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Football
An England fan holds a banner reading "Goodbye Japan perfect host" after England lost to Brazil in a World Cup quarterfinal in Shizuoka. English fans earned the praise of FIFA during the World Cup. — Reuters
In the past, English supporters have been involved in acts of violence, and in the build-up to the World Cup, Japanese newspapers warned readers about a possible invasion of soccer hooligans — which never materialised. ``On behalf of FIFA, I would like to compliment the English fans for their behaviour not just last night but throughout the World Cup,'' Lennart Johansson, chairman of the FIFA World Cup organising committee, said in a statement on Saturday, a day after England lost to Brazil 2-1 to be eliminated from the tournament. ``We always hear quickly and loudly enough when the fans do not behave. So let's make plenty of noise this time that their behaviour has been perfect. ``They showed that real football fans know how to enjoy the game, support their team, celebrate when they win, take defeat when they lose,'' he said. Johansson went on to say that problems that occur at some soccer matches are caused by troublemakers who are not interested in the game itself but just want to give a bad reputation to genuine football lovers. The British embassy in Tokyo has estimated that between 8,000 and 8,500 England fans are in Japan, but unofficial estimates put that number closer to 10,000. Bonus, but no blank checks for Turks: The president of Turkey's soccer federation denied media reports in Osaka that he will give blank checks to each Turkish player for carrying the country to its first World Cup quarterfinals, but said that some sort of reward is likely. ``I don't have means to give a blank check to them, especially amid an economic crisis,'' Haluk Ulusoy said. ``We know that our players are not playing for money but we will of course try to give them a bonus.'' Hate mails for FIFA: FIFA has received about 400,000 hateful e-mails from Italy fans irate over refereeing in the Italy-South Korea World Cup match. ``Some of them (were) virulent, some quite abusive, some of them very threatening, some of them quite disturbing,'' Keith Cooper, a FIFA spokesman said in Yokohoma on Saturday. The Internet traffic was so great that it crashed FIFA's e-mail system server, he said. Many Italians blame the Italian team's 2-1 loss on Tuesday to South Korea, on poor refereeing and claim that the Italians were victims of a string of bad calls thoughout the tournament. Soccer vs sumo: The rising popularity of soccer in Japan, whose team reached the last 16 at the World Cup, could take some fans away from the nation's traditional sport of sumo, a former wrestler says. Mainoumi, known for using technique to bring down much larger opponents, said that while soccer is the world's most popular sport, sumo is just Japanese. Still never played: Veteran England defender Martin Keown has now been to two World Cup finals, but the Arsenal player still has never played in any match at soccer's premier event. ``I have now joined the illustrious group of players who have been to two World Cups and not played — in fact, I think Viv Anderson was the only other one,'' Keown told The Daily Telegraph. ``Though I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at international level, it is unlikely I will be involved with England in the future. It is time I let someone else have a go,'' said Keown, who was also on the squad in 1998. _ AP
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