Collina to ref England

Soccernet: Sunday, May 26, 2002

Collina to ref England-Argentina
Stephen Davies

Pierluigi Collina, widely regarded as the best referee in the world, will take charge of England's potentially explosive clash with Argentina in Sapporo on June 7. FIFA have turned to the hugely experienced Italian, famous for his bulging-eyed stare and bald head, for a fixture which has been littered with flashpoints down the years.

The confrontation in Group F comes just four years after David Beckham was dismissed for lashing out at Diego Simeone at the last World Cup. More recently, Collina took control of England's momentous 5-1 thrashing of Germany in Munich.

Organisers have only decided who will officiate for the first two matches in the opening phase and Brazilian Carlos Simon has been awarded England's curtain-raiser against Sweden next Sunday.

Kim Milton Nielsen, the referee who showed Beckham red at Saint-Etienne, has been handed the plum Group E tie between Ireland and Germany on June 5.

Premiership referee Graham Poll's first assignment will be when he takes charge of the Group G match between Italy and Croatia on June 8.

The cash-strapped Argentine FA have reached a pre-World Cup financial agreement with national coach Marcello Bielsa that has privately enraged his backroom staff. They have just learned the boss, who has not been paid a peso of his salary over the last eight months, will receive a £107,000 lump sum at the end of the World Cup finals to stop him walking out on the job. That adds up to 15 per cent of his £714,000-a-year contract.