World Cup Corner

Croatia trio Bosko Balaban, Ivica Olic and Dario Srna have been expelled from their Euro 2008 qualifying squad and fined ($5,232 each) after leaving the team’s training camp to go partying in a nightclub. They were kicked out of the squad by manager Slaven Bilic after discovering the players were not in their camp in Slovenia.

Although we will now be short of seven players, we are travelling to Moscow without these three.

The same problems had Sweden’s coach Lars Lagerback who has sent home three players from the squad to face Liechtenstein. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, defender Olof Mellberg and midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson have all been asked to leave the training camp in Gothenburg, where the team are preparing for this week’s Euro 2008 qualifier, after staying out late on Sunday evening.

All the players were back for the late evening gathering, but three of the players stayed out later and returned to the hotel at about 1:15. It is the consideration of the team’s leadership that the three broke the common agreement and it has therefore been decided that the three have to leave the team in Gothenburg immediately.