ANKARA, June 4: Turkey was awash with anger here Tuesday in the wake of the national team’s World Cup defeat to Brazil, with press launching stinging criticism of under-fire referee Kim Young-Joo.
South Korean official Kim awarded a dubious late penalty during Monday’s game in Ulsan to hand Brazil a 2-1 victory and also sent two Turkish players off.
“We were stabbed in the back by the Korean referee,” the Yeni Safak daily said, echoing nationwide frustration in the football-mad country, making an appearance at the World Cup for only the second time in 48 years.
The head of Turkey’s football federation, Haluk Ulusoy, added a historical dimension to the debate, noting that some 700 Turkish troops died fighting for South Korea in the Korean War in the 1950s.
“We gave a thousand martyrs for Korea 50 years ago. Now a single Korean killed 70 million Turks,” he told Anatolia news agency in Ulsan where the Turkish team is based.
The 86th-minute penalty decision in the Monday’s Group C game was shrouded in controversy with replays clearly showing the shirt-pulling by Alpay Ozalan that brought down Luizao happened well outside the box.
“Even the head of the Brazilian football federation who was sitting next to me laughed at the penalty decision. And FIFA President (Sepp) Blatter could not hide his dismay,” Ulusoy said.
“He (the referee) very easily showed cards to Turkish players and ensured that Brazil played comfortably,” he added.
Even Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz weighed into the row, blasting the referee as “bad” and the penalty decision as “wrong.”
But he also criticized Turkyes players for poor sportsmanship after the team finished the match with nine men.
“We have to think about that. Unfortunately we could not become successful in gentlemanship, we even failed in that,” Yilmaz said.
MADRID: Rivaldo’s theatrical behaviour was the target of universal criticism from Spanish newspapers on Tuesday.
“Rivaldo doesn’t need to resort to this sort of theatrical behaviour,” said Barcelona-based sports daily Mundo Deportivo, a sentiment echoed by most papers.
“Precisely because of who they are the four-times world champions should not resort to these sort of tactics,” El Pais said in its match report.
“His behaviour illustrated precisely why he has become distanced from both the national team and his club and why he lacks charisma amongst the fans.”
Spanish papers were also critical of the performance of South Korean referee.
“Robbery of the century,” read the Marca headline. “Brazil beat Turkey thanks to the dreadful performance of the referee.”—afp/Reuters