Animals

A macaque monkey (fun fact: the most widespread primate genus aside from humans) delivered the match ball in a Japanese J-League match over the weekend while threaded out in full Cerezo Osaka kit. The monkey attempted a brief session of free styling before picking up the football and delivering it to the referee.

It’s not as riveting as War for the Planet of the Apes, but you do get the feeling that an evolved chimpanzee like Caesar would absolutely hate something like this.

Defending, on the face of it, is a pretty animalistic art. Without a doubt, there are a myriad of subtleties to transform it into a fine art, but you still won’t get very far as a defender without being physical and instinctive. You’ve got to have the appetite for getting stuck in and crunching — you’ve got to mark your territory with blood, sweat and piss. 

You'll forgive us if, for a little bit during Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg's Bundesliga clash Sunday, our attention was taken away from the actual soccer being played.

You see, there was a ladybug. FOX Sports 1 analyst Eric Wynalda was particularly fixated by the little insect.

A dog running on the field is pretty much the best event possible in a soccer match. It's fun, and you don't have to be stressed about the outcome of the game for a little bit. You can just be like "hey there's a good dog" and revel in the dog's goodness until someone herds it off the field.

A match in Argentina was interrupted by a particularly lively dog that ran around and chased the ball while even the players looked on, pleasantly entertained.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE.