Match Turns Nasty After English Win
England’s expected battle royal with Turkey was turned on its ear by 17-year-old Everton striker Wayne Rooney, who inspired a 2-0 English victory, while Denmark and Scotland suffered humiliating defeats Wednesday on a busy night of qualifying for the 2004 European Championship in Portugal.
Rooney, a last-minute selection by Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, produced a sparkling performance in his first competitive match for England, having made his international debut last month in a friendly against Australia.
In a match that David Beckham had predicted would be England’s most difficult since its 2002 World Cup quarterfinal loss to Brazil, late goals from Darius Vassell and Beckham subdued the Turks in front of 47,667 in Sunderland, England.
That did not end the fireworks, however, as Turkish and English players and coaches got into a shoving match after the final whistle and police arrested 95 fans outside the stadium for fighting.
Turkey, a World Cup semifinalist, has never beaten or scored against England. The loss was its first in 17 European Championship and World Cup qualifying games. England now leads their Euro 2004 group.
Rooney’s speed and power tore holes in the Turkish defense and England might have scored earlier had it taken advantage of the chances he created.
“Now we know he’s ready for these big matches,” Eriksson said afterward.
Beckham was never in doubt.
“I was asked last week if Wayne was ready to play at this level and I didn’t need to answer,” England’s captain told Sky Sports television. “He’s handled it like he’s been here three or four years.”
Meanwhile, Denmark, which had trounced Romania, 5-2, in Bucharest on Saturday, was in turn upset at home in Copenhagen by unheralded Bosnia and Herzegovina, which won, 2-0, on goals by Sergej Barbarez and Elvir Baljic.
Similarly, Scotland saw its chances of beating Germany for the group title diminish considerably when it lost, 1-0, to Lithuania in Kaunas, Lithuania, where Tomas Razanauskas had the goal. All three teams are tied with seven points.
Elsewhere, defending European champion France came from behind to edge Israel, 2-1, in Palermo, Italy, with David Trezeguet and Zinedine Zidane canceling out Omre Afik’s early goal for Israel. France has all but mathematically clinched a place in Portugal next year, but Coach Jacques Santini was furious at his team’s poor performance.
“You can guess my feeling from the tone of my voice,” he told reporters afterward. “We were never at the right pace. We failed to communicate properly throughout the match and our set-up was a mess both when defending or attacking.”
Also improving their chances were Norway, which beat Luxembourg, 2-0; the Czech Republic, which defeated Austria, 4-0, with Jan Koller scoring twice; the Netherlands, which struggled to a 2-1 win against Moldova on goals by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mark van Bommel; Spain, which shut out Armenia, 3-0, and Poland, which beat San Marino, 5-0.
Puebla on Strike
The growing rift between Puebla Coach Hugo Fernandez and his players over his disciplinary methods has caused the players to walk out and refuse to take part in this weekend’s Mexican league game.
Fernandez had barred defender Joaquin Velasquez and midfielder Marco Antonio Capetillo from training and later fired Colombian midfielder Mauricio Serna for what he said was “lack of respect.”
The rest of the first team, which has won two of 12 games this season, then went on strike, but Fernandez said he will employ youth team players in their stead.
“While I’m here, neither Serna nor Capetillo nor Velasquez will play again,” Fernandez told reporters in Mexico.
Athens 2004
The mysterious pneumonia known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that has killed more than 70 people and infected more than 2,000, Wednesday caused two Asian region qualifying matches for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games to be postponed indefinitely.
The Asian Football Confederation said in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that it had postponed this month’s two-game series between Singapore and Taiwan and between Hong Kong and Sri Lanka until such time as the health situation had improved.
Trinidad Coach Quits
Hannibal Najjar said he resigned as Trinidad and Tobago’s national coach after Sunday’s Gold Cup qualifying loss to Cuba in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, because he was tired of being second-guessed by federation officials.
“I think I was faced with a lot of trials,” Najjar, 49, told Associated Press. “The pressure was there constantly. Even when you win there are questions about how well you won, and whether it was you or the players who made the difference or was it that the other team underachieved.”
Zoran Vranes has been named interim coach.
Quick Passes
Anghel Iordanescu, who quit as Romania’s coach Saturday after the team’s 5-2 loss to Denmark, Wednesday changed his mind and agreed to stay in the post through the end of Euro 2004 qualifying.... The Italian League voted Wednesday to split the 20-team Serie B into two 10-team divisions on north-south geographic lines, with a playoff between each division’s leaders to determine promotion to the 18-team Serie A, which will remain unchanged.... Otgay Zeynalov, director general of Azerbaijan’s soccer federation, was arrested Wednesday in connection with a tax evasion investigation against the federation.... English newspapers have reported that Manchester United is close to reaching agreement with Blackburn Rovers to buy Irish international Damian Duff, 24, for $15.8 million, with Welsh winger Ryan Giggs possibly heading for Inter Milan at the same time.
