From the Daily Mirror -
http://www.mirror.co.uk
Quote:
CONTROVERSIAL ref Urs Meier last night said he was right to rule out Sol Campbell's last-minute goal against Portugal and accused Sven Goran Eriksson of making him a scapegoat.
The Swiss whistler's blunder cost England a place in the semi-final of Euro 2004 and also wrecked his own hopes of taking charge of the final.
But Meier was defiant last night, insisting that England centre-half John Terry had fouled Portuguese keeper Ricardo.
"It was a clear foul. The keeper was in his own goal area and must be protected," he said. "If the same thing happened again then I would do exactly the same. England are looking for a scapegoat and they are looking to blame me.
"But England should remember that we are at Euro 2004 and not playing in the English Premier League. What is allowed there is not allowed here. There are different rules here and I applied them."
UEFA chiefs have decided not to give Meier the honour of taking charge of next Sunday's Euro 2004 final showpiece because of his controversial decision to disallow Campbell's 89th-minute header that would have put England in the semi-final.
England coach Eriksson revealed he had made his frustration clear to Meier shortly after the final whistle in Lisbon. He said: "I went into the dressing-room of the referee after the game to say what I had to say but I think it should stay between him and me.
"Sitting on the bench I thought it was a goal and looking at it again on television I still thought it was a goal. But when the referee says it's not a goal it's not a goal and you can't do anything about it."
While Meier stood by his decision,
UEFA's refereeing committee privately admitted he got it wrong and he is almost certain to miss out on the final as a result, despite being one of UEFA's most respected officials.
Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, the people's favourite, also seems unlikely to come into the reckoning after being overlooked for a quarter-final tie.
Collina and Germany's Markus Merk will referee the semi-finals which effectively rules them out of the final. No referee has ever taken charge of a semi-final and final at a major tournament.
The four quarter-final referees are Meier, Anders Frisk (Sweden), Valentin Ivanov (Russia) and Lubos Michel (Slovakia).Traditionally UEFA select the ref for the final from those on duty at the quarter-finals.
Frisk took charge of the Euro 2000 final so that rules him out this year while UEFA are unlikely to reward Meier for his dramatic blunder.
Ivanov was the referee when Manchester United played FC Porto in the Champions League knock-out stage when a perfectly good goal by Paul Scholes was disallowed. The linesman concerned was dropped from the Euro 2004 list.
