South Africa needed a win against Ethopia on Sunday night to ensure they progressed to the third round of CAF 2014 World Cup qualification. With the score at 1-1 in Addis Ababa, Bafana Bafana forward Bernard Parker rose to the occasion and connected with a free kick to score a powerful long-range header. It showed superb technique, but an unfortunate lack of directional awareness, as the header ended up in his own net.

Parker's own goal gave Ethiopia three points and an unassailable lead at the top of CAF Group A, effectively ending the 2010 host's chances of making it to Brazil next summer.

However, there is still a slim glimmer of hope for the South Africans, as FIFA are investigating Ethiopia (and two other African teams) for using an ineligible player earlier in the tournament.

If found guilty of fielding a fraud in their 2-1 win over Botswana, the Ethiopians will have three points taken away, which will give Bernard Parker another chance to dash his nation's World Cup dreams with an

(Getty)

On Saturday, the 2013 Confederations Cup will kick off at the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha in Brasilia, as Brazil take on Japan in the opener of the meaningless much-anticipated eight-team tournament (see our instructional guide to caring about it here).

It's a precursor to the World Cup Finals that will be hosted in the South American country one year from now, and while excitement around the world grows for the upcoming football festivities, the majority of locals seem far less enthused.

There is growing unrest concerning ticket prices that few Brazilians can afford, and a fear that the costly infrastructure of the event will leave Brazil deeply in debt while FIFA pockets huge profits. "The World Cup contributes nothing to society. It's just for the elite," said a disgruntled fan recently interviewed in a revealing article by The Guardian.

The feeling of disaffection spilled out onto the streets on Friday, as around 200 protestors blocked roads and burned tires outside the stadium that will host the Confederations Cup opener this weekend.

At any given point, Brendan Rodgers is only an impromptu acoustic guitar ballad away from completely turning into David Brent. Nowhere is this more obvious than the latest episode of Liverpool FC's whacky online series 'Kop Kids', in which the manager is interviewed by a nine-year-old fan.

To be fair, Brent-an is a very good sport in the interview, in which he admits the that Luis Suarez is his "naughtiest" player. This will surprise absolutely no one, but seeing as the Uruguayan is very unhappy with his victimization in the English-speaking media, it may not have been the most diplomatic thing for his own manager to say on camera.

He is most stumped by the question: "If I gave you £5, what would you buy and why?" After mulling it over, he jokingly quips that he would save the money. But of course, all the adults watching know that when Rodgers is given some cash, his favorite thing to do is waste it on Joe Allen.

The recent Romanian fourth division match between Chişoda and Sânnicolaul Mare was just like any other Romanian fourth division match, right up until the point where special forces police invaded the pitch and forced everybody to lay on the ground while they looked for a suspected criminal.

According to Yahoo! Romania, the masked police were looking for a gang leader named Sorin Udrea, who has played for Chişoda this season. He is wanted for a number of crimes, including match fixing, and was recently in a bar brawl involving several large knives — one of which appeared to be protruding from a man captured on hospital security tapes.

A Portguese report of the incident on Maisfutebol explains that Udrea wasn't actually on the field when everybody was forced to hit the deck, but he was later found in the stands. He was arrested with four other gentleman, who do not look entirely happy in footage of their capture...

Feeling buoyant after Australia's resplendent 4-0 win over Jordan on Tuesday — which leaves the Socceroos three points away from automatic qualification to next year's World Cup Finals — manager Holger Osieck decided to treat journalists at a post-match press conference to the words of fourth-century archbishop St Ambrose: "Mulieres taceres in ecclesia."

Apropos of nothing, and with a large grin on his face, he translated the Latin phrase as "women should shut up in public."

The manager, who was Franz Beckenbauer's assistant when Germany won the World Cup in 1990, was still smirking when he claimed the quote would make him "the darling of all Australian wives," but the grin disappeared when he was forced to issue an apology. The Daily Mail reports:

'To everyone who may feel offended by that, I offer a sincere apology,' Osieck said today.

'It was off the record, it was more a funny remark.

'It was nothing against any women or whatever. Definitely just a complete misunderstanding.'

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For Franck Ribery, the best way to wind down after Bayern Munich's epic treble-winning season is to re-enact his favorite scenes from Miami Vice on his speedboat. Teammate Manuel Neuer, however, will spend the summer as a filmstar, as his voice acting talents have been utilized in Die Monster Uni, the German dubbing of Disney Pixar's Monsters University.

In the prequel to 2001's Monsters, Inc. — released on June 21st — the goalkeeper plays "Frightening" Frank McCay, a character portrayed by The Office star John Krasinski in the English language version. Judging by the super-scary monster impression he does in the trailer above, Neuer must have been a shoo-in for this role.

The German shot stopper isn't the first international football star to lend his voice to feature-length animation: last year Andres Iniesta was an albino pirate in the Spanish dubbing of Aardman's The Pirates!.

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Judging by his recent actions, Jose Jimenez of Argentinean lower league side Belle Vista is probably not a PETA member.

During a match in the Tucumán Province against San Juan, a playful stray dog entered the field of play. Jimenez decided the best course of action was to pick it up by its neck and attempt to hurl it over a metal fence, in the same angry fashion as one might throw a bag of burning trash bag into Piers Morgan's back yard.

The dog hit the fence and bounced back onto the field — apparently unharmed — but the shocking behavior was met with a torrent of abuse from the San Juan fans and a deserved red card.

The disgraced Jimenez may as well go and buy a meerkat fur coat and shoes made from otter paws, because his stock with animal rights activists couldn't be any lower right now...

(Instalazio Instagram)

Two weeks ago, Lazio defeated AS Roma in the Coppa Italia final at their shared home, the Stadio Olimpico.

Rather than immediately rub the victory into the faces of their fierce Rome rivals, Lazio fans showed the utmost pretend decorum and pseudo-respect by waiting until Saturday to stage a joke funeral procession, complete with play-acting priests and mock mourners...