Roberto Carlos Is Accused of Elbowing Ref
Roberto Carlos is one of the world’s most renowned players, a World Cup winner with Brazil and a world and European championship winner with Real Madrid.
He is also now in potentially serious trouble with FIFA after allegedly assaulting Israeli referee Alon Yefet during the closing stages of Brazil’s 2-1 loss to Portugal on Saturday.
Yefet claims Roberto Carlos struck him with his elbow while protesting a foul Yefet had called against him and was subsequently red-carded.
“His attitude surprised me from the moment that I whistled for the free kick,” Yefet was quoted as saying Monday by Spain’s Marca newspaper. “He began to shout, to protest as he made his way toward me, and suddenly he hit me with his elbow.”
Roberto Carlos, who faces a lengthy ban that could keep him out of matches for Brazil, Real Madrid or both, denied any wrongdoing.
“I don’t see it as aggression as I keep hearing,” he told Marca. “I was, just like the rest of my team, telling the referee that it wasn’t a foul. Maybe I lost my temper because of the tension that accumulated during the match, but I didn’t go out to push him or head-butt him.”
Colombian Shirts
In a disciplinary move of dubious value and questionable inspiration, Colombia’s soccer league has banned players from pulling up their shirts during goal celebrations and revealing religious or personal messages scrawled on the T-shirts underneath.
“Players will be fined [a minimum of $560] if, in the moment they celebrate a goal, they lift up their shirt or take it off,” a league spokesman told Reuters.
“This is to offer protection to the sponsors of the teams [whose names are carried on the shirts].”
Ridsdale Quits Leeds
Amid a torrent of negative publicity, mounting debts and the threat of relegation, Peter Ridsdale resigned Monday as chairman of Leeds United of the English Premier League and was replaced by John McKenzie, the club’s second-largest shareholder.
Ridsdale has been under pressure since June, when Leeds fired David O’Leary as coach and replaced him with former England coach Terry Venables, who in turn was fired two weeks ago.
Venables and Ridsdale clashed frequently over the sale of such leading international players as Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United, Robbie Keane to Tottenham Hotspur and Robbie Fowler to Manchester City.
The sale of its top players to reduce debts of more than $120 million has left Leeds fifth from the bottom in the league and in danger of being demoted.
Georgia Woes
Georgia’s soccer federation came under attack from three directions Monday.
First, Coach Alexander Chivadze said he would resign after Wednesday’s Euro 2004 qualifying game against Switzerland regardless of the result.
Also, UEFA announced it will investigate the behavior of Georgian fans in Tbilisi, where a knife was among objects thrown from the stands during a 2-1 qualifying loss to Ireland on Saturday.
Finally, Russia said it wanted its April 30 game against Georgia moved from Tbilisi to a neutral venue.
Promising Debuts
Two national team coaches made successful debuts over the weekend that went almost unnoticed amid the flurry of international games.
In Shkoder, Albania, former German national team player Hans-Peter Briegel coached Albania to a 3-1 upset of Russia in a Euro 2004 qualifying match whose outcome prompted one fan who was present, Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, to comment: “Albania can now say it has beaten a former superpower.”
In Santiago, Chile, meanwhile, Coach Juvenal Olmos made a winning start as Chile defeated Peru, 2-0, in a friendly international on goals by Milovan Mirosevic and 19-year-old Mauricio Pinella.
