International Roundup

One thousand cards in Portuguese premiership

LISBON (Reuters) -- Portugal's premiership referees have shown players 1,000 red or yellow cards this season even though the 2002-3 campaign is barely past the halfway mark.

Academica defender Tonel Sousa was shown the 1,000th card when he was booked on Friday while playing for his side against Belenenses.

The tally in the 18-team premiership rose to 1,018 by the time Saturday's three league matches were over.

The weekly broadsheet Expresso devoted two pages to showing that more time was spent setting up free kicks in many league matches than in open play.

"There are so many interruptions and so often -- sometimes needlessly -- that Portuguese football is already resigned to living under the rule of the [referee's] whistle," Expresso said.

In a recent game between former European champions Benfica and 2001 league champions Benfica, just 37 minutes of the game were left for open play after stopping for 67 fouls.

Expresso said that in the current season, games had to be stopped for an average of 40 fouls each in Portugal, compared to just 23 in the English premiership. Italy had the highest average, at 43 fouls a game.

Portuguese cable television commentators often note the contrast between the Portuguese and English premiership games they cover at weekends.

"That's because English football is clearer and cleaner, and players are more spread out," retired International referee Vitor Pereira told the paper.

"That's one of the reasons they score more goals. Besides, the English will let a player go through if he wins a ball, rather than bringing him down."

Pereira said another reason for the high number of fouls was that since FIFA had decided to punish tackles from behind or rough sliding tackles with a red card, players had opted instead to use shoulder charges or bring opponents down with their arms.

Sevilla sign Greek striker Machlas from Ajax

SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) -- Sevilla have agreed a deal to sign Greek international striker Nikos Machlas from Ajax Amsterdam on loan until the end of the season.

The Spanish first division club will have an option to sign the player on a three-year contract at the end of the season. No fee was disclosed.

Machlas, 29, is due to undergo a medical at Sevilla on Monday before being presented to the media.

Report: Belarus pull out of friendly with Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- The Belarus FA has decided to cancel the visit of its national and under-21 sides for friendlies in Israel, according to UEFA report on Saturday.

The Israelis were due to host their Belarussian counterparts in Tel Aviv on February 12, but UEFA's official Web site said that the Belarus Football Federation (BFF) would not be sending its teams to Israel because of high political tensions in the Middle East.

According to the report, the Belarussians said that most of their players would not be allowed to go to Israel by their clubs, leaving only second-string players available.

Last March, UEFA banned all foreign clubs from playing in Israel because of the violence in the Jewish State and in the Palestinian controlled areas.

In place of the cancelled fixture, Belarus had offered to play the Israelis at an indoor facility with an artificial pitch in Minsk, the report said.

The Israeli FA has not yet commented on the cancellation, but is expected to do so when its offices reopen for business on Sunday after the weekend break.

This is the second time in a year that Belarus and Israel have failed to meet.

Last August Israel postponed a friendly with Belarus in Minsk and instead played against Lithuania in Vilnius.

Idan Tal moves to Maccabi after dispute resolved

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel international midfielder Idan Tal completed a move to Maccabi Haifa on Saturday following the resolution of a dispute over his transfer fee.

In an unusual move, 27-year-old Tal is now at his third club within the space of one season after FIFA gave him special dispensation to sign with Haifa on Thursday.

According to the rules of soccer's world governing body, players may only switch clubs once within a 12 month period.

Tal started the current campaign at Everton where he was into his second season, but after realizing he would not get much playing time, he moved to Spanish club Rayo Vallecano.

After another frustrating spell on the bench, he agreed terms with Maccabi Haifa last week.

The move could not be completed by Thursday's Israeli transfer deadline, however, as Tal's former Israeli club, Maccabi Petah Tikva, retained first refusal on him.

Petah Tikva insisted that in the event that Tal should move to another local outfit, they would pocket $1 million.

The sides petitioned the Israel FA's supreme tribunal on Thursday which allowed an extension of the transfer deadline until Sunday in order to try to resolve the matter.

The clubs and Tal all agreed a deal on Saturday that the move would cost only $340,000.

With the move complete, Tal turned out for Haifa on Saturday evening in the goalless draw against Maccabi Netanya.

Haifa were also the subject of the only other high-profile mid-season acquisition on Thursday when they signed Hapoel Beer Sheva striker Elyaniv Barda for US$400,000.

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.