Brazilian coach kicking himself after call for violence

RIO DE JANEIRO: Flamengo coach Joel Santana is facing disciplinary action after a pitchside microphone caught him apparently telling his players to kick the opposition during Sunday's 3-0 defeat by Santos.

"If they start clowning around, you have give them a good kick," he was heard to say late in the match in an incident widely shown on Brazilian television on Monday.

Santana, who was starting his fourth stint as coach of the troubled club, appeared angry at the way Santos passed the ball around at the end of the game.

A spokesman for Brazilian football's disciplinary tribunal said Santana would face a charge of publicly inciting his players to break the rules.

Santana said on Monday that his words had been misconstrued.

"I'm surprised by the repercussion of one word that I said," he said in a television interview.

"It was a football expression which slipped out. What I wanted to say was for my team to go in hard, I wasn't asking anyone to use violence.

"There was no aggression. I'm not going to order my players to kick anyone and it was the case that nobody got booked."

Agencies

(China Daily 08/08/2007 page24)