PERHAPS Will Ferrell would be better suited to football as a midfield Anchorman.
And certainly his thinking was outside the box when the co-owner of new club Los Angeles FC helped open their “£255million Banc of California Stadium.
The Hollywood star of Elf and Anchorman read out the LA team-sheet ahead of the 1-0 win over Seattle Sounders – but only included nine names.
Then he went onto the field, watched by a sell-out crowd of 22,000, to release a falcon.
Ferrell, 50, owns the Major League Soccer club along with basketball legend Magic Johnson and Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan.
But maybe he fancies himself as a managerial tactician too.
That is because his first big decision was to list a shortened “XI” on Fox Sports and joke: “We’re only playing with nine today.”
The Mail report that he introduced USA under-23 keeper Tyler Miller as “a rangy 6’4 and only eats chicken before game days”.
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And 23-year-old midfielder Mark Anthony-Kaye was described as “our lone Canadian on the team – you’ve got to have one Canadian.”
In fact former Louisville star Anthony-Kaye has six caps for Canada.
The special day even had a movie-style ending
Laurent Ciman beat the Seattle wall with a free-kick in stoppage-time for the only goal.
LAFC, managed by former USA and Swansea chief Bob Bradley, are now second in the Western Conference.
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Their ex-Arsenal and Real Sociedad striker Carlos Vela, 29, said: “‘Maybe the game was not the most fun to watch, but in the end, we won.
“We played really hard from the back, and we scored in the last minute. Everybody was enjoying it.
“All the people were waiting for this moment. It was a great day.”
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