WORLD CUP 2002: Irish fans have been voted the best in the business by World Cup organisers. JAWOC tournament director Junji Ogura said: "They have provided amazing support to their team. I believe they have taught all Japanese fans the joy of supporting football.
"We were all very disappointed to see them bow out of the competition. They were the best supporters we have had at the World Cup."
However, Italian soccer has been accused of making itself a laughing stock with its reaction to defeat to South Korea in the second round. The criticism came from the general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation Peter Velappan.
Many Italians reacted with fury to Tuesday's shock 2-1 defeat, accusing the referee and FIFA of fixing the match, while Serie A club Perugia sacked Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored winning goal.
Italian state broadcaster RAI is considering taking legal action against FIFA. In a statement, RAI said it had asked its legal department to study building a case showing that FIFA was responsible for the poor quality refereeing. RAI said the case would claim that refereeing errors "were so blatant they could only be described as the product of serious fraud".
Velappan said: "As of now the whole world is laughing at the behaviour of Perugia, the Italians and their conspiracy theory to argue against their defeat."
He said Italy lost to a better team and should learn to accept defeat before going on to describe Perugia's action as childish, saying the club should have been proud of the player. "The Italians are just looking for scapegoats for their defeat and Jung-hwan is just that," Velappan said.
Meanwhile Italy's defeated squad straggled back to Milan yesterday to a greeting from a few hundred supporters, having narrowly avoided an angry confrontation at Seoul airport with Byron Moreno, who refereed the controversial match against South Korea.
The Italy players told reporters they had yelled insults at Moreno, but physical contact was avoided as Moreno smiled and hurried away. "But if I hit him. What would happen? He would get me banned," defender Fabio Cannavaro told the ANSA news agency.
Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who quit as Japan coach, has expressed an interest in the France job, should Roger Lemerre quit next month, as is widely predicted. "No one has ever contacted me about the French post. But of course that would be an offer which I would be unable to refuse," Troussier told L'Equipe.
Newcastle United yesterday completed an £8.5 million swoop for Portuguese teenager Hugo Viana. The 19-year-old Sporting Lisbon midfielder agreed the move after undergoing a medical. He becomes Britain's most expensive teenager, breaking the record Coventry established when they paid Wolves £6 million for Robbie Keane in 1999.
Landon Donovan is to relaunch his career with German club Bayer Leverkusen after the World Cup finals. Donovan, the 20-year-old USA midfielder who is expected to play against Germany in the World Cup quarter-final today, first joined Leverkusen in February 1999.
He quit Germany two years later after failing to make the grade and has since played for San Jose Earthquakes in the Major League Soccer (MLS). US coach Bruce Arena said Donovan had been too young when he first went to Germany. "Donovan went to Germany at 18 years of age. He was not ready for that environment so it was good that he came back to the MLS," he said.
Spain will wear black armbands tomorrow in their quarter-final with South Korea in honour of longtime refereeing boss Jose Plaza, who died on Wednesday.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)