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South Africa has finally realized that vuvuzelas are betting suited for use as weapons than for making music and so the country's top-flight league is now considering a ban on the popular noisemaker/beatin' stick. Though vuvuzelas are arguably more violent and harmful when used for their intended purpose, two recent incidents have brought league officials to warn of the end of the vuvuzela.

First, the plastic horns were thrown on the pitch, along with other objects, by disgruntled Orlando Pirates fans. A week later, a pitch invader tried to beat the referee with a vuvuzela during a match between Kaizer Chiefs and Golden Arrows. And now the buzz could be destined to end.

From Reuters:

Premier Soccer League (PSL) officials say that although they are not yet pursuing a ban, it has become a topic of conversation after a rise in incidents where the vuvuzela was used to cause harm.

"Our rules ban all dangerous weapons from matches," PSL general manager Derek Blanckensee told Reuters. "If

Like David Busst, Henrik Larsson and Kevin Ware before him, 19-year-old FK Željezničar Sarajevo midfielder Nermin Zolotić had the extreme misfortune of breaking his leg below the knee during Wednesday's Bosnia-Herzegovina Premier League match with HŠK Zrinjski Mostar.

Thankfully, surgery on his fractured left tibia was successful, and it looks like the hospital even allowed him to bring his Tigger-themed bed clothes...

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Even after losing to Man City at Old Trafford for the second year in a row, Manchester United still look certain to win their 20th domestic league title with a 12-point lead and just seven matches left to play. But as the Telegraph points out in a brief and strange little article, it could all go wrong, saving us from a boring end to the season that would make us weep over the routine inevitability of life that even infests our sources of entertainment. Here is the absolute worst way each remaining match could turn out...

Sunday, April 14 at Stoke
Having already announced his plans to retire at the end of the season, Michael Owen will be desperate to do whatever it takes to avoid relegation in his final campaign. Still bitter that Man United did not offer him a new contract in the offseason so his bench sitting could be rewarded with one last trophy, Owen will attempt to sprint across the pitch during the match. Unable to handle such exertion, his body will explode, taking out Man

Still dealing with a hamstring injury suffered during the first leg of Barcelona's Champions League quarterfinal against PSG, Lionel Messi did not start the second leg at the Camp Nou. This proved difficult for both Messi and his team as he squirmed on the bench and PSG took a 3-2 aggregate lead when Javier Pastore scored in the 50th minute.

Would Messi be forced to sit and watch his side be vanquished from the Champions League in just the quarterfinals like some kind of nightmare in which he doesn't exist and ice cream tastes like the backseat of a taxi cab? No. With Barcelona getting desperate, Messi was put on for Cesc Fabregas in the 62nd minute and the team's confidence immediately ballooned. Pedro scored an equalizer in the 71st minute that gave the advantage back to Barcelona on away goals and PSG's elimination was a certainty from there.

""Messi's introduction really helped the team, he gave us strength," said Pedro after the match. Here's a photographic journey through Messi's evening...

The tenth edition of the AFC Cup — the competition run by the Asian Football Confederation for domestic clubs in 'developing nations' — has run into controversy following Tuesday evening's meeting Hong Kong's Sun Hei SC and Indonesian visitors Persibo Bojonegoro.

Following a 3-3 draw in Indonesia last week (see video above), Persibo travelled to the return leg at Sun Hei's Mong Kok Stadium and found themselves 8-0 down after 39 minutes. Rather than risk a record-breaking defeat in the second half, the Indonesian Premier League apparently resorted to very unsportsmanlike tactics. The South China Morning Post reports:

With Sun Hei looking set to rack up their best score in international competition, Persibo players started falling like skittles after minimal contact with their opponents until they only had six players on the pitch. Seven is the minimum a side can continue playing with and referee Chaiya Mahapab of Thailand was left

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In the Champions League for the first time in the club's history and facing a one-year ban from UEFA competitions for financial troubles, Malaga took a 2-1 lead over Borussia Dortmund into injury time. It would've been a tremendous upset for a side that had to sell off Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal, but Dortmund provided a shock of their own by going on to score twice in two minutes to advance the semifinals with a goal that could've easily been disallowed for being offside (for the record, Malaga's second could've too).

It was a cruel end to a grueling series of events for Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini, who stoically navigated his own personal sadness that went far behind lost matches or his club's financial constraints. Over the weekend, the 59-year-old flew from Spain to his native Chile for his father's funeral. Though he learned of his father's passing before Saturday's match against Real Sociedad, he only told his captains after completing his post-match press conference. The

When Cristiano Ronaldo scored just eight minutes into Real Madrid's Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Galatasaray it seemed the result was a foregone conclusion. Real Madrid carried over a 3-0 lead from the first leg in Spain, so the final 82 minutes of the tie could've easily devolved into something even worse than an free information session on ski resort time shares.

But Galatasaray had other plans. Eager to salvage a bit of self-respect in front of their home crowd, they scored three goals in the second half to take a 3-1 on the night and push the aggregate score to just 4-3 in Madrid's favor. The third goal was enough to give Madrid a sinking feeling all on its own as Didier Drogba showed that he's still capable of a bit of magic on a European night with a dazzling backheel off a Nordin Amrabat cross that was perfectly placed in the far corner of the net.

Galatasaray's impossible comeback wasn't meant to be, though. Ronaldo finished them off with a second goal

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Borussia Dortmund came back from being down 2-1 at home in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal against Malaga to overturn what would've been a massive upset with two goals in stoppage time. Marco Reus scored in the first minute of injury time to make it 2-2, but Dortmund still trailed on away goals. In the second minute of injury time, Felipe Santana tapped in the winner at the goal line to put the German side through to the semifinals (video of all goals here).

The photo above captures the disparity of emotions on the decisive goal as Malaga keeper Wilfredo Caballero and defender Vitorino Antunes both had front-row seats for their devastation. Santana was widely accused of being offside before scoring -- an accusation that was also made against Malaga's Eliseu when he scored his side's second goal. But both neither was disallowed and you can probably guess which one Malaga president Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani is most upset about.