Anyone late to their seats for Tanzania’s game with Madagascar on Tuesday might well have missed one of the fastest-awarded penalties in football history after the referee pointed to the spot after just FIVE SECONDS of play.
Players from both sides barely had time to register the fact that the match had started when Tanzania launched a long ball towards the Madagascar penalty area which seemed to catch the defence cold.
Simon Msuva, though, was quickest to react to the confusion at the heart of the Madagascar defence, prodding the ball past the goalkeeper at the edge of area – only for the Madagascar ‘keeper to react by quite literally barging directly into Msuva, and prompting the referee to issue what might well be the fastest penalty ever awarded in international soccer – something which will quite likely be confirmed or denied by football statistician boffins in the coming hours.
Erasto Edward Nyoni subsequently converted the spot-kick to give Tanzania an early advantage in a game that they ended up winning 3-2.
Initial estimates suggest this will be in the running for the quickest-ever penalty in international football.
A quick delve into the record books shows that Montenegro were given a penalty just 10 seconds into a match with Ghana in 2014, while at club level a game between Hamburg and Paderborn in Germany saw a penalty awarded after eight seconds.
“No time wasted!” wrote one fan in response to the clip, while a perhaps slightly bitter Scottish football fan wrote that this is a regular occurrence in games involving Rangers.
“That’s nothing, Rangers get awarded a penalty before the game kicks off, just up to ref when he decides to let them take it,” they wrote.
A third, though, suggested that there might have been something untoward with such a quick penalty being given in the game.
“And a betting syndicate became extremely rich!” they joked.
