Premiership - City continue spree with Elano capture

[Croatia123]

Manchester City have continued their massive summer shopping spree with a third signing of the day after Brazilian midfielder Elano joined Spain Under-21 left-back Javier Garrido and Croatia international defender Vedran Corluka in putting pen to paper at Eastlands.
Elano becomes City's seventh major new recruit since the arrival of Thaksin Shinawatra and manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The trio join fellow new-boys Rolando Bianchi, Martin Petrov, Gelsen Fernandes and Geovanni as the former England manager looks to bring in new talent from abroad.

Copa America ace Elano (pictured) arrives in East Manchester from Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk on a four-year deal for a fee of £8 million.

Real Sociedad received £1.5 million for Garrido, 22, while the fee paid to Dinamo Zagreb for Corluka was not disclosed.

City chief executive Alistair Mackintosh said: "This morning has proved to be an immensely productive one, the outcome of which is the acquisition of three top-quality players for Manchester City Football Club.

"This has been achieved as a result of some tremendous team work and I would like to praise everyone involved for their efforts.

"I would particularly like to thank Dr Thaksin, without whom today's signings would not have been possible."

Elano, 26, spent two years with Shakhtar following his move from Brazilian side Santos, during which time he established himself as one of the stars of the Ukrainian league.

He has won 15 caps for the national side, scoring twice, and starred during Brazil's Copa America victory earlier this summer.

Garrido was a first-team regular for the Basque side, who were relegated from the Primera Division last season and are now managed by former Fulham boss Chris Coleman.

"A chance to play in the Premier League does not come every day and it is very difficult to reject," he said.

He made 86 appearances for Real over three seasons and will compete with Michael Ball for a place in the starting XI.

Corluka, a towering 6ft 3in defender, penned a five-year deal at the City of Manchester Stadium and will reinforce Eriksson's defence following the departure of Sylvain Distin.

But the stopper, who played against England in Croatia's Euro 2008 qualifier earlier this year, will have to wait to make his debut as he requires a work permit before he can play in England.

He has made nine appearances for his country since making his debut in Autumn 2006.

Eriksson is also thought to be close to securing the services of Bulgarian international Valeri Bozhinov after having reached agreement with Fiorentina over the transfer of the 21-year-old striker.

[Chuck]

As a sovereign country and UN member, Croatia has a right to express dissatisfaction with the unjust and unacceptable verdic.

Government vice premier Jadranka Kosor said today in Marija Bistrica that as a sovereign country and UN member, Croatia has a right to express dissatisfaction with the unjust and unacceptable verdict to the “Vukovar Three” and that it does not mean pressuring The Hague Tribunal.

-Croatia and the Croatian government have a right to express their dissatisfaction with this unjust and unacceptable verdict and we are not pressuring The Hague Tribunal. Especially because The Hague Tribunal was established to trial crimes and to bring criminals to justice, as a certain satisfaction for the victims and their families. The Hague Tribunal is not untouchable and as a sovereign country and UN member, Croatia has a right to express its opinion and fight for the verdicts to those who were brought before The Hague Tribunal are just. Because, the fact is that unseen crime happened in Vukovar and that Ovcara (Serbian concentration camp, 5 km southeast of Vukovar) is a witness of that crime- said Minister Jadranka Kosor when asked to comment the letter of The Hague Tribunal president Fausto Pocar to UN in which he accuses Croatia of diplomatically pressuring The Tribunal over the verdict to Mile Mrksic, Veselin Sljivancanin and Miroslav Radic.

[Chuck]

Resolution proposal was accepted which invited members to decide on forwarding NATO invitations to Croatia, Albania and Macedonia.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Committee for defence and security accepted a resolution proposal on Sunday in Reykjavik, which invites governments of Organisation members to forward invitations to Croatia, Albania and Macedonia at the summit next year.

The resolution calls “heads of states or Organisation members heads of governments to invite those aspiring countries which they assess as ready for NATO membership and whose accession is evaluated as reinforcing security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region, for the commencement of membership negotiations at their next summit in April 2008 in Bucharest- it is stated in the “Proposal of the Resolution of support to three Adriatic aspiring countries for NATO membership”.

After the Committee approved the resolution, it should be approved on Tuesday at the plenary sitting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly sitting, with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer present.

The annual NATO PA sitting will be held in Iceland`s capital Reykjavik from October 5-9. Parliamentary Assembly includes delegations of NATO membering countries, while delegations of the Partnership for Peace countries will also participate, as associated members. Croatian delegation is headed by representative Kresimir Cosic.

Cosic expressed satisfaction over the accepted resolution, in a telephone interview for Hina Croatian News Agency, calling it a “good sign before the next NATO summit”, when the Organisation is supposed to forward membership invitations.

[Chuck]

The end of jurisdiction reform in two years` time, economic orientation at export and products, inducing what was manufactured and not sown are only a few aces up the sleeves of the with which the Democratic Centre party (DC), headed by Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, is constructing its election campaign.

Against uncle in 3rd constituency

DC is a young political option in Croatia which ensured its breakthrough on the political scene when Vesna Skare-Ozbolt left the Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ). Under the logo “JUST”, with the support of many young people, Skare-Ozbolt is bravely heading towards these parliamentary elections as well. It seems that the youth which is behind her is the starting engine for the former jurisdiction minister.

-DC has many young people with whom it is holding the elections, like Vladimir Novotny who covers the agriculture department without a problem, and Valentin Jarnjak who is present in the 3rd constituency and is bravely standing against his uncle Ivan Jarnjak – Skare-Ozbolt presents her “Internet generation”.

Skare-Ozbolt:I didn`t want to break myself, so I left HDZ

Apart from them, the DC president has aces up her sleeve like professor Boris Anzulovic, former University of Split rector and Josko Moric who covers the police department as a graduated criminalist.

Foreign debt as debtor`s slavery

According to Skare-Ozbolt, the decision of Croatia entering NATO should be confirmed by the people in a referendum and not by politics.

-Croatia will enter the EU and NATO at the same time, but we still haven`t done key things when it comes to entering the EU and these are reforms. This government has lost four years to conduct key reforms – she claims, continuing that Croatia is indebted and is “throwing money down the drain”.

Foreign debt, DC president believes, is like debtor`s slavery, which is evident in all media, apart from Croatian media.

Exactly with these names Skare-Ozbolt will try to run the campaign in a de-personalised fashion, seeing how her rating is considered to be above the party`s.

-This is because I didn`t want to break myself. If I did, my life would have been easier. Because of this, I left HDZ- she admits in the interview.

DC will base the election campaign on people and the programme. As far as pre-election coalitions go, Skare-Ozbolt claims that DC doesn`t concern itself with it because during the last elections, an alliance did not prove to be the best solution.

Speaking about post-election coalitions, Skare-Ozbolt considers it possible only in the case of participation in power. Seeing how he is considered to be a “loud” politician, Skare-Ozbolt announces a serious struggle after the elections, if she is in the parliamentary seat as a part of the opposition.

Lovrin “put jurisdiction to sleep”

-We are equally far apart from HDZ as we are from SDP- claims Ozbolt, adding that she is glad a young man is at the head of SDP. Even though their programmes are different in principle, Skare-Ozbolt does not dismiss a possibility of a coalition with SDP because “people make a party”.

I am no longer a lone warrior

The image of Vesna Skare-Ozbolt “waging a personal war against Prime Minister Ivo Sanader” has been made by the public a long time ago, and she used to wonder herself if it is really true, so she has conducted a private research.

-I wondered ,myself if I was a lone warrior, i.e. vigilante or an opposition politician because there is so much talk from HDZ that I am doing it to get revenge. I then ordered a research from Puls company and got the results that over 68 percent of citizens think I do my task as the opposition well – she says, continuing that “if someone thought I would keep quiet as the former jurisdiction minister, they were wrong”. She remembers “complaining” even when she was in the government, she would tell Sanader what bothered her.

-Of course this didn`t suit Sanader, but this is the way I worked. I`ve now continued doing it in the Parliament, which makes it more visible- she concludes.

As her political career was marked by jurisdiction minister post in Sanader`s government, the inevitable question is could she take on this task again.

-I am the sort of person who likes to end what they have started. If I had stayed in the government, the jurisdiction reform would have been 70 percent done, I would like to finish it, and I would accept the post again- DC president replies, continuing that she objects to her “successor” Ana Lovrin that she has slowed down some tasks.

-Lovrin`s function is that of a clerk, she finishes tasks which I have started, but unfortunately, she has slowed some of them down as if she has put jurisdiction to sleep – she claims.

Criticism which Skare-Ozbolt directed at the government mainly refer to corruption, which is evident from the latest “Current Hour” when she asked Prime Minister Ivo Sanader when will he finish inquests of the Maestro, Brodosplit and KIM scandals.

-The government has approved the anti-corruption strategy in 2006 only, even though it was done a year before, which is the indicator pf political will – she claims, adding that DC has drafted the “GLASS POCKET”, an anti-corruption project, in 2004. What she objects Sanader the most is that he “starts a story and never finishes it”.

When asked if these scandals will be the “uppercut” against HDZ in the election campaign, she replies that the “it is not sufficient to work on scandals, but on what you are planning to do if you obtain power". Still, she agrees that the upcoming campaign will be a dirty one, full of vindictiveness.

-The key is what would you do, what are the deadlines. It is high time someone started saying that something will be done in Croatia, what I have done in practice – Skare-Ozbolt believes, remembering that she spoke of deadlines when she worked on the peace reintegration.

In the end of the interview, Skare-Ozbolt confided that she is ready for the campaign and tells her voters that their vote for DC will surely be worth it.

[Mary]

Like Christmas, the build-up to so-called ‘crucial’ Euro 2008 qualifiers seems to be coming around earlier and earlier.

In fact, England boss Steve McClaren said that when the draw was made for the qualifiers, he anticipated the outcome to boil down to the last two or three games. So arguably, the build-up for tonight’s match against Russia started 18 months ago. That’s too much even for the most battle-weary of England fans.

But in reality, qualification does depend on the outcome of the final two games of Group E, and the tension has mounted as much as the column inches have suggested.

For Croatia, it couldn’t be simpler. They will make it through to the finals next summer if Russia fail to beat England. Even if this doesn’t happen they can still graduate from the group with a win in either of their remaining fixtures against Macdonia or Croatia in November.

In England’s case, the task in hand is also clear cut, either get a win against Russia or, failing that, a win or draw at Wembley against Croatia next month will be enough.

It’s Russia who are under the most pressure, having to win against England and Israel and hope that other results go in their favour.

Although the two qualifiers from Group E are not decided yet, it would take a certain amount of luck for the Russians to go through, but lets not get off the bandwagon, we’ll just call tonight’s game ‘crucial’ and get on with it.

The last time England and Russia met, at Wembley in September, it was the home side that emerged victorious, and by some margin too, 3-0 the final scoreline and the game was far from the nail-biter many had anticipated.

Russia had a goal ruled out, Konstantin Zyrianov adjudged to have used a hand. Who knows what the outcome could have been if the decision went in favour of the visitors, but with the score 2-0 at the time, chances are England would have still grabbed all three points.

But this time around at the Luzhniki Stadium the situation is likely to favour the Russians, and England would be lucky to be labelled favourites.

Firstly, the vociferous home support in the Moscow stadium is notorious and England are likely to be faced with a cauldron of noise, far removed from the atmosphere at the new Wembley, that has been anything but intimidating.

Then of course there’s the plastic pitch. It’s an issue I touched on in last week’s English Question, and although both sets of players and management have denied that the surface will make much difference, you the readers were split down the middle.

John Terry has been doing the Okie Cokie, and from news emerging from the England camp this morning, it seems as though the skipper is definitely out. Judging from the second-half defensive display from the make-shift back-line in the Estonia game, England weren’t exactly sure footed with the Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Sol Campbell and Phil Neville combination far from convincing.

Finally, there are fears that England will find it difficult to score against the Russians without Emile Heskey providing the muscle. They’ll have to get in behind, and with Guus Hiddink’s penchant for counter-attacking football, things could get tricky.

Personally, I think that England will do well to draw the match, and even better to win it. They’ll need to treat the game with the same seriousness that they did against Greece and Turkey in previous qualification campaigns.

A 1-1 draw might seem like classic fence-sitting, but I think it’s a realistic result to a very tricky match.

But it doesn’t matter what I think, it’s YOUR opinions that count. Let us know, will England secure qualification with a game in hand?

Who’ll be the star performers and who’ll be top of the flops?

[Mary]

Just over 4,000 fans bothered to attend the international friendly at National Stadium in Ramat Gan on Wednesday night, to watch Israel defeat Belarus 2-1.

The embarrassing attendance, in a match to which entrance was free, is further proof of how much the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign has distanced the blue-and-white supporters from their national team. The television ratings of Israel's matches in this campaign have been the lowest in many years and the fans showed their discontent with the way Dror Kashtan's team has been playing once more on Wednesday, by not bothering to show up. On Friday, more than 12,000 fans attended the Under-21 team's match against Germany at Ramat Gan.

Israel lost all hope of qualifying for the European Championships on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Croatia in Zagreb. The team is currently fourth in Group E with 17 points from 10 matches. The national team completes its qualifying campaign next month when it hosts Russia and Macedonia on November 17 and 21, respectively.

Israel was mediocre at best on Wednesday against a Belarus team which has lost seven of its 10 Euro 2008 qualifiers to date. Betar Jerusalem midfielders Aviram Bruchian and Gal Alberman scored for the national team in the 37th and 72nd minutes, respectively, with Maksim Romashchenko leveling the score briefly with a goal in the 68th minute.

Kashtan made two changes from the team that started against Croatia. Omer Golan and Ben Sahar replaced captain Yossi Benayoun, who returned to Liverpool, and Pini Balili, who was relegated to the substitutes bench.

Israel, which lost 2-1 in a friendly in Belarus less than two months ago, pushed for a goal right from the kickoff and almost took the lead in the second minute after Golan released a good shot that was well saved by keeper Yuri Zhevnov. The Maccabi Petah Tikva striker came close once more eight minutes later, spinning in the box and curling a shot just right of the Belarus goal.

The visitors, who lost 1-0 to Luxemburg on Saturday, reached their best chance of the first half in the 13th minute when Sergei Omelyanchuk blasted the ball wide of Nir Davidovitch's left post.

Israel finally got the breakthrough in the 37th minute, thanks to some clinical finishing by Bruchian. The Betar Jerusalem player, who made his debut for the blue-and-white against Croatia, picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and elegantly slotted the ball beyond the Belarus keeper.

The visitors seized control of the match in the second half and got a well deserved equalizer in the 68th minute. Romashchenko was at the end of a good team move and beat Liran Shtrauber with ease.

The hosts would, however, soon regain their lead when Alberman pounced on a rebound from an Elyaniv Barda shot in the 72nd minute to score his first goal and the winner for the national team.

[Mary]

For a player who's reached the Wimbledon semifinals, ousted Roger Federer on grass and clinched Croatia's first and only Davis Cup title, Mario Ancic's second-round win over James Blake at the Madrid Masters Wednesday seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. After all, he'd beaten Blake in their last two encounters.

Safe to say, though, the 6-3, 6-4 victory was a little more special than normal. It came a week after yet another comeback following a shoulder injury that sidelined Ancic at the U.S. Open, though paled in comparison to his battle with mononucleosis, which kept the 23-year-old out for six months and might have ended his career. Call it baby steps for the man dubbed "Baby Goran."

"Playing matches, waiting for matches to start, warming up for matches, it's new for me this year," said Ancic, who next faces Paul-Henri Mathieu. "I haven't done much of that at all. You can work as much as you want, but when you come to a tournament, it's a new world."

Mario Ancic -- ranked as high as No. 7 at one point in his career -- is hoping to be back to 100 percent for 2008.
Ancic's appearance at this week's Madrid Masters marks his eighth ATP tournament of 2007, to go along with one eventful Davis Cup tie. At a time when he thought his ranking could have been in the top five, he needed a quarterfinal showing in Stockholm just to rise to 49th.

Last year, only the top-ranked Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal had higher win percentages among tour regulars, and Ancic soared to a career-best ranking of seventh following Wimbledon. That's when his bad luck began -- he suffered a knee injury when his foot got caught in a jet ski pedal while vacationing in Croatia and was out for two months, pretty much ending his chances of joining Federer and Nadal at the elite Masters Cup.

"Last year he [would have qualified for] the Masters if he was fit," said Ancic's Swedish coach, Fredrik Rosengren, who guided Magnus Norman to No. 2 in the world and has also worked with countrymen Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johansson. "He never talks about that. All the attention and focus is on his everyday work. But it's not easy, because he can't work as hard as he wants."

Though back, Ancic is far from completely healthy. Instead, he says he's about 70 percent, largely the result of a low iron count believed to be linked to the mononucleosis. He can't train as intensely as he used to and needs more recovery time.

Even for the ever-positive Ancic, whom Rosengren says has a work ethic to rival that of the intense Norman, the occasional bout of frustration sets in.

"Sometimes he does get a little frustrated, because he compares himself to what he normally worked," Rosengren said. "I say to him, 'Mario, you work 10 times harder than a Swedish junior and you're still not happy with that.'"

Still, he's lucky to be playing at all. Days before Croatia's February tie in Germany in the opening round of the World Group, Ancic had flu-like symptoms but felt he was well enough to battle Tommy Haas in the opener. A four-set defeat followed, and at one point late on, Ancic said he was so dizzy he completely missed a ball.

No better, Ancic partnered with Ivan Ljubicic in the doubles the next day and went down in straight sets to Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske. He was waiting in the locker room to play the fifth and deciding match but wasn't needed because Haas downed Ljubicic to clinch Germany's win.

Had he competed this time, the competition that gave Ancic the biggest boost of his career -- he downed Slovakia's Michal Mertinak in the live fifth match of the 2005 final in Bratislava -- probably would have sealed it. Complications of mono include enlargement of the spleen and mild liver inflammation, while the heart can also become inflamed. Taking part in physical activities is far from advisable.

"That would have been the last match for me, not could have been," Ancic said. "God saved me. The heart problems that I had when I played with mono, that I didn't know yet, that was a big blow."

Without a firm diagnosis, Ancic went to Marseille, France, the week after and had to retire against Andreas Seppi in the first round, trailing 4-0. It was only when he started gearing up for the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif., that he sensed this was no flu.

"I went for a walk a little bit, maybe half-hour maximum," he said. "I came back and I slept for four hours. Then I knew something wasn't right. Something was terribly wrong."

That would have been the last match for me, not could have been. God saved me. The heart problems that I had when I played with mono, that I didn't know yet, that was a big blow.

Doctors told him he had mono, and Ancic spent most of the next 10 weeks in bed. He spoke to athletes who dealt with the condition and similar illnesses, including women's No. 1 Justine Henin, and began taking small walks.

Feeling better, the training intensified in June, with Ancic and Rosengren heading to the Slovenian Alps for almost two weeks before returning to Split, Croatia, the hometown of Ancic and the player he's most often compared to because of their similar frames, baritone voices and huge serves: 2001 Wimbledon champ Goran Ivanisevic.

The comeback, Part 1, happened at the Rogers Masters in Montreal in August, where Ancic topped local favorite Frederic Niemeyer, earning a standing ovation from Rosengren in the stands when the match concluded. The joy was short-lived. Ancic felt something was amiss with his serving shoulder in qualifying for the Pilot Pen later in August and after having an MRI, doctors said there was no way he could compete at the U.S. Open -- he was scheduled to play Novak Djokovic in the first round -- or in Croatia's World Group playoff against Great Britain at Wimbledon in September.

"I knew already that the season was broken down, but I just wanted to get these couple of weeks in," said the 6-foot-5 Ancic, who's inching closer to finishing his law degree.

Ancic said the goal now is to be fully fit by the time next season begins so he can resume his climb in the rankings. He showed flashes of brilliance when he defeated Federer at Wimbledon five years ago -- Federer's last loss on grass -- and got to the semifinals at the All England Club in 2004, though last year was his most consistent campaign.

He won two titles, reached 13 quarterfinals, bettered only by Federer and aggressive baseliner Nikolay Davydenko, and made the last eight at both Wimbledon and the French Open, where he was derailed by -- who else? -- Federer.

"He can come forward, return well, he's got good groundstrokes, he's got a great serve, and he's very comfortable on any position on the court," said Nick Bollettieri, who has honed the careers of Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova and Haas, to name a few. "If he gets anywhere near what he's capable of doing and his health is maintained, he's certainly in the top six or seven. He has the type of game that on a given day, can beat anybody in the world, including the best in the world."

Having overcome the mono and battled an assortment of injuries -- he's also been afflicted with a bad back -- some would say Ancic is destined to win a major or two. Rosengren thinks he can do it, but for more basic reasons.

"I don't think it will happen because he had mono, I think it will happen because he's such a good player and such a good worker," he said. "That's why I 100 percent believe he'll be up there one day."

[Mary]

Benazir Bhutto has called for an inquiry into the circumstances around two explosions which killed at least 130 people last night.

The blasts occurred at a rally in Karachi to mark the return of the former prime minister to Pakistan after eight years in exile.

Ms Bhutto, who was travelling in an open-top bus metres away from the explosion, said she had been warned that an attack was to occur and had informed the authorities.

"We need to have an inquiry as to why the street lights had been switched off," she told reporters this afternoon.

"The attack was on what I represent. The attack was on democracy and the very unity and integrity of Pakistan."

Ms Bhutto was rushed to her home in the city soon after the blasts.

Islamist groups, including pro-Taliban elements, had threatened to assassinate the leader, who intends to contest general elections, due to her pro-western stance.

Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqui said a grenade had been thrown into the crowd shortly before a suicide bomber detonated explosives.

Over 200,000 supporters of the political leader had gathered to greet her upon her arrival yesterday. Her convoy had been passing slowly through hordes of wellwishers throughout the day until the rally was marred by the attack.

President Pervez Musharraf, who recently concluded a deal with the former prime minister enabling her to return, condemned the attack and warned of "exemplary punishment" for those involved. Mr Musharraf recently promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance providing Ms Bhutto with amnesty in court cases against her.

A statement from the White House in the US termed the violence as an attempt to sabotage democracy in the country where general elections are to be held in the coming months.

A spokesperson for the US national security council said: "Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process."

Speaking to a local television channel, Ms Bhutto's husband alleged that the attack had been conducted by intelligence agencies

Benazir Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who also served as prime minister, was hanged by former military dictator Zia ul-Haq on corruption charges. Two of her brothers Murtaza and Shahnawaz have also died in uncertain circumstances.

Another former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is a sworn enemy of Mr Musharraf, was deported hours after his arrival in the country in September.

[Mary]

Motorist Mario Kamber received a shock when a plane landed on top of his car in Sinj, southern Croatia, on Monday.

A loud roar alerted them to what was happening. After the emergency landing, the light aircraft skidded off the car's roof and on to the road.

Kamber, and his two passengers, escaped with minor injuries. The pilot was unhurt. There were no other passengers on board.

[Mary]

Medina Cantalejo entered the football referees’ black book inventing a penalty kick in favour of Russia, damaging England and Croatia.

Spanish media reported that Medina Canalejo assigned twice as many penalty kicks to the home team, and twice as many red cards to the guest players. A fact that gamblers should not neglect.

In Moscow, Cantalejo maybe unintentionally paid his debt with Guus Hiddink he had had for 16 months: in the 93rd minute of the world cup’s round of 16 he assigned Italy a penalty kick when Grosso fell in the goal area near Neill. Although the contact between the two players was minimal, the Spaniard charged Australia with the highest punishment, and Totti lead Italy to the quarter finals… on their way to winning the world cup. Now he no longer has a debt with Hiddink; the Dutch received a present that will help him to ensure his team a place in the European championship by winning in Israel and Andorra.

This referee is famous also for the role he had in the past world cup final. Back then, as fourth man, he told referee Horacio Elizondo to give Zinedine Zidane a red card for hitting Materazzi’s chest with his head.

Cantalejo in Spain was noticed for assigning a doubtful penalty kick in favour of Barcelona against Real Madrid for an unclear foul by Roberto Carlos against Van Bommel. In addition to this, the Brazilian player was sent off.

This season he caused a national shock when he assigned Sergio Ramonso a yellow card for taking off his shirt and showing his vest bearing a dedication to deceased Antonio Puerta. The yellow card was so absurd that it was revoked by the football federation.

Unfortunately, if the worst happens and Croatia is left without the European championship, no one will revoke Pavlyuchenko’s goal that came from the absurd penalty kick assigned by Cantalejo.

In the past, Spanish referees were unfriendly orientated towards the former Soviet Union; Lamo Castillo disadvantaged them in the 1982 World Cup against Brazil, and Sanchez Arminio four years later in Mexico against Belgium…