THE CROATIAN FOOTBALL Federation (CFF) have apologised to their English counterparts in advance of tonight’s group B qualifying fixture in Lisbon after conceding that Sven-Göran Eriksson’s black players are likely to be the victims of racist chanting. Uefa, governing body of the European game, are already investigating events during Croatia’s 2-2 draw with France last week, alleged to involve right-wing extremists.
An element of the hard-core support which have followed Otto Baric’s team to Portugal made monkey noises when players such as Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira touched the ball in Leiria last Thursday and Zoran Cvrk of the CFF has admitted that Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell may receive similar treatment. Cvrk also criticised Uefa for failing to offer the Croatian authorities guidance and assistance on the issue.
“Some of our fans brought shame on our country during the France game,” Cvrk said. “They are not violent, but their chants are unacceptable. We have had a very difficult cultural past but that is still no excuse. We must now try to ensure that it does not happen again when we play England. We will ask them not to do it as we deplore racism but there is little we can do to stop it. It is more than being impolite and we apologise if it happens again.
“But we have admired what the English FA and police have done to stop fans travelling and we asked the international authorities to help us but we did not get the support we needed. We are introducing legislation to stop it but we accept there is a bad presence here. We just hope Uefa will help us by strengthening their rules in future.”
Uefa have fined the CFF €6,600 (£4,335) and reprimanded two of the Croatia medical staff after Ivica Olic, the CSKA Moscow midfield player, tested positive for methylprednisolone, a banned substance, after the game against France. Olic, 24, a second-half substitute, had sustained a rib injury in a friendly international with Denmark on June 5 and two days later was administered a pain blocker which included methylprednisolone, but Croatia doctors forgot to complete the necessary therapeutic use exemption form that would have allowed the treatment.