Off the pitch
Barthez holiday plans
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| French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez saves a penalty taken by England's David Beckham, 13 June 2004 during their opening match at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon for the European Nations football championships. France and England are competing in Group B with Croatia and Switzerland. AFP PHOTO Francois Xavier MARIT |
Goofy goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was typically off-beat Monday when asked how he felt about his penalty save against David Beckham in France's last gasp 2-1 win.
"The match against the English is already forgotten, now we have to think about the Croats. All the matches from now on are finals.
"As for England I'll have chance to go over all that around a BBQ sometime," he said with a smile.
Stadium of Light access change
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| Aerial view taken in November 2003 of the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, the stadium of the Benfica football club. The stadium will host 65.000 football fans during three games of the first round of the Euro 2004, France vs England 13 June, Russia vs Portugal 16 June, Croatia vs England 21 June, a quarter final 24 June and the final match 04 July. The continental competition will be hosted by Portugal from 12 June to 05 July 2004. AFP PHOTO |
Euro 2004 organisers are looking into ways to improve access to Benfica's Stadium of Light after big queues meant many fans missed the start of the England-France game on Sunday.
Martin Kallen, UEFA's chief operating officer, said another entry was needed to the 65,000-seat venue, which will hold four more tournament matches, including the final on July 4.
"The fact that the external perimeter of the stadium was only finished last week caused some alterations to security plans but we continue to insist that fans arrive early to stadiums," he said.
Mauresmo inspired by win
French tennis star Amelie Mauresmo said France's injury-time win over England at Euro 2004 was the perfect tonic as she prepared for her assault on Wimbledon on Eastbourne's grass courts.
Mauresmo, playing this week as top seed at the 585,000-dollar Eastbourne Championships, said she and six friends exploded for joy Sunday night as they watched France overhaul England 2-1 on television in her hotel room.
"For 90 minutes, it was disappointment, but then we all screamed for five minutes," said the French number one.
Riot breaks out in London
Fourteen people were arrested when "serious public disorder" broke out in a south London suburb after England lost 2-1 to France in a dramatic Group B opener.
Up to 400 people were involved in the melee in Croydon late Sunday night that saw bottles and other objects thrown at police officers trying to restore order.
Two officers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Those arrested were all in custody at a south London police station.
"We will put together an investigating team to look at all of the incidents in Croydon last night and fully examine the CCTV footage," said a police official.
God Save Zidane
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| French captain Zinedine Zidane celebrates after scoring from the penalty spot, 13 June 2004 during their opening match against England at the European Nations football championships at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. France and England are competing in Group B with Croatia and Switzerland. |
"God Save Zidane" ran l'Equipe sports daily on Monday to sum up France's 2-1 injury-time win over England in the Euro 2004 championship.
Zidane's two goals -- the first a sensational free-kick, the second courtesy of a Steve Gerrard back-pass which saw Thierry Henry upended by Dave James for Zidane's winning penalty - allowed France to come back from the dead.
"Incredible" said the Le Parisien which claimed Zidane had sent France to heaven.
"Three minutes of madness," added l'Equipe.
However, newspapers agreed France had been unable to break free of England's defensive shackles for almost all the match.
A third of Britons tune in
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| England midfielder Frank Lampard (C) raises his arms after scoring against France, 13 June 2004 during their opening match at the European Nations football championships at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. France and England are competing in Group B with Croatia and Switzerland. |
More than a third of the British population was left thumping their televisions in anguish after watching coverage of England's agonising 2-1 defeat to France.
The audience for the game peaked at 20.7 million, against a national population of just over 59 million, one of the biggest British audiences ever.
Around 14.5 million Britons watched England triumph in last year's Rugby Union World Cup final.
The country's largest ever football audience was the 25.2 million who watched England lose to West Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the 1990 World Cup semi-final.
Six killed in Thailand
A Thai pick-up truck driver killed himself and five passengers when he fell asleep at the wheel after watching late-night broadcasts of Euro 2004 football.
Two Buddhist monks were among the six people in the pick-up who were all killed when it slammed into a truck early Sunday northwest of Bangkok.
"The driver did not take any sleep the night before because he watched the Euro 2004 matches," said a police official.
The European championships which kicked off Saturday night in Portugal are being aired live in football-mad Thailand, with matches beginning at 11:00 pm and 1:45 am Thai time.
Hong Kong buyers fall victim
Hong Kong cable broadcaster blew the whistle on thousands of fans' hopes of watching the Euro 2004 football championships on pirated TV decoders by switching its transmission code minutes before the first match.
Cable TV, the only company airing the eagerly anticipated tournament, is believed to have dashed the hopes of 100,000 football fans trying to hack in with illegal decoders.
Just minutes before kick-off of the opening match between Portugal and Greece on Sunday morning, the code was switched and illegal viewers' screens went blank.
Briton ejected for attack
An England football fan has been ejected from Portugal after attacking a French supporter at the Euro 2004 championships.
Alan Walker, 29, from Staffordshire, northern England, was given a suspended 12-month prison sentence and banned from Portugal for a year after the attack on Saturday.
Walker had previously been banned from all football games in Britain for three years in 2000 after joining a pitch invasion during a domestic game.
There was none of the feared mass hooliganism by England fans in Portugal on Sunday despite the country's agonising 2-1 defeat against France.
Top football official killed
Fatulla Husseinov, vice-president of Azerbaijan's football federation, has been murdered in the capital of the former Soviet republic.
"At this stage I cannot say anything about any possible motives," said Asim Khudiyev, head of the referees' council. "I can only say that he was shot several times with a firearm this morning."
A source, who did not want to be identified, said Husseinov was shot eight or nine times as he got into his car near his home.
Azerbaijan's football federation has been locked in a bad-tempered tussle with the government for control of the sport. However, the row appeared to have been resolved last year.