England beats rival Turkey 2-0
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from April 2003.
Brought to you by
But the game boiled over during and after the game and also was marred by fan violence outside the stadium with 95 arrests.
Vassell, who replaced Michael Owen early in the second half, capitalized on England's pressure by scoring in the 76th minute and Beckham drove home an injury time penalty. After the match, tempers flared as some of the Turkish players, who disputed the penalty, jostled with the English players and coaches as they left the field at Sunderland's Stadium of Light.
According to TV reports, members of the England coaching team traded blows with Turkish defender Alpay Ozalan.
There was trouble involving England fans before the game.
Police said 95 were arrested for fighting among themselves and throwing bottles at the police and more England followers charged buses taking Turkish supporters to the stadium. According to the police one fan was injured and none of the arrests were Turkish followers.
Police on horseback and baton wielding officers charged the fans to make sure the buses got through. England head coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson dismissed the post-match incident as the players left the field.
"I don't know exactly what happened but I don't make anything of that," he said. "It happens in football." "Too much passion, too much feelings sometimes but I think it was a very important game for us and a very important game for Turkey because, if Turkey had won this game, they more or less thought they had won the group.
"I think it was a small surprise for Turkey that we played football as we did today." Beckham, who said he had been insulted by media suggestions that England lacked "passion" under Eriksson, said the game proved that idea was wrong.
"It was definitely a passionate game straight from the off," the Manchester United star said. "A few tackles sliding in, flying in. But it's great night for English football, a great night for the young players in the team. "We've played some excellent football, showed some courage and some passion and we're very happy."
He was disappointed that his first half yellow card ruled him out of England's next game. against Slovakia in June and suggested that the Turkish players had tried to influence the referee.
"When you've got players running to the referees asking for things, sometimes he caves in," he said.
