• Coach angry after team's exit from Euro 2012
• Blokhin says England have 50-50 chance against Italy
The Ukraine coach, Oleh Blokhin, followed up his team's exit from Euro 2012 with an extraordinary argument with a local journalist over his side's performance.
Blokhin had been prickly before the game. However, that was nothing compared to what happened after his side had crashed out of the competition. First Blokhin suggested the journalist should "come outside and have a man talk". Then, when the press conference had finished, Blokhin pointed to the journalist, then the door and said: "Let's go this one on one. You want to go with me? Let's have a 'man conversation'."
The former Soviet Union forward added: "You should respect that I played football. Did you play football? Respect my job and me. I won't allow anyone to criticise my team, about [Oleh] Gusev or [Andriy] Shevchenko. If you're a man, go with me. One on one."
Asked about England's chances at Euro 2012, Blokhin said that winning Group D, and avoiding Spain in the quarter-final, would be of enormous benefit to Roy Hodgson's team. "It is 50-50 against [England's quarter-final opponents] Italy," he said. "If England had played against Spain, it would have been much harder. This is not the same Italy that won the World Cup [in 2006], so let's see how it goes."
Blokhin expressed his disappointment at Marko Devic's disallowed goal, which appeared to cross the line before it was cleared by John Terry. It would have brought the hosts level with 30 minutes remaining and given them a chance of salvaging their status in the competition.
"There are five referees on the pitch and the ball is 50cm behind the goalline. Why do we need five officials?" he said. "They don't spot [Andy] Carroll's elbow, either? Or that Terry fouls one of my players in the back?
"[Pierluigi] Collina told us that every movement with an elbow is a card, and every foul from behind is a yellow card. And yet where was that today? You write what you want – you've seen it. I don't want to criticise the referee." Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
