Soccer star' fancy moves backfires

Robben puts his World Cup in doubt by being fancy

By Carter Daly

Arjen Robben Limps Off Injured During Netherlands Friendly Against Hungary

And the hits just keep coming.

As Brian put it so eloquently yesterday, the World Cup is cursed. No two ways about it. The latest star to (possibly) fall victim to the curse: none other than Mr. Glass Legs himself, Dutch star Arjen Robben. The Netherlands dominated their friendly against Hungary today, sparked by a Robben brace for a 6-1 thrashing of their opponents just hours before they would board the plane for South Africa.

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However, in the 86th minute with the victory already well in hand, Robben attacked from the right and attempted to lay off a cheeky backheel pass for the overlapping run, unnaturally planting his vaunted left leg and effectively tripping himself on the way to sustaining a serious hamstring injury. Robben didn't fly out to South Africa after the match with the rest of the squad, as he went straight to the hospital for medical testing.

While he hasn't officially been ruled out yet, according to Goal.com, it doesn't sound promising:

    "Dutch boss Bert Van Marwijk says: "It doesn't look too good with Robben"

    Robben was helped to the dressing room by Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt.

    Van Marwijk said: "What my thoughts were when I saw Robben? This can't be true! I thought about this a few times the last weeks. Actually it went very good. And then this happened.

    "I think it was an unnatural move of Robben. He felt a kind of a stitch. I think it will be bad."

The curse claims another victim.

Honestly, I know it was an unfortunate accident, but why he had to try to show off?

You are winning 6-1, it is 4 minutes to the end of the match, and then it is off to the World Cup .... you just relax and call it quits.

Why to try to force an unnecessary move? Just to show that he is the coolest? yeah, sure. Talk abour hubris.

I imagine what Robben is thinking now: "Yeah, I show them that I am the coolest one"

I have this strange feeling that this world cup is going to be the worst ever. Many talented players are not there due to injuries or elimination from the squad. The South Africa preparation looks inexperienced. Many players didn't like the new official ball. And from watching the friendly matches I was disappointed with most of the national teams performance. Like Spain and France.