened in modern times

[LafayetTheAwesomeOne]

You guys will want to talk about the 1998 F1 British Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher was leading the race in the last laps, when he was given a 10-second stop&go penalty for lapping another driver despite yellow flags (or under the safety car, I can't remember), and, at that point of the race, serving his whole penalty would have meant for Schumacher to lose too much time and to end up behind title-contender Mika Hakkinen (his advantage was bigger than just 10 seconds, but you know, in the pit lane you're not allowed to drive faster than a certain speed).
But in F1, you have to serve your penalty within three laps from being told to do so, so his team (Ferrari) called him in on the very last lap of the race. Schumacher did enter the pit lane to serve his penalty, but in doing so he crossed the finish line (which extends across the pit lane) before reaching his pit box and won the race without having served his penalty.
There were no rules forbidding this smart move (and no time for Schumacher to serve his penalty earlier due to a late communication by the race directors), so McLaren's (Hakkinen's team) appeal ended up being useless.
Definitely the story of a weird rule!

I guess online you can find more even information about that episode :)

[CarpenterStateOfTheArt]

I also find it weird, that there was overtime in the group stage. Normally if the final score is 2:2, it's just a tie...

[Cocaustic]

So logically he's the only football player who celebrated after conceding own goal.

[justsomerandomguy]

Barbados: *scores own goal
Grenada: haha what are they thinking
Barbados: my goal is beyond your understanding

[spacebar]

Scoring as Grenada is actually harder than it seems. They don't get the ball at kickoff. Barbados scored an own goal, so they get to kick off. So Grenada has 3 minutes to not only score a goal, but take the ball first.

Im sad they got rid of this rule. Would love it if the last 5 minutes of a champions league match went down like this. It wouldnt be fair, but it sure would be fun.