By Sunday morning,Wood’s failure had been picked up by dozens of football content aggregators and reached millions of eyeballs across the world. “MISS OF THE CENTURY CONTENDER,” popular US podcast Men in Blazers called it. Graham Arnold,just returned from an Asian Cup that once againexposed the Socceroos’ lack of striking options,must have let out an enormous sigh.

Yet it wasn’t even the craziest thing to happen on Saturday.

Two earlier matches were postponed for ludicrous reasons. In the A-League Women,Sydney FC’s match against Melbourne City was delayed by half an hour because their team bus went to the wrong venue.

In the A-League Men,Wellington Phoenix’s clash with Western United was pushed back by 15 minutes due to what were officially described as “unforeseen circumstances.” United had brought the wrong kit with them from Melbourne,forcing the Phoenix’s kit man to leave the stadium and drive half an hour to the club’s headquarters to grab an alternative uniform.

The APL says it is investigating. “We’ve made a mistake,obviously,” said coach John Aloisi,whose side is anchored to the bottom of the table,eight points adrift of their nearest rivals. “Not sure what happened there.”

On the field,Melbourne Victory’s undefeated run finally ended with a 1-0 defeat at home to Macarthur FC,while Brisbane Roar engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in Australian domestic league history.

Having been smashed 8-1 by Melbourne City just after Christmas,they returned fire with a stunning 5-1 victory – four goals coming in the first half and the fifth in the first minute of the second half. Like Wood’s miss,nobody saw it coming.

For all of its flaws,the A-League remains incredibly entertaining.

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