Horvath literally takes eyes off the ball as Cardiff suffers Burnley rout

Ethan Horvath and Cardiff City have not exactly gotten off to a good start in the 2024-25 Championship season.

The U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper made an embarrassing mistake in the early stages of the Bluebirds’ league clash at Burnley on Saturday, conceding the first goal in what turned into a 5-0 rout.

Cardiff City’s Championship schedule has 44 more fixtures left to play, and the Wales-based club will be hoping its first two outings are its worst back-to-back games of the season. After two rounds of play, the Bluebirds have lost twice, conceding seven times and scoring none.

At Turf Moor, the game seemed to be settling into a very normal rhythm in its first nine minutes, with the visitors regaining possession after a series of loose balls in the midfield.

Around 25 yards from goal, center back Dimitrios Goutas received a simple pass and turned to scan for his next option. With pressure arriving, the Greek defender changed his mind, and calmly played a slow roller back to Horvath for the kind of long clearance forward that is a universal occurrence in the sport.

Just one problem: as the pass arrived at his right foot, Horvath glanced upfield, losing track of the ball. The USMNT man didn’t get much (if any) of a touch, and Goutas’ pass carried on past Horvath, rolling over the line for a debacle of a goal.

“We conceded an unlucky goal. The mistake that happened with our goalkeeper,” Bluebirds manager Erol Bulut told reporters after the match. “This can happen, and we are fully behind Ethan. He has saved many goals for us in other games.”

Adding insult to injury, official Championship stat-keeping eventually ruled that the goal will go into the record books as a Horvath own goal.

Burnley would manufacture a goal of its own in the 31st minute, with U.S.-eligible winger Luca Koleosho getting on the scoresheet. For Cardiff, things only got worse, with Burnley scoring three second-half goals to turn the match into a blowout.

Cardiff City has eight days to sort itself out before its next match, a Welsh derby against Swansea.

Watch Horvath’s error for Cardiff City

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