11 Most Ridiculous Excuses For Losing Football Matches

7. "Collective Trauma" & Nike

Brazil's odd implosion in the World Cup final of 1998 remains one of the biggest "unsolved mystery" in world football history. Because the side were so good on their journey to the final, there was no possible way that their defeat at the hands of hosts France could possibly have been down to anything other than voodoo black magic and witchcraft, or perhaps a high-level world government conspiracy orchestrated by shady masonic corporations. As the infamous story goes, talismanic 21 year striker Ronaldo suffered a mystery seizure ahead of the game that saw him frothing at the mouth and beating himself about the head and body (a similar sight to Cheick Tiote's on-pitch emotional range) and was withdrawn from the starting line-up, only to be reinstated not long later after medical tests by what could only be the most ludicrously uncaring medical staff to work in sport. Inevitably, his performance was terrible, and Brazil fell at the final hurdle, before mounting a full scale investigation. Ultimately, the influence of warlocks was ruled out, with boss Mario Zagallo blaming the loss on the collective trauma of his side witnessing Ronaldo's odd illness, before some Brzilians - rallied by communist congressman ldo Rebelo - blamed Nike for forcing Ronaldo to play for commercial reasons. So what makes the revelations so ridiculous? The fact that Ronaldo doesn't really see what all the fuss was about, to the point that he has apparently mostly forgotten about the entire affair:

"Everyone keeps on reminding me of 1998 but I don't know why. I keep on forgetting it and have no problem with it. I am just finding tranquillity to play a good game, and to bring the title to Brazil."