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16 - 30 June 2002 15 JUNE 2002 World Cup News Round-up Victor Pua has resigned as coach of Uruguay. Bora Milutinovic has resigned as coach of China and Cesare Maldini has resigned as coach of Paraguay. Reaction To France's Exit Christophe Dugarry, the most talentless player in the World Cup, has followed fellow donkey Frank Leboeuf and past it Youri Djorkaeff in accouncing his long overdue retirement from international football. Zinedine Zidane, sorely missed by the defending champions, will retire from international football after the 2004 European Championships and spoke of his dissapointment at France's early exit : "It really hurts to go out in such circumstances. Even though I won the Champions League this season, this terrible performance is very hard to accept. I can't analyse this situation right now. I'm in a sort of blur. An overwhelming sense of disappointment transpired from the dressing room after the Denmark game. Now I will set my thoughts and ambitions on Portugal 2004 and after that it'll be over." David Trezeguet was critical of his coach, Roger Lemerre : "We are still playing with the same system used by the World Cup winning side of 1998, with one striker upfront. The teams we came up against all closed up in defence and we were unable to find any other attacking avenues. I don’t know if we were missing the courage to try and change but for sure it was difficult and we must reflect on that. I was convinced we would play differently in this World Cup but the Coach wanted to stick with the usual old system. Perhaps he has changed his mind now because it clearly did not work." Marcel Desailly added : "We must start from scratch and that includes a new Coach. It's a terrible disappointment, a real catastrophe but let us not go overboard. The toy has broken and we can no longer do what we did before. Something must be changed, but do not ask me what. Maybe all of us in France, the players, press and fans, already assumed we would relive those glorious days of 1998." Reaction To Argentina's Exit Hecor Cuper, who has one year left on his Inter contract, was flattered with the rumours linking him with the job of coaching Argentina : "What Coach would not say yes to an offer like that? I would be very happy if my country were to call me as it would be an important sign of their respect and appreciation. I’m certain an Italian tactician would have similar emotions contacted by the FA. However I know nothing of Argentina’s interest for me and in any case I still have another year on my contract with Inter." Gabriel Batistuta, Jose Chamot, Claudio Caniggia and Diego Simeone have announced their retirement from international football. Juan Sebastian Veron who, predictably, went MIA against England : "I cried a lot. I wanted to lift the Cup, playing or not. It was for the glory of the group, not on a personal level. I just can't explain why it's come to this. We came here to don the national shirt and to have pride in representing our country which identifies with this team but the door closed on us in a manner we didn't deserve." Professional whinger Diego Maradona : "Sweden will not be world champions. That would be laughable. Players like Batistuta wanted me there. It breaks my heart when I see Batistuta, Veron and Aimar crying. I do accuse myself, yes, I am also guilty for the defeat. During the match against Sweden I always had the same thought - 'why didn't you fly to Japan to support your team?'" Argentine fans reacted to the teams exit by rioting in Cordoba and attacking police. In Mar del Plata fans attacked an American bank (???). A total of 61 people were arrested 2 JUNE 2002 Training Injury Rules Emerson Out Of World Cup Brazil captain Emerson is out of the World Cup finals after injuring his shoulder in a training session. Sao Paulo midfielder Ricardinho has been called up as his replacement but will not arrive in South Korea until Tuesday. Denmark Hero Delighted With 'Derby' Victory "AC Milan won today and will win next year as well (Tomasson, Laursen and Helveg vs Recoba and Sorondo), I promise this to the fans. I am sure I can do well, I was even before tonight's game. I really hope to do well, in one of the world's most difficult leagues." - John Dahl Tomasson Diouf Looking Forward To Liverpool "I have signed for five years. It's definite. The next season, I'll be there. I am delighted to be joining Liverpool. I want to become one of the best players in the world and I'm sure that at Liverpool, with a coach like Gerard Houllier, I can do that." - El Hadji Diouf Ferguson Targets Nesta "It is difficult to sign players with the World Cup on, we knew that before we started but we are interested in two or three players. Nesta's in the World Cup but hopefully we'll get something done before the start of the season." Alex Ferguson |