Croatians Take Exception to Mexican Coach’s Criticism

YOKOHAMA, Japan —  Whether the aim was to motivate his team against a favored opponent or simply to play with some Croatian minds a bit, Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre’s dismissive assessment of the Croatian squad has drawn an emotional response from the opposition.

After hearing that Aguirre had described Croatia as not “a really strong team” that is weak in defense, Croatia Coach Mirko Jozic shot back, saying Mexico “should show us some respect. When the coaches of Italy and Germany tell us that this generation of players is talented, that means something, and I think Mexico should respect us, too.”

Mexico opens World Cup group play against Croatia on Monday in Niigata. Croatia, which finished third in the 1998 World Cup, is favored, along with Italy, to advance from Group G. Several days earlier, Croatia midfielder Anthony Seric told Reuters, “We’re pretty confident [of advancing]. After we win the first match ... then that will make life so much easier, even to play against harder teams, because there is less pressure.”

That might have prompted the provocative remarks from Aguirre, who told reporters at the team’s training base in Mikuni, “I think this Croatian team here is not as strong as the one that placed third in France in 1998. It does not look like a very strong team.”

Aguirre said he and assistant coach Ignacio Ambriz “know the Croatians in detail.” Aguirre called Croatia suspect defensively, saying that the only defender who impresses him is Robert Kovac. “[Boris] Zivkovic does not please me and [midfielder Robert] Jarni is more of an attacker.”

Jozic called the ’98 team, which lost to eventual champion France in the semifinals, “a golden generation. For a small country with a small population to achieve what they did, it was special.

“It is a lot to expect for us to do that again.”

When informed of Aguirre’s comments, Croatia forward Davor Suker, the leading scorer at the ’98 World Cup, told Reuters, “That’s excellent news. We will also see what they say after the game.”

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Ireland has submitted a late request to add Celtic midfielder Colin Healy to its roster to replace captain Roy Keane, who was kicked off the squad after a series of disputes with Coach Mick McCarthy.

The Football Assn. of Ireland said it had to wait to see how the Keane situation would be resolved before filing its request to FIFA. Such a request, so close to the tournament, is considered a longshot. FIFA rules allow for replacements only in cases of injury or extraordinary circumstances, such as a death in the family.

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Scientists in Northern Ireland, after hours of exhaustive research and statistical analysis, have determined that Italy will reach this year’s World Cup final and lose.

And who will beat the Italians?

Either Argentina or Brazil--the study was somewhat inconclusive.

Scientists at the University of Ulster used two methods of research. The first involved a focus group analysis of teams’ strengths and weaknesses, history, even the status of England midfielder David Beckham’s broken foot. The group’s conclusion: Argentina over Italy in the final.

The second method was a computer simulation of the tournament. Researchers played the tournament 2,000 times. Result: Brazil over Italy in the final.

“The result of our research is a classic case of head versus heart--number-crunching against subjective judgment,” Peter O’Donoghue of the university told the BBC. “It will be interesting to see how the tournament pans out and whether the human brain or the computer is the best way analyzing such unpredictable results as the World Cup.”