|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Italian roundup Eriksson fires back; player in coma improves
MILAN (Reuters) -- Sven Goran Eriksson, the Lazio coach who will take charge of the England team in June, has reacted strongly to criticism of his tactics in the first signs of tension between the coach and his club. Eriksson's comments have been widely interpreted as a response to the club's general director Massimo Cragnotti, son of club president Sergio, who had criticized the coach's decision to play just one striker in Saturday's 1-1 draw against AC Milan. "It is not very intelligent to talk outside of the dressing room about problems that need to stay inside, but unfortunately it happens," Eriksson was quoted in Italian newspapers as saying. "I am not worried because our results do not look so bad. Maybe, however, someone is nervous." "In general in football there is a search for a culprit to condemn when you lose, but at Lazio however, it seems that same process happens when we draw," added Eriksson, who was preparing his side to face Anderlecht in a Champions League match, a 1-0 loss later on Wednesday. Asked whether he would play with two strikers against the Belgians, Eriksson said: "It is completely my decision of course. No one has the right to interfere with my work. Among other things there are players who complain to journalists rather than me." Massimo Cragnotti has become the public face of the club in recent months, appearing on numerous television shows and handling relations with the media in place of his father. He has been rumored to have vetoed Eriksson's presence at England's friendly match with Spain in Birmingham on February 28, although he has denied saying the coach's involvement in that game was "out of the question." "I don't know what I will be doing on that day," said Eriksson, "It is a Wednesday and I will need to be at Formello [Lazio's training ground] to coach the squad, as long as I am still coach of Lazio." Eriksson's decision to leave Lazio for England at the end of this season prompted some observers to fear that the coach may be distracted from his tasks at the Rome club and that the team's performance may suffer. However, Lazio is unbeaten since the Swede signed a five-year contract with the Football Association, winning three games and drawing the last two matches -- away to Juventus and at home to Milan. Eriksson has made a strong effort to keep clear of any discussions of the England team, which he says "irritate" him, and although he watched the friendly in Turin with Italy last Wednesday, he did not meet the England team or coaching staff and avoided contact with the English media. Comatose player awakens brieflyLECCO, Italy -- An Italian footballer who was knocked into a coma in a post-match brawl last weekend opened his eyes briefly on Wednesday, a doctor at the hospital said. Modena midfielder Francesco Bertolotti has been kept in a coma since Sunday when he needed several hours of surgery to reduce two blood clots on his brain after he was punched and then fell hard onto the dressing room floor. Doctors at Lecco's Sant'Anna hospital said they had stopped inducing the coma briefly on Wednesday, at which point Bertolotti moved slightly and opened his eyes. He was then drugged back into a comatose state. "It is a good sign," said Cristiano Martini, one of the doctors who operated on Bertolotti after the incident, which followed Modena's Serie C match against Como, won 1-0 by Como. "We now have much more hope for the patient's recovery, albeit a slow one," he said, adding they had to keep Bertolotti in a coma for the therapy to work. The hospital bulletin said it would make no prognosis on the player's condition yet. After Sunday's incident, Como player Massimo Ferrigno, 26, was questioned by police and was told he was being investigated for alleged grievous bodily harm. He is due to appear before a magistrate on November 28, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Ferrigno has apologized for the incident, saying he never imagined a punch could lead to Bertolotti falling, hitting his head and ending up in a coma. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) have suspended Ferrigno, without saying for how long and Como said he would never play for them again. "His behavior is indefensible and unpardonable. We can't forgive him and so we must distance ourselves from him," the club's president Enrico Preziosi said. Sergio Campani, president of Italy's Footballers' Association, called the incident an outrage and said the perpetrator should be dealt with severely. Perugia players protest positive drug testsMILAN -- Two players from Serie A club Perugia are protesting their innocence after failing post-match drug tests. Midfielder Christian Bucchi, 23, and 28-year-old defender Salvatore Monaco were found to have traces of the banned anabolic substance nandrolone in urine samples taken after the October 14 match between Lazio and Perugia. The tests were carried out by the Italian Sports Medicine Foundation's Rome laboratory. Monaco said he believed a mistake has been made. "This is amazing and I am sure it has to be an error," he was reported as saying by Italian media on Wednesday. "I have not taken any injection or used any kind of medicine. It is impossible, I repeat, impossible that there could be traces of nandrolone in my urine. "I was selected [for a drugs test] after the game with Napoli [on November 12th] and so it will be possible to say that I am 100 percent innocent. "I am ready to undergo any kind of test to show that I and Cristian are innocent," said the defender. Bucchi said that he had no reason to use the drug. "I am absolutely clean and I cannot believe how something like this could happen. It is not possible to ruin reputations when it is not sure. "I've not had any kind of injury and have not taken any substance of any type. What possible need does a footballer have for an anabolic drug?" The midfielder said the only medicine he had used was a nasal spray to deal with a cold. Perugia coach Serse Cosmi has reacted angrily to the decision to announce the results and name the players before the B sample test had been carried out. "I have spoken to both players and I am convinced and secure that they are innocent. It is ignoble to have revealed the names and there are laws precisely to the effect that it is not right to drop people in trouble and destroy them until the counter-analysis has been carried out," said the Perugia coach. The B sample test has to be carried out within 20 days. The Perugia case follows an investigation from the Italian Olympic Committee into claims by former Roma coach Zdenek Zeman that doping was rife in Italian football. Turin magistrate Raffaele Guariniello also carried out an investigation and compiled a "black list" which was reported to include between 60 and 200 footballers playing in Serie A, B and C. The allegations led to a review of doping procedures and the closure of the Olympic Committee's main laboratory test center.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
