5 players who you never thought would dive but do

I cannot seem to understand how a professional foul is considered a mark of sharpness, tactical ingenuity and showered with phrases like taking one for the team, while diving, a similarly cunning ploy, is pelted with so much criticism. Diving or any form of simulation in football evokes a certain disdain that fans reserve for the lowliest of crime on a football pitch.While some players seek to dive in order to gain advantage in a crunch situation game, others are touted as serial divers, who have slowly gained repute for their feigning ways. Reputation is a big deal here. Ashley Young, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Busquets and the likes have slowly been stereotyped as divers and are abuses; while as earlier stated they are not the only one doing it (albeit their frequency and frivolity in doing it, like this recent dive by Luis Fabiano).These are bad guys in fans opinion, but what about the good ones? What if they dive? And trust me they do dive. Here is a list of gentlemen (not in truest sense of the word, considering we have Pepe in the list) of the game who you might not expect to dive but have done so.

#5 Wayne Rooney

“You would not see an Englishman dive, diving as a culture is foreign to the English Game”. Such platitudes have been proven wrong time and again. None other than the most “English” of English strikers, Wayne Rooney has been doing his bit in dispelling such myths and that too in a comprehensive way.

Right from the game against Arsenal that saw Manchester United end the Gunners’ invincible run a decade or so ago, thanks to a young Rooney’s dive induced penalty, to the latest case of “admitting” to the Preston goalkeeper that he had dived for a penalty.

Rooney has been known for his work rate, team play and his ability to fight till the last minute. But that does not absolve him for his diving; neither should his full blooded Englishness. Despite all his talent, Rooney has been found guilty of diving proving that the game has its own set of sly tactics and players regardless of their nationality are bound to use them rather than take the high road.

Fast forward to the 5:00 mark to see the dive.

#4 Pepe

Pepe is one of those players whose reputation precedes him. With countless on field incidents to his name and his pugnacious and boisterous behaviour, you can expect something or the other when he is on the pitch. The Portuguese defender and his loco ways may prompt the opposing strikers to dive, but time and again the 6’2” centre back has shown that he isn’t far behind when it comes to putting up a theatrical performance.

It is one thing to see strikers being fouled, go to ground easily, but defenders are a different breed. They are not ones to be associated with or maligned for diving. Perhaps taking a cue from Marco Materazzi, Pepe has been able to charter the unchartered territories here. The incidents are plenty, like the one when he got tripped by an opponent and went on a solo performance so intense that he kicked out at his own teammate, Alvaro Arbeloa.

Or the Madrid Derby that showed how creative he could be. A feud on the pitch that does not involve Pepe? Can’t be. So with so much pushing and shoving going on in the melee what did Pepe do when subjected to insinuations from his opposite number Diego Godin? He falls over holding his face. Perhaps a personal homage to the Materazzi-Zidane incident, done to perfection.

Bonus: Pepe, like always, adorning the Clasico in his own style. This time by throwing a fit after not getting any attention to his dive.

#3 Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard will no doubt be remembered as one of those cornerstones to Chelsea and their success in the past decade or so. Due to his English lineage, Lampard is seen as not that kind of player who would go down with a dive. He has actually got a pretty clean charge sheet when it comes to misconduct on the pitch, but this hard working midfielder too has indulged in the “darker” arts of simulations and diving.

Pretty recently, we saw him going down easily in the box against Tottenham for his surrogate club Manchester City. Though the incident did not garner much of the spotlight, it was evident enough that the midfielder had taken a dive and was consequential enough to change the balance of the game.

Another high profile game, this time the FA Cup final of 2009 saw him go down blatantly in Everton’s penalty box. Decision? Yellow card. But not much was made out of it. Level playing field in the most popular football league in the world? Not sure.

#2 Lionel Messi

Keeping all the champagne football and the tiki-taka aside, Barcelona have also gained repute in being sly and manipulative when it comes to extracting fouls and play acting. The notoriety may be due to players like Neymar and Sergio Busquets, who has more than once been guilty of making a meal of a push/shove and peek-a-boo-ing his way to the ground crying.

But this has still left Lionel Messi unscathed. Messi for most is a genius and an honest guy. People would swear by the fact that the Argentinean magician has so much in his locker that he may not need the handicap of diving and play acting. But like every modern day player, Messi too has given in to diving when the opportunity arose. Like this game against Real Sociedad, this saw him getting booked for simulation.

Another one was against his compatriot D’Alessandro. That had the latter red carded for a purported head-butt. Agreed that riding the waves of tackles he receives is more his style than diving whenever possible, but having a halo around his head for being the most earnest player on the planet is too delusional a thought.

#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

‘Zlatan doesn’t do auditions’, but Zlatan does dive. ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic and diving do not go together’ would be everyone’s first impression. He evokes an image filled with bravado and to think that the Swedish striker could ever go doubling over his large frame in order to dupe a referee is unthinkable. What about all those ads about daring to Zlatan? Sadly, as daring as the PSG striker may be, he too has been suspect to diving on more than one occasion.

First is this blatant tumbling over under zero or minimum contact during his spell with AC Milan against Bologna. The game was such that Zlatan had to conjure up something. With the scores tied up at 1-1 and a draw on the horizon, Zlatan saw it as a better option to dive and get a penalty. After the game, even Milan coach Allegri admitted to the Swede’s dive.

More recently, Ibrahimovic again “went down easily” against Reims. He earned the penalty, but missed! Karma, perhaps. But again a reminder of how even the most infallible of players can resort to diving when the need arises.