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| June 15, 2002 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1423 |
Russian coach resigns
MOSCOW, June 14: Russia’s head coach Oleg Romantsev sent a letter of resignation to the Russian Football Union following his side’s elimination from the World Cup, media reports said here Friday.
Team press officer Alexander Lvov said all of Romantsev’s assistants were also quitting after the team’s 3-2 loss to Belgium knocked the Russians out.
A draw would have sent them through into the last 16.
“It was not an immediate or emotional decision,” Lvov said. “The coaches discussed their move for almost 40 minutes before they decided to resign.”
Romantsev’s decision was not a surprise as he earlier promised to quit if his side failed to progress to the second round.
“If the team does not qualify for the second stage then the coach has to quit,” Romantsev told reporters even before the tournament started three weeks ago.
Romantsev said then it was normal practice for the national coach to step down if the team did not survive the group stage.
Meanwhile, thousands of Russian soccer fans watching the crunch tie on a giant screen opposite the Kremlin greeted their team’s ignominious exit from the tournament with bitter resignation.
The mood in Moscow’s Manezh Square was totally different from the rioting sparked by Russia’s previous defeat to Japan last Sunday when hundreds of drunken supporters went on the rampage.
2,000 police were out in force in the square in order to avoid a repeat of Sunday’s rioting.—AFP
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