Paphos People

Serie A team scores after dropping shorts

ROME (AP) - Serie A side Catania has come up with a creative way to score from a free kick: block the goalkeeper's vision by having players drop their shorts down in a wall.

The Sicilian team carried out the maneuver to perfection when Giuseppe Mascara scored in Sunday's 3-2 win over Torino.

Three Catania players dropped their shorts down near their knees so Torino goalkeeper Matteo Sereni couldn't see Mascara's kick.

"This is a strategy that (Catania coach Walter) Zenga tries continually in training," the club's chief executive Pietro Lo Monaco told RAI state radio Monday.

Former referees coordinator Paolo Casarin called the move "unsportsmanlike and in bad taste.

"It's a trick that should not be tolerated anymore by the referees," Casarin said.

Lo Monaco responded, "A trick? I wouldn't say so. It's up to the referee to decide if it should be penalized, otherwise I don't see where the problem is....Good taste is relative."