CNN's article

I think he's pretty accurate. Portugal played great football and lost due on a handball that could have been called either way. As angry as they may have been, the team's behavior afterward was very poor. You don't touch the ref no matter how pissed you may be. The conspiracy claims are yet again another claim that has little substantial backing. If you are going to claim conspiracy and foulplay then you must have substantial proof. Other wise you simply look like a poor-sport and a crybaby.

I second to that.

You should have heard what the greek press wrote.

A commentantor for the National channel (Amo, I'm referring to Theo), stupid as I think he is, said something at least I found wise: he said (live on TV after the game) that he had never been a fan of France, Zidane or Juve, he was supporting Portugal all the way, but for him, the whole mess was all Xavier's fault. Why? Because although he knew what he had done, he didn't admit it to his teammates and left them to make a fuss about it to the ref., which cost them dearly in the end, both personally AND to the Federation.

Good point - lets just forget about Euro 2000 now - whats done is done and we must learn from out mistakes.

Perhaps inexperience in International competitions didn't help our mentality in the France shambles either.

You must take SI and CNN articles and read them for what they are...most of the time crap! I mean these articles are written by the same writers that see nothing wrong with baseball managers and players arguing and bumping umpires, but when a referee in a soccer game makes a dumb decision it is wrong for the players to argue and bump the referee ! Please give me a break. Those players acted in the heat of the moment, what they did was not cool but nowhere worthy of the suspensions they received! It's hipocrasy....

I agree. Disciplinary actions were needed but the kind of suspensions handed out were unprecedented. Maybe Uefa is trying to get tough or something. Too late, if you ask me.

**** uefa, they've no credibility left, a joke.

i hope mr aigner hasn't got the nerve to turn up in portugal in 4 years time.

re 2004: the tournament will continue with the "fair play" theme but instead of ranking the teams, this time the referees and senior uefa officials will be voted for. As in 2000, uefa will sit as judge, jury and prosecution in any dispute as this promotes "unity, harmony and fair play."

what does every1 have against portugal the players were fully justified after the match the ref had had and then topped it of with the penalty plus the player hardly touched the ref

SLB,even if the decision was wrong (that on everyone mind to judge) the Portugal players shouldnt have reacted that way.We,as funs do understand them because if our team got the same decision we would have reacted the same,but the ref is the boss over there.If UEFA didnt give the examble by killing the portuguese players of,every player on earth would think its ok to jump on ref;s back if they dont like a decision.And if they got punished they would say "why us? portugal did this and that and got away".

Its a matter of policy more than justice I feel...

o.k the plsyers did over react but they hardly touched the ref and u see players disputing descions all the time.
the ref was a joke throughout the game and so the players got overheated and the suspensions that they got was a joke

If getting heated was a viable excuse them murder would be legal. It doesn't matter how bad the ref was and how upset and disappointed the players were. You can't manhandle the ref. There's no such thing as "barely touching the ref". You touch the ref and you risk serious consequences. It's that way in any organized sport and it has to be. Otherwise, the refs would get killed out on the field every time the players were upset. Suspensions were justifiable, although I think the lengths are very long. I guess Uefa is trying to make an example out Portugal. That's unfortunate. If the governing bodies of football were even remotely consistent, then they wouldn't feel the need to make such statements.