Dog Hell Bent On Stealing Ball Brings Mexican Soccer Match To Screeching Halt

A soccer match in Mexico was interrupted when a rogue dog hopped onto the pitch and ran off with the ball.

It happened as Alebrijes de Oaxaca were taking on Dorados de Sinaloa. A Oaxaca player took a shot from close to the sideline, and as he did, there was suddenly a flash of brown fur from the side of the net.

Luckily for Sinaloa's goalkeeper, he was able to corral that shot without any trouble. No small feat considering it's hard to practice stopping shots while a stray dog comes flying onto the pitch.

After the goalkeeper tossed the ball aside, this pitch-going pup started playing around with it. Meanwhile, some staff member rushed to get the second-tier Mexican soccer game back under control.

The most amazing part of this video to me was how quick the person with the makeshift leash arrived on scene. They popped into frame at the 13-second mark of the video. Talk about quick reactions. Not sure how they were able to realize there was a dog, find a rope, then rush out onto the field in that time.

Impressive.

What was less impressive was a how handy they were with the leash at first. The dog proved to be too elusive and no one was able to rope it on the first pass. This gave the pooch time to pick up the ball and make everyone look even more ridiculous.

After taking a few victory laps around midfield, the dog was finally rounded up. Not by the leash person, but by one of the players.

Fortunately, after the onfield entertainment had wrapped up, Oaxaca tweeted out some photos of the dog and shared that he was doing fine.

"Our new best friend is fine and with us in Templo Alebrije after having debuted in @LigaMXExpansion," the team said, per ESPN. "Our new reinforcement went to undergo his medical tests to be officially loaned in the coming days."

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.