Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Why America May Never Fall in Love With Soccer

David Beckham comes to America to help make soccer the "next big thing", but then something like this happens to one of our country's best soccer players while in a country that supposedly loves its soccer. Is this how they treat the players for the away team in Montenegro? Europe?

Updated: Aug. 8, 2007

UEFA will look into reports of 'monkey' chants


NYON, Switzerland -- European soccer's governing body is looking into reports of alleged racist taunting of American midfielder DaMarcus Beasley by fans in Montenegro during a Champions League qualifier.

The taunts occurred during Tuesday night's game, when he scored his first goal for Glasgow Rangers in a 1-0 victory over FK Zeta in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro. A small section of fans made "monkey chants'' aimed at Beasley and teammate Jean-Claude Darcheville, according to Rangers' Web site.

"We are aware of the case, and now we will first wait for several reports to come in,'' Robert Faulkner, a spokesman for the Union of European Football Associations, said Wednesday.

UEFA will examine reports from the referee, the match delegates and possibly the security officer.

"It happened to me a few years ago when PSV played Red Star in Belgrade, and I can't believe racist abuse is still in football,'' Beasley was quoted as saying on Rangers' Web site. "People can come to a match and jeer, but the racist thing just has to get out of football.''

The 25-year-old Beasley, who was loaned from PSV Eindhoven to Manchester City last season, joined Rangers in June.

Beasley, who made his competitive debut for Rangers in a Scottish Premier League game last weekend, scored on a 20-yard shot in the 81st minute. Rangers advanced 3-0 in the home-and-home, total-goals series and plays Red Star Belgrade or Estonia's Levadia Tallinn for a berth in the Champions League.


Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

No comments: