Pitch invading raccoon evades three males and a bin as followers love the escape artist
An unsuspecting racoon was the star of the show in the MLS on Wednesday evening.
Living up to the name of the most famous member of its species – Marvel’s Rocket the Raccoon – the trash panda ducked and weaved its way around steward’s futile attempts to remove it from the pitch.
Philadelphia Union and New York City FC’s game was delayed as the raccoon spent a record-breaking 161 seconds on the field before it was finally apprehended with the help of a bin. And football fans couldn’t get enough of the footage as it went viral on social media.
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to lock horns in a huge clash this month with each fighter attempting to etch their names in boxing history as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the pair will go head to head for the prestigious WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF titles.
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“This on its own makes an Apple MLS subscription worth it,” one fan joked. While a second said: “Even men with steel hearts love to see a, erm, raccoon on the pitch…”
“Chasing a raccoon around a giant field trying to catch it in a full size trash can while a sold out crowd of drunk sports fans watch and jeer sounds like a hyper-specific stress dream I would have,” a third replied. And another added: “Yes! Animals on sports fields is my favourite!”
What do you think of the raccoon evading security? Let us know in the comments section
(Image: @wrongsideofpond/X)
(Image: @wrongsideofpond/X)
Philadelphia Union said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the raccoon had been “put in good hands” with a pest control company and “safely released”.
The MLS’ social media accounts dubbed the raccoon ‘Raquinha’. And in a post on social media, they said: “Unofficially, Raquinho the Raccoon spent 161 seconds on the field tonight, which was the most by a raccoon in @MLS history!”
On the pitch, it was New York City who got the result as goals from Alonso Martinez and Hannes Wolf sent them into a 2-0 lead at the break. Philadelphia pulled one back in the second half, through Julian Carranza, but they were unable to find an equaliser.
