England lost 1-0 to Spain in an eventful match which saw Wayne Rooney substituted just before half time. He had already been booked for pushing the Spanish goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, into the advertising hoardings; and Sven reckons that he would have been sent off had he not acted,
“I took him off because I suspected that a light tackle and the referee would have sent him off. Wayne will remember this game. He is young. I saw him take the armband off and that he didn't wish good luck to Alan Smith. In the dressing room he said sorry to me and Alan Smith. It was disrespectful. He didn't think. It was frustration in him.
“Of course it was a moment of disrespect but it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened in football. He didn't think about the disrespect when he did it, it was just a moment of frustration. I don't want to make a big thing about it but it is better to learn from this and it was good that it was a friendly. I'm not worried about Rooney.”
Spanish winger Joaquin tried to calm Rooney down and commented afterwards,
“It was like he was on another planet. I asked him, 'What are you doing?' I looked into his eyes and there was nothing there. It was as if he didn't know where he was.”
Unsurprisingly the press have gone nuclear on this, James Lawton from the Independent comes up with one of the more sensible articles
‘When the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, pulled off Rooney a few minutes before half-time he was doing the job of the Greek referee Georges Kasnaferis. Rooney should have had a yellow card for a horribly crude tackle on the Spanish flier Joaquin and then a red card should have been produced when he pushed goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the back and sent him flying into the railings behind the goal.
‘Both offences were the ugly fruit of a mixture of rage and frustration. Rage that he had lost control of the ball. Frustration that he couldn't recover it.
‘Eriksson, whatever the pressure for results, should let Rooney know that he needs to go away and rethink his attitude to the game. Maybe even take a little rage therapy. The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, might also be told that his £28m prodigy is in danger of destroying a wondrous talent.’
Paul Hayward in the Telegraph had this to say,
‘Four minutes were the difference: 240 seconds that had the capacity to change Wayne Rooney's life and help him understand his responsibilities to Manchester United and England. By withdrawing the most exciting teenager in European football before the referee could blow his whistle for the interval, Sven-Goran Eriksson struck a blow for education, for self-control, for the preservation of a talent that has the potential to implode.
‘Rooney's volatility has been an issue since he burst into the Everton first XI with that pugnacious look of his. He had the body language of a boxer and the footwork of a ballerina. For a time he had more red and yellow cards to his name than goals. But for the most part he has stayed just the right side of the disciplinary line, mainly through lenient refereeing. Last night in the Bernabeu, a cauldron of racist abuse, Eriksson grabbed hold of Rooney's future and ordered him from the pitch.
‘This lamentable occasion, which ought to be condensed on to a DVD to show everything that is wrong with modern football, may yet to turn out to be a turning point in Rooney's personal development.
‘You could see in Rooney's eyes a growing torment, a sense that he had stopped thinking of Spain v England as a football match. He was back on the street. Somewhere in Cheshire, Sir Alex Ferguson must have watched all this argy-bargy with mounting concern. Rooney has not computed the relationship between actions and consequences – a process all teenagers go through. One of his greatest virtues is also his primary vice. He cannot abide a challenge to his manhood, his street-fighting cred.’
Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Shaun Wright-Phillips were also subjected to continued and widespread racial abuse from the Spanish crowd, as tempers rose Cole shoved the ageing Spanish manager - Luis Aragones - in the chest.
The condemnation of the Spanish crowd’s behaviour has come from all corners.
The FA released this statement,
“We'll be sending full reports to Uefa and Fifa and a letter of complaint to the Spanish federation. It was disgusting and you can't find words to describe it. We've not had scenes like that in our country for 20 years. There were a lot of children in the crowd and it's terrible they should have to experience that sort of behaviour.”
Sven said,
“I also expect Fifa and Uefa to fully investigate the issue. There is no place for racism in football or modern society, and I strongly believe that action needs to be taken at the highest level.
“There must be some kind of protest. This sort of racism should not happen in any country in 2004. I'm sorry that the issue of racism is back. I have lived with it in the past at Lazio where we unfortunately had racist chanting but I did not think we would have it so bad here.”
Bill Edgar at the Times looks at the Europe-wide problem of racism,
‘Two seasons ago, Emile Heskey, then of Liverpool, complained of racist abuse during a Champions League match against Valencia in Spain and, in the same season, Ipswich Town reported racist chanting in the match against FK Sartid in Serbia, as did Blackburn Rovers against CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria, and Fulham after they played Hajduk Split in Croatia.
‘England players have received similar treatment in Eastern Europe, notably away to Macedonia, Slovakia and Albania in the past four years. It should not be forgotten, though, that the FA was fined for England fans’ racist chanting in the match against Turkey in Sunderland in 2003.
‘Italian football’s problems were highlighted four years ago, when Arsenal’s black players were subjected to abuse during the Champions League match against Lazio in Rome. The first appearance by a black player in the Italy team came only in 2001 — Fabio Liverani, a midfield player of Somalian descent.
‘Racism has afflicted Dutch football, despite numerous players of Surinamese extraction being in the national team over the years. Thierry Henry — a central figure in the Aragonés controversy — protested about his targeting by PSV Eindhoven fans when Arsenal played in the Netherlands.’
In other matches, Ronaldo played and scored for Portugal as they beat Luxembourg 5-0. Eric Djemba-Djemba was sent off as Cameroon lost 3-0 to Germany. Worryingly, Ruud was substituted during the Dutch match in Andorra. Boss Marco van Basten said, “He took a knee from an opponent and it caused him a lot of pain. He was lying in the treatment room with a lot of ice on the injury and it doesn’t look good.” Van Nistelrooy is now almost certain to miss Saturday’s match against Charlton.
Elsewhere Ecuador shocked Brazil by beating them 1-0 in a World Cup Qualifier, Kleberson played in the match. Darren Fletcher missed the 4-1 defeat for Scotland with an injury and China were knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers despite winning 7-0.