UEFA punished Yugoslav national team player Sinisa Mihajlovic by one match pause because of his being expelled at the match in the first round of the "C" group, "EURO 2000" in Charleroi against Slovenia national team (3-3).
Accordingly, Mihajlovic will not be able to play for the "blue team" in the match of the 2nd round of the European championship on Sunday, June 18th, in Liege against Norway national team.
Rome, June 14th - Italian media are thrilled by match in the 1st round of "C" group at this year's European championship between Yugoslavia and Slovenia (3:3) in Belgian town Charleroi.
Those two teams presented Europe with a tremendous football evening, this being the mutual assessment of all who have watched this "heart attack match".
"That was a football as fantastic as the unexpected resurrection of Yugoslavia, which managed to tie the score and almost reach the victory within a few minutes, with only 10 players and at the moment when they seemed definitely beaten and on their knees", the commentator of the ANSA agency stressed.
In addition to the unique assessment of the Italian media that the match between Yugoslavia and Slovenia was a real football spectacle, everyone also agreed that, with the coach alchemy of Vujadin Boskov, imagination and talent of the players, but with yet unestablished team identity, Yugoslav national team can produce the surprise of any kind.
In the text entitled "Slovenia hit by three goals in six minutes", "Guardian" described the match between Yugoslavia and Slovenia as the most dramatic tie of the European championship so far, stressing that a 10-man Yugoslav team staged a comeback of heroic proportions after taking three goals, one due to their own mistake, and after the expelling of Sinisa Mihajlovic.
According to the journal's assessment, joy of the Slovenians at being in the finals of a major tournament for the first time was obvious. To be meeting the country from which they gained their independence in 1991 was a bonus, to take the lead after 22 minutes, a dream. Promise of Slovenia's captain and double goal-getter of the match, Zlatko Zahovic that his team would be "exhausting every atom throughout the 90 minutes" came true, "Guardian" stressed and concluded that the expelling of Mihajlovic was a point when the Yugoslavs decided they had had enough humiliation and after which they staged an amazing comeback.