And The Oscar goes to ...Top 5 Dives that Changed History

• The diving scourge has taken new heights and is now threatening the credibility of the sport. In this post, we will highlight a few of such dives that had huge impact on the course of history.

In no particular order.

1. Rudy Voeller

Italia '90 was the first world cup final to see a red card given.  But many would remember it for the alleged dive by Rudi Voeller that won the penalty for Germans. Their opponents, Argentina, led by the mercurial Diego Maradona had resorted to plan "B"- Hyper negative football, at some stage in the competition, when their previous free-flowing style that won the World cup in Mexico'86 was not getting them the results. Brazil, and the hosts, Italy, were victims of such negative game play.

2. Rooney -Ending the Arsenal 49 Unbeaten 

The Invincibles went to Old Trafford hoping to persevere their unbeaten run and they would have; in a fair fight. What they got on that the day, was the one of the ugliest premiership matches from a Man. United team that were hell bent on ending that run, especially  after discovering that Arsenal players had "50" printed t-shirts underneath their jersey.

3. Porto Team ,2003

The Jose Mourinho led Porto team  rolled, huff and puffed throughout the 90 minutes plus extra-time to ensure that there was no fluidity in their opponents' game. It was the UEFA Cup final with everything to play for or as seen during the game, not to play for.

4. Barcelona vs Jose Morinho

Mourinho was on the receiving this time around, in the semi-final of the  UEFA Champions League, against probably the best footballing team in the last decade. In fact, Jose Morinhno once said he anticipates playing with one man down against Barcelona, that he prepares for it in training. 

5. England vs Argentina

Beckham's red card in the world cup against Argentina to some, was justified. But his retaliation would not have been punished if the Argentinian player had not made the most of it.