WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : FIFA Gets Tough on Rough Play : Soccer: Bolivia’s Etcheverry, Spain’s Nadal out for rest of first round after getting red cards in first games. Spain to appeal.
In a move leaving little doubt that rough play will not be tolerated during World Cup ‘94, a soccer disciplinary panel Sunday suspended key players from Bolivia and Spain for the rest of the first round.
Marco Etcheverry of Bolivia and Miguel Nadal of Spain must sit out two games after each was ejected for bruising tackles in separate matches during the opening day of the World Cup on Friday.
Although the harsh sanctions were not a surprise, they signaled a departure from the past, when players were suspended for one game after drawing a red-card ejection.
In following an edict of executives of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, the panel members sent a strong message to defenders who are used to killing scoring opportunities by tripping attackers.
“We want to crack down on violent action,” said Joseph Blatter, general secretary of FIFA.
The disciplinary panel, meeting at FIFA headquarters in Irving, also ruled that two yellow-card warnings for one player during first-round matches would result in automatic one-game suspensions.
But it was the suspensions that ignited the World Cup’s first major controversy as Spanish and Bolivian officials fumed over the severity of the penalties.
Coach Javier Clemente of Spain said in Chicago that the team will appeal Nadal’s suspension although he holds out little hope of getting the decision overturned.
“When referees become the principal argument in the game, then it’s goodby to soccer,” Clemente said. “A lot of the referees don’t have enough knowledge about the new regulations. There is a psychosis with tackles and not all the referees apply the rules in the same way,”
Nadal said the ruling was painful.
“I did not intend to make the foul,” he said. “I’ve played only 26 minutes and for my first foul in the match I might get thrown out of the World Cup.”
Xavier Azkargorta, Bolivia’s coach, said in Boston that Etcheverry deserved no more than a one-game suspension. Team officials said they would not appeal.
“It wasn’t real aggression,” Azkargorta said. “It’s true he kicked him, but not so hard.”
Even though Bolivia and Spain will play with 11 men in their next games, the suspensions might affect their chances of reaching the second round from Group C. Etcheverry, who recently returned from a knee injury, is Bolivia’s star scorer. Nadal, a versatile midfielder, is Spain’s captain.
The Bolivian and Spanish soccer federations also were fined $3,570 on Sunday, the minimum under the rules for a red card.
Etcheverry was ejected in the Cup opener against Germany in Chicago after he tried to kick Lothar Matthaeus, Germany’s captain. Later in Dallas, Nadal drew a red card when he tackled Kim Joo-sung from behind as the South Korean raced alone toward Spain’s goal.
