Coach of Colombia Kicks Off Asprilla

Star forward Faustino Asprilla was kicked off the Colombian World Cup team for the rest of the tournament Wednesday, his punishment for publicly criticizing Coach Hernan Dario Gomez.

“He took himself out of the team with his behavior,” Gomez said.

Gomez said he took the drastic step because Asprilla “broke the rules we had established” when he criticized the coach and some teammates in a radio interview.

Asprilla, who had no comment Wednesday, claimed Gomez had a group of “preferred” players and that he “disrespected” him when he took him out of Colombia’s 1-0 loss to Romania on Monday with five minutes remaining.

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Iranian exiles are threatening to disrupt the U.S.-Iran game Sunday, adding a new dimension to an event already surrounded by political and cultural sideshows.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said his office received correspondence from groups opposed to the Islamic government in Tehran, who said there would be trouble at the match in Lyon.

“We have received more-or-less anonymous letters from groups of exiled Iranians who say they will do something to disrupt the match to show what is going on in their country,” Blatter said.

He declined to identify the groups or say if any specific type of action was threatened.

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While British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged employers of his country to fire or discipline hooligans involved in violence at the World Cup, French authorities geared up for more potential trouble.

“We condemn without any reservation or qualification that mindless minority who do nothing but bring disgrace on themselves and on the name of our country abroad,” Blair said during a debate in the House of Commons.

Blair called on businesses to “take strong action against those people that are convicted of football offenses abroad” in the aftermath of running battles between English hooligans, rival fans and police in Marseille.

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Three people, including a consultant for a subsidiary of the World Cup’s marketing agency, were arrested in an investigation into ticket fraud.

The arrests came after more than 12,000 Japanese fans were left ticketless for the World Cup.

Police arrested Gilles Favard, the consultant for ISL France, at his home Monday in the upscale western Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, said a police official, who requested anonymity.

Investigators found a large amount of cash and about 100 World Cup tickets at the home of the consultant.

Also arrested were Favard’s sister and a friend believed to have helped the consultant sell tickets by fax.

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Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert reportedly elbowed a Belgian defender after being called “a rapist.”

After initially saying he wouldn’t discuss the matter, Kluivert told a Dutch newspaper that Lorenzo Staelens called him a rapist, prompting Kluivert to first wave his finger at the Belgian, then elbow him in the chest.

That action prompted a two-game suspension for Kluivert.

Kluivert was accused last June in an alleged gang rape with a group of friends of a woman they picked up outside an Amsterdam night club. Police investigated the incident but decided against prosecuting the case in February because of insufficient evidence.