THE referee in charge of England's disastrous quarter-final tie has insisted he was right to rule out the Sol Campbell "goal" that would have put England in the Euro 2004 semi-finals.
Urs Meier, right, from Switzerland, became English fans' most hated man when he disallowed the header for a foul by John Terry on goalkeeper Ricardo.
Meier may lose the chance to officiate in the final of the competition after complaints from Uefa bosses - but today he insisted today there had been a "clear foul" by Terry.
He even suggested that the England team were used to playing under different rules and getting away with things they could not do at European level.
"England are looking for a scapegoat and they are looking to blame me," said Meier. "It was a clear foul. The keeper was in his goal area and must be protected.
"If the same thing happened again then I would do exactly the same. England should remember that we are not playing in the English Premier League."
* More than 100 Greater Manchester soccer fans were left in the dark half-way through England's match with Portugal.
A power cut hit homes in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, just at the time when the nation's hopes were still resting on David Beckham and his lads to snatch victory.
David Sidebottom, director of Manchester-based consumer watchdog Energywatch North West, who was among the victims, said: "Power was restored briefly but then it went off again, and we missed half the penalty shoot-out."
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Surely for key decisions we should have "3rd umpires" like we do in cricket. Not to be used in all occassions but when the referee has some doubt. This wrong decision has cost the country dealrly not only in terms of sport but in terms of monetary values too
the refree sucks
We were clearly robbed of a goal that have lead us to the semi-finals. Meier should at least be sacked from refering international competitions, and we should have a re-match with Portugal. Its the only way to settle this unfair decision.
Hello Everyone.
It was a clear foul by Terry on the Keeper. The fact remains that England will continue to remain a perennial underachivers under Erikson. Erikson has produced the magic expected of him. Please hire a new coach if you are to make it to the 2006 world cup.
The credentials of Eriksons,has not transformed the English national team into a winning one. He is not a brave Coach. He is afraid to make changes . The referee handling of the match was just and fair.
David James,Beckham,Scholes,the neviles should retire from the national team with immediate effect.
Thanks
Dickson
Mtn NIgeria
Maritime house ,
Apapa
Located near my house we have a training establishment for guide dogs,just along the road however,I doubt that this "cuckoo ref" could find it in broad daylight with A signpost 10 Feet high to guide him.Also why is he banging on about european rules beig different to "the place they come from" the majority of English players are seasoned Euro pro's /and the vast percentage of players for the other National teams play in the 2 Premier leagues. This guy really needs a reality check and remove his head from his nether regions, we were robbed because of ineptitude.Simple as that I do hope he isn't allowed to ref the final or any other International. send him back to the gnomes in Zurich.
I think that ref was a cheat there was nothing wrong with that goal he was probably offered a nice chateau to keep us out! he was biased
The Referee is a baloon, the laws of the game are the same all over the World the Referees comment about there is a different rule in England just shows how ignorant he is about the Laws of Football. He should never be given another game let alone an International
How dare he say say we are looking for a scape-goat. Okay it wasn't the best game played by England, but considering the heat we did well. The ref lost his bottle and now looking for his own scape-gost in Terry.
Referee's should be more accountable for their actions; other members of the Euro 2004 are and often in fromt of millions as they give press conferences, where they are made to account for their teams play and final score.
Play should have stopped and an adjudicator should have been called in.
He deserves to be fined and suspended from x number of Euro Tours. He should have been taken off when they played the silver goal.
Glad to hear he won't be sabotaging any further games this tournament.
UEFA must look at the way decisions on the pitch are made, with the referee being made more accountable.
He's gonna need plenty of Horlicks over the next few weeks.
Ooooohhh!!! but we DO blame you ref!!!