Brazil could be missing
two of its three 'R's'
SAITAMA, Japan – Brazil's feared attack of the "Three R's" is going to
be down a letter or two in the semifinals.
As Brazil prepares for its game against Turkey, the four-time champions
must figure out how to plug the gap in their suddenly depleted front
line.
Ronaldinho, the playmaking midfielder who was the star of the
quarterfinal victory over England, must sit out the semifinals because
of a questionable red card he got for a tackle. Another of the Rs, the
forward Ronaldo, is nursing a sore left thigh muscle that forced him out
of the game against England in the 70th minute.
Tests revealed no serious injury, but he will miss practice Sunday and
be re-examined Monday to see if he's fit to return.
That could reduce the Brazilian attack to a single R – the forward
Rivaldo, who has scored four goals in the tournament.
Germany appeals
Neuville's yellow card
ULSAN, South Korea – Germany has appealed to FIFA to annul the yellow
card given to striker Oliver Neuville in Friday's 1-0 quarterfinal win
against the United States.
The foul was committed by midfielder Jens Jeremies but was wrongly
attributed to Neuville by Scottish referee Hugh Dallas, the team said.
Spanish coach joins
referees' critics
GWANGJU, South Korea – Add Spain to the growing list of critics
condemning World Cup referees.
Coach Jose Antonio Camacho was furious at the ref and linesmen for
disallowing three goals Saturday before South Korea knocked Spain out of
the tournament in a penalty-kick shootout after a 0-0 tie.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said some linesmen were "a disaster," and
Pele, perhaps soccer's best player ever and now an ambassador for the
sport, said "the level of referees is very poor, very low."
RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, wants to sue FIFA for loss of
potential revenue, claiming the world body was negligent in appointing
referees.
Camacho said Italy, Mexico, Portugal and the United States all were on
the end of bad calls.
"We thought there was going to be more of a precaution to avoid this
from happening, but it appears FIFA isn't interested," Camacho said.
"There are too many games ending this way ... it isn't good for
football."
Italian fans crash
system with e-mails
YOKOHAMA, Japan – FIFA has received about 400,000 hateful e-mails from
Italy fans irate over refereeing they say was to blame for their team's
elimination from the World Cup.
FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said some of the e-mail was "virulent, some
quite abusive, some of them very threatening, some of them quite
disturbing."
The Internet traffic was so great that it crashed FIFA's e-mail system
server, he said Saturday.
The Italians complained about the officiating after they lost 2-1 to
Croatia, then after they were knocked out of the tournament in a 2-1
overtime loss to South Korea.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has acknowledged that some bad calls had
been made.
European Union summit
delays for soccer
SEVILLE, Spain – The start of the second day of the European Union
summit was delayed for an hour Saturday so the 15 leaders and many
hundreds of diplomats and journalists could watch summit host Spain play
South Korea in a World Cup quarterfinal.
"The Spanish told all delegations on Friday night the summit would not
resume on Saturday until 10 a.m.," EU spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.
"They gave no reason, but I think you can figure this out."
The Spain-South Korea game was shown live on scores of televisions in
the sprawling convention center where the mid-year EU summit was held.
