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'Uncertain time' UEFA sets up task force to monitor security situation
NYON, Switzerland (AP) -- European soccer's governing body has set up a security task force to make quick decisions if the United States retaliates for the attacks on New York and Washington, a spokesman said Monday. "We all hope that this won't damage the fabric of European life, but we recognize that we are entering a potentially uncertain time and we are being prepared," UEFA Communications Director Mike Lee told The Associated Press in confirming a report in the British daily Guardian. The four-person task force, which includes Lee and UEFA Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner, will gather information about the security situation and advise on whether matches need to be postponed or additional precautions taken. UEFA already has wide experience of dealing with soccer matches in dangerous areas. It has been forced to move or postpone a number of matches because of conflict in the Balkans, and its 51 members include Russia and Israel. Last week UEFA decided to move a match from Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan, because of increased insecurity in neighboring Chechnya. Anzhi Makhachkala and Scottish club Rangers are now playing their UEFA Cup first leg tie over a single leg in a neutral location -- Warsaw -- on Thursday evening. Lee said UEFA already had extensive security checks in place, but it wanted to be more prepared because of the possibility of sudden disruption. "We felt that with the possibility of military action and some possibility of effects from that, we wanted to have the additional precaution of a small task force whose job it is to receive reports of a changing security situation and analyze the scheduling of games," Lee said. The other two members of the task force are Jacob Erel, UEFA's operations director, and Lars-Christer Olsson, the director of professional football and marketing.
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