{"id":10336,"date":"2025-10-14T01:09:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T01:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T01:09:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T01:09:58","slug":"giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant rat interrupts Wales vs. Belgium match, fans call it &#8216;great game&#8217; | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The World Cup qualifying match between Wales and Belgium was temporarily suspended after a rat unexpectedly appeared on the pitch at Cardiff City Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Bellamy&#8217;s side were struggling at 2-1 when the game was suspended in the 66th minute due to a head injury to one of the Belgians.<\/p>\n<p>But while the players had to wait for the rodent to come off the pitch before the match could resume, Wales fans had the chance to enjoy a moment of comedy during a grueling qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Substitute Brennan Johnson found himself having to guide a rat off the field as it ran toward a cameraman on the touchline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;I saw it all. Brennan Johnson escorting a rat off the pitch,&#8221; one spectator said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Joe Rodent&#8221; was a play on the name of Leeds United defender Joe Rodon, who scored the opening goal of the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The best thing about the game (in my opinion) was the rat,&#8221; another fan commented on social media shortly before Wales fell two points behind thanks to Kevin De Bruyne&#8217;s penalty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t believe I&#8217;ve ever seen Brennan Johnson chase a rat off the pitch,&#8221; said another surprised viewer.<\/p>\n<p>Rodon put Wales ahead early in the match, but the visitors hit back with two goals before half-time, leaving Wales with a big task.<\/p>\n<p>De Bruyne converted his second penalty of the night with 15 minutes remaining, further complicating matters for Bellamy&#8217;s side.<\/p>\n<p>But the one-sided cat-and-mouse game eventually came to a seemingly inevitable conclusion with Belgium winning 4-2.<\/p>\n<p>The defeat severely dented Wales&#8217; hopes of automatically qualifying for next year, leaving them reliant on results from other teams to climb out of the hole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2120908\/giant-rat-brings-wales-v-belgium-match-halt-fans-call-best-part\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Cup qualifying match between Wales and Belgium was temporarily suspended after a rat unexpectedly appeared on the pitch at Cardiff City Stadium. Craig Bellamy&#8217;s side were struggling at 2-1 when the game was suspended in the 66th minute due to a head injury to one of the Belgians. But while the players had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Giant rat interrupts Wales vs. Belgium match, fans call it &#039;great game&#039; | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giant rat interrupts Wales vs. Belgium match, fans call it &#039;great game&#039; | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The World Cup qualifying match between Wales and Belgium was temporarily suspended after a rat unexpectedly appeared on the pitch at Cardiff City Stadium. Craig Bellamy&#8217;s side were struggling at 2-1 when the game was suspended in the 66th minute due to a head injury to one of the Belgians. But while the players had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-14T01:09:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/\",\"name\":\"Giant rat interrupts Wales vs. Belgium match, fans call it 'great game' | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6487752.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-14T01:09:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6487752.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6487752.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/giant-rat-interrupts-wales-vs-belgium-match-fans-call-it-great-game-soccer-sports\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Giant rat interrupts Wales vs. Belgium match, fans call it &#8216;great game&#8217; | Soccer | Sports\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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