Lisbon: Switzerland striker Alexander Frei has been provisionally suspended by Uefa for 15 days after television footage showed him spitting at an England player during a Euro 2004 match. Frei was earlier pulled out of the Swiss team just hours before their final Group B game against France on Monday. Uefa wants Frei to be banned for five games, an official told Swiss TV. “The Uefa appeals body has suspended the Swiss player Alexander Frei provisionally for all competitive Uefa matches in national team competitions,” Uefa said in a statement. “This provisional suspension is for a total of 15 days and takes effect today (Monday)...” Uefa lodged an appeal earlier on Monday against the decision by its disciplinary body to clear the player and the appeal hearing will be this week if Switzerland reach the quarter finals.
Brussels: Furious Dutch supporters have booked coach Dick Advocaat onto a one-way flight to Belgium after blaming him for the 2-3 defeat to the Czech Republic. Organiser Johan de Laat said his fellow Dutchmen at a campsite in Espinho, northern Portugal, were happy to dig into their pockets in order to get Advocaat out of Portugal as fast as possible. “It only took three minutes to collect the sum required,” he said. “Send the tickets to Advocaat. He can leave on Tuesday from Faro at 12.35pm on Virgin Express flight TV 541. His seat is reserved.”
Faro: A 65-year-old German is the most popular man in Greece with Otto Rehhagel the toast of the country after guiding Greece to the quarter finals of the European Championships for the first time in their history. Despite losing their final match 1-2 to Russia on Sunday, Greece scraped into the last eight as group a runners-up behind hosts Portugal. Rehhagel was known as ‘King Otto’ after winning two German championships, two German Cups and the Uefa Cup with Werder Bremen and has elevated his status to near royalty in Greece after this triumph. Greece had never qualified for the knockout stage of any major finals.
Rome: Italian state broadcaster RAI plans to use extra television cameras to ensure fair play rules in Tuesday’s match between Denmark and Sweden. Italians fear the Danes and Swedes will secretly agree to draw 2-2, thereby eliminating Italy. “Our intention was to add seven cameras but there wasn’t space to set them up,” the director of RAISport, Fabrizio Maffei, was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday. “We have, however, gained two extra camera positions and we’ll be setting them up directly behind each goal.”
