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Soccer Shorts

■ France
`Players of color' scorned
French people do not fully identify with their national soccer team because there may be too many "players of color," far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen said on Monday. He also said in an interview that goalkeeper Fabien Barthez should be kicked out of the team if he refuses to sing the national anthem. "We feel that France doesn't totally recognize itself in this team," Le Pen said. "Maybe the coach exaggerated the proportion of players of color, maybe in this area he should have been a bit more careful, maybe he got carried away in his ideology," he said. The far-right leader made headlines before the 1998 World Cup for saying that France's multi-ethnic team was "artificial." The team went on to win the trophy.

■ Italy
Fashion stops for footie
The World Cup stopped the show for Versace in Milan on Monday as fashionistas watched Italy and Australia on a screen at the end of the catwalk and Donatella Versace herself only reluctantly broke away from the game. Amid cries of "Mamma Mia," hands clasped over heads and spontaneous applause, the giant screen was eventually removed to allow the display of the spring-summer 2007 menswear collection to start -- with a delay. After a brief backstage interview, platinum-haired Donatella Versace ran off to catch the rest of the game, bursting into a small room with a TV while shouting: "What's been happening?"

■ Coaching
Advocaat explains move
Dick Advocaat's decision to step down as South Korea manager and coach Zenit St Petersburg was made in order to work with players full time, the Dutch coach said yesterday. Advocaat did not renew his contract to coach South Korea after they were eliminated from the World Cup last week. "One of the reasons I didn't choose Korea or another club was that I am 58 and a little bit old," Advocaat told a news conference. Advocaat will lead his Russian team for the first time tomorrow against Dynamo Moscow. Zenit were supposed to be serious title contenders this year after being bought by Russian energy giant Gazprom, but they are languishing in mid-table in the premier league.

■ Italy
Pessotto in serious fall
Former Juventus and Italy defender Gianluca Pessotto fell out of a window at the club's headquarters yesterday and has been hospitalized in a serious condition, Italian news agencies reported. The 35-year-old Pessotto -- who had also represented Italy -- had played for 10 years with Juventus, which has been implicated in a massive match-fixing scandal. The ANSA news agency said he had recently been given a managerial position at the club. Nobody could immediately be reached at Juventus to comment.

■ Brazil
Coach slams card frenzy
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has joined the criticism of the stormy Portugal-Netherlands World Cup tie, saying that no soccer had been played in Sunday's game. "We came here to see football. Instead there were 16 yellow cards, four red cards and I don't think the ball was in play for more than 30 minutes. It was a very hard-fought game but the referee didn't curb the excesses of the players and there was no football," he said on Monday.

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