New York Red Bulls had to print an outfield shirt mid-match to sub a goalkeeper for a defender in Tuesday's US Open Cup defeat to Cincinnati.
With the Round of 16 clash heading to penalties after the two sides couldn't be separated at 1-1 after 120 minutes of football, Bulls manager Troy Lesesne decided to sub on regular first-team goalkeeper Carlos Coronel for defender Matthew Nocita.
And the club had to print an outfield shirt mid-match for the 26-year-old goalkeeper to wear for him to enter the field of play. The shot-stopper had a Coronel No1 shirt printed in the club shop and came on wearing the Bulls' famous red colours as opposed to his normal goalkeeper stripes.
The tactical thinking behind the switch is unclear, as Coronel did not step up to take a penalty in the end, with the Bulls being defeated 3-5 from the spot. Perhaps Coronel was going to be the Bulls' fifth penalty-taker.
Taking Cincinnati to penalties wasn't a terrible result for the Bulls in the grand scheme of things, with the team sitting top of the MLS Eastern Conference after 13 games played. Cincinnati has been defeated just once, which has helped them stay ten places above Tuesday's opponents, the Bulls.
NYRB find themselves in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference, but not for losing most of their games - but drawing. The Bulls have won three, drawn a whopping seven, and lost four, seeing them collect 16 points from 14 games played. A few wins could fire them into Play-Off or final series contention, though.
The Bulls have two tough fixtures coming up as they travel to Western Conference No2 seed, the Seattle Sounders at the weekend. A trip to Miami on June 1 will follow to face Phil Neville's middle-of-the-pack side.
Neville will be hoping that his team shows the fighting spirit he's showing off the pitch, after exploding on a reporter who interrupted his answer during a press conference. Miami lost 3-1 in Major League Soccer to rivals Orlando City at home on Sunday.
"Can I finish speaking? Or are you going to interrupt? Can I finish speaking? Ok," Neville said angrily to the journalist. "Because I didn't interrupt your question, so don't interrupt mine. Show some f*****g respect. Sorry for the language. So the... Sorry, what was the question? Ask me the question again, please."
