Hoof it up field: Colombia bests Brazil in sheep football World Cup final

Men pose with their team of sheep dressed with the jerseys of Brazil’s football team before a Colombia vs Brazil football sheep match in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. The match was part of the International Poncho Day, celebrated every year in this region of central Colombia where local craftsmen make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

Shepherds herd their sheep, dressed in jerseys of Brazil’s and Colombia’s football team colours, during a sheep football match in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. The match was part of the International Poncho Day, celebrated every year in this region of central Colombia where local craftsmen make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

A shepherd dressed his animals with jerseys of Colombia’s national football team before a Colombia vs. Brazil football sheep match in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. The match was part of the International Poncho Day, celebrated every year in this region of central Colombia where local craftsmen make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

A shepherd stands next to sheep dressed in the jerseys of Mexico’s national football team during the celebration of the International Poncho Day in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. Local craftsmen in this town in central Colombia make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

Farmers walk teams of sheep dressed in jerseys of Brazil’s, right, and Colombia’s football teams before a sheep football match in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. The match was part of the International Poncho Day, celebrated every year in this region of central Colombia where local craftsmen make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

A shepherd dresses one of his sheep in a Colombia national football team jersey before a Colombia vs. Brazil football sheep match in Nobsa, Colombia on Sunday. The match was part of the International Poncho Day, celebrated every year in this region of central Colombia where local craftsmen make sheep wool ponchos using ancestral techniques. AP Photo/Javier Galeano

Associated Press

NOBSA, Colombia // It was a not so baaad performance for Colombia’s wooly warriors.

To celebrate the country’s return to the World Cup after a 16-year absence, artisans in the high Andean town of Nobsa put on what they billed as the first football match played by sheep Sunday.

On one side, dressed in specially made yellow jerseys and red shorts for Colombia’s national colours, were 10 four-legged players each named in honour of one of the country’s top football talents. Their rivals represented powerhouse Brazil, which hosts the monthlong tournament beginning June 12.

Some 500 spectators cheered on the farmyard footballers, which were trained for two weeks to recognise and kick a foam football through a rustic goalpost made of wooden logs.

The hard work was little in evidence, though. Sheep are highly social animals, seeking safety from predators in large herds, and their shepherd handlers had to keep pulling on ropes tied to the animals’ necks to keep the bleating players scattered and moving so they wouldn’t end up munching lazily on what grass remained on the improvised pitch.

The final result was a 4-3 victory for Colombia, thanks to a goal in the final 50th minute by the mutton midfielder “James Rodriguez,” whose two-footed namesake plays for French club Monaco.

The publicity stunt was part of International Ruana Day, which every year honours local artisans who for centuries have been hand-spinning the poncho-like woolen wraps that are ideally suited to the region’s wet, mountainous climate more than 8,000 feet above sea level.

“The ruana is a global symbol, so it’s only natural that the sheep deserve to be honoured,” said Ramiro Barragan, Nobsa’s mayor.

Ruanas are traditionally worn in their natural black or brown colours.

But Barragana and many others in Nobsa were sporting shawls dyed pink Sunday. That’s the color of the leader jersey in the grueling, three-week Giro d’Italia bicycle race, which was won Sunday by Colombia’s newest sports hero, Nairo Quintana. Quintana, the son of peasant farmers, was raised in the nearby highland town of Combita.