Van Nistelrooij faces UEFA inquiry

1 July 2004

AMSTERDAM — Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooij faces a UEFA investigation into an “undiplomatic exchange” with referee Anders Frisk following the Netherlands’ Euro 2004 semi-final defeat in Portugal on Wednesday.

UEFA confirmed on Thursday evening it had opened disciplinary proceedings and would deal with the matter on Friday.

Van Nistelrooij who had a goal disallowed for being off-side in the Dutch 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Portuguese clearly felt the referee was biased. Various media sources reported he had a heated argument with Frisk after the final whistle.

Later, the Manchester United player told reporters the referee had consistently ruled in favour of the host team in 50-50 situations.

“It’s unbelievable how the referee ruled everything in favour of Portugal. He was a real home whistler,” Van Nistelrooij was reported saying by CNN.

“Every 50-50 situation was for them, but we cannot do anything about it.”

But he did admit that the end result in the match was probably the right one: “It’s hard to say whether we were outclassed, but though I’m really down and it’s a bitter pill to swallow, maybe we have to say that Portugal just played better”.

This is the second controversy surrounding referring decisions during Euro 2004.

Swiss referee Urs Meier was pilloried in the British media and received death threats after he disallowed what should have been the winning goal for England in their quarter-final match against Portugal. The match eventually went to extra time and penalties, with the Portuguese again emerging victorious.

Subject: Dutch news