Romania: Romanian captain Gheorghe Hagi threw a tantrum at Charleroi airport yesterday as the team arrived in Belgium for Euro 2000 tomorrow.

The 35-year-old made his feelings known as the Romanian team made its way through the arrivals lounge. "Where are the UEFA people who should be looking after us?" fumed the Galatasaray star. "It's a lack of respect that has left us waiting in customs so long.

"Why have they checked our passports as if we were the lowest of the low? We have come here to play in Euro not some friendly with Belgium," railed the veteran.

Referees: Euro 2000 referees say they will clamp down on players "diving" and pretending they were fouled.

"If a referee identifies a simulated foul he must stop the game and give the player a yellow card," said Kenneth Ridden, a member of UEFA's refereeing committee yesterday.

Italian referee Pierluigi Collina said players should be ashamed of trying to cheat each other. "Simulating fouls is a great problem all over the world. It is a way of trying to gain advantage without using ability," said Collina, who will referee the Netherlands in their opening game with the Czech Republic on June 11th in Amsterdam.

Sex And Football: A leading psychologist yesterday poured cold water on the theory that sex before soccer can lead to a poor performance on the pitch.

"A man's life involves more than just football," said Professor Cary Cooper of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. His comments come in the wake of reports that a sex ban has been imposed on the Sweden squad at Euro 2000.

"I don't think you can enforce a blanket ban like this," said Cooper. "Surely it must be left to the individual. "Different people have different needs and some people need the support of their partner if they are feeling stressed. Sex is part and parcel of that relationship."

Economy And Football: Dutch economists have urged their team not to win Euro 2000 because victory in the July 2nd final would overheat the economy.

ABN-Amro said the feel-good factor in the winning country would boost consumer spending - a benefit for sluggish economies but an inflationary danger in the booming Netherlands.

"A further boost to confidence (in the Netherlands) could be harmful, and that is why we would like to call on the sense of national duty on the part of the Dutch players and managers," the economists said in an analysis entitled Soccernomics.