I speak from bitter experience, having suffered my blackest day in football at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when I was sent off in England's second game against Morocco. It was a baking hot day in Monterrey, something like 105 degrees, and I was getting a trifle warm. We had lost Bryan Robson 10 minutes before with a dislocated shoulder, and the team as a whole were feeling the pressure of both our opening game defeat against Portugal and a lacklustre start against the African side. Rival touts became involved in a punch- up, shocking the Japanese standing nearby." "Yomiuri Shimbun", Tokyo, with Japan's fans in Nantes "Koreans sat up into the early morning hours in front of TV sets to watch their football players suffer a humiliating defeat to the Dutch. I had been booked earlier for a mistimed tackle and, when we launched a break upfield, I was pulled up for offside, which I felt was rather harsh. Frustration boiling over, I threw the ball into the ground and it bounced up and hit the referee, who then showed me a second yellow card and ordered me off the field.

IT IS vital that the destroyers in the England team, players like Paul Ince and David Batty, retain their discipline against Romania tonight. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life." South Africa's Alfred Phiri, banned for three games after harsh dismissal against Denmark last week. It ends right here, right now for him." Chun Han-jin, South Korea football association, on the sacking of coach Cha Bum-kun"I did nothing to the player I never even touched him He just fell over. The only reason they did it was to show strength and draw attention to themselves." Mario Zagallo, Brazil coach, on Carlos Alberto Parreira's sacking as coach of Saudi Arabia "This is not the way to build a team to be very successful." Carlos Alberto Parreira "Somebody had to take responsibility. "To sack a coach in the middle of the World Cup like that is a joke It's lamentable. Worse yet, they could be fighting their way to the dial to find the US v Iran World Cup match." "Oakland Tribune", San Francisco, on sporting life in the USACompiled by Rupert Metcalf, Elizabeth Nash and Andy Farrell. If it keeps up those following America's national golf championship are going to be remote controlling their way to the nearest NASCAR race by mid-morning today.

this smells like the end of an epoch." "El Pais", Madrid, on Spain's below-par tournament"Would it be too much to ask for a little US Open drama? The 1998 version is about as tense as a turnip festival. Their initial feeling of disappointment was slowly replaced by anger." "Korea Herald," Seoul "Spain's long journey to disaster could be halted by a victory over Bulgaria But it's possible that won't be enough... "The business of buying and selling tickets turned ugly on one occasion, as the locals literally fought over themselves to make money off the Japanese without tickets. Substitutes: Vlaovic (Valencia) for Stimac, h-t; Maric (Croatia Zagreb) for Prosinecki, 67; Tudor (Hajduk Split) for Stanic, 88.Referee: R Ramdhan (Trinidad).. Substitutes: Okano (Urawa Red Diamonds) for Nakayama, 61; Morishima (Cerezo Osaka) for Narahashi, 79; Lopes (Bellmare Hiratsuka) for Nanami, 84.CROATIA (3-5-2): Ladic (Croatia Zagreb); Bilic (Everton), Soldo (VfB Stuttgart), Stimac (Derby County); Simic (Croatia Zagreb), Asanovic (Napoli), Jurcic (Croatia Zagreb), Prosinecki (Croatia Zagreb), Jarni (Real Betis); Suker (Real Madrid), Stanic (Parma). Suker apparently lost more than eight pounds in weight during the course of the match, but as far as his team-mates were concerned it was well worth the sweat.Standing in as captain for the injured Zvonimir Boban, Suker was on the end of nearly all of Croatia's chances. There were three near-misses for the Real Madrid striker in the first half and he hit the bar with an impudent chip early in the second before he found the net.

Aljosa Asanovic picked out Suker with an accurate cross, which was converted with the minimum of fuss.JAPAN (3-5-2): Kawaguchi (Yokohama Marinos); Akita (Kashima Antlers), Ihara (Yokohama Marinos), Nakanishi (Jef Utd Ichihara); Narahashi (Kashima Antlers), Yamaguchi (Yokohama Flugels), Nakata (Bellmare Hiratsuka), Nanami (Jubilo Iwata), Soma (Kashima Antlers); Nakayama (Jubilo Iwata), Jo (Yokohama Marinos). The Japanese gave as good as they got from a below-par Croatia side, who were clearly feeling the effects of the heat-wave more than their opponents. Someone from the Croat embassy in Paris walked uninvited on to the stage to complain that the woman interpreting for Blazevic spoke with a Serbian accent. Fortunately, common sense soon prevailed after a Fifa spokesman ruled the interloper offside.The Japanese were roared on by a massive following who had happily handed over an average of pounds 500 per black-market ticket - "just wait till the French come to Japan," one was reported to have said - and, with a ticker- tape welcome for the teams and shrieks of hysteria just about every time they attacked, it all made for quite a party.Predictably it was Davor Suker who proved to be the difference between the two sides despite the best endeavours of Hidetoshi Nakata, the 21- year-old midfield player whose dyed red hair was not the only thing that set him apart from his team-mates. It is also where Miroslav Blazevic, Croatia's coach, spent three years in charge of the local team around the turn of the decade and Saturday's victory over Japan, which all but ensured his country's qualification for the second round at their first attempt, represented a satisfying return to the region for Blazevic."I am very proud to see Croatia among the first teams to qualify," he managed to say at the post-match press conference before politics, sadly, tarnished the moment.