Newslines: Asprilla in Paris

Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla has publicly apologised for criticising team tactics and asked coach Hernan Dario Gomez to take him back into the World Cup squad.

Just 24 hours after being kicked out of the finals, the temperamental striker said he would behave himself if Gomez invited him to return.

"If the team coach considers my participation to be important, I am ready to submit willingly and in a disciplined way to the rules demanded in a World Cup," he said in a statement read out to reporters in Paris.

A Colombian team source had said on Wednesday the Parma striker was heading for Bogota, but Asprilla once again confounded everyone and turned up in Paris.

"The coach decided to kick me out of the squad because of what I said," Asprilla said. "Nobody wants to continue being a part of this team more than I do.

"With respect . . . through these words I would like to apologise to the president, to his executive, to the coach, to my colleagues and above all to the Colombian people."

Colombian president Ernesto Samper had tried to mediate in the furore over Asprilla's outburst, telephoning Colombian soccer federation president Alvaro Fina to ask him to persuade Gomez to change his mind.

But Fina said on Wednesday that Asprilla's remarks had been "the straw that broke the camel's back" and he had to agree with Gomez's decision.

Asprilla, a superb ball player who has frequently clashed with authority, was furious after being substituted five minutes from the end of Colombia's 1-0 defeat against Romania on Monday and stormed off to the changing rooms.

He then criticised the coach in an interview with a Colombian radio reporter in Paris during a day off on Tuesday, saying other players had played worse than him and had not been substituted because they were "untouchables".

He was apparently targeting veteran playmaker Carlos Valderrama, who had a poor game against Romania.

Colombia's next game is against Tunisia in Montpellier next Monday. England lead the group, ahead of Romania.

Asprilla has a history of tantrums, including walking out in 1993 after he was dropped for a qualifying match. Gomez announced yesterday he would stand down after the finals in protest at criticism from the media and from Colombia's powerful clubs.

"I was calm when I came (to France) but it looks like to come with Colombia to the World Cup is a punishment, to suffer and not to enjoy," he said at the team's base.

He still had a good word to say for Asprilla however, calling him a "good lad" whom he liked and respected.