You are in > manchester.com  > News > Sven bemoans "harsh" red card

General Sports News

Sven bemoans "harsh" red card

08/10/2005

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has declared himself "very very happy" with his side's lacklustre win over Austria and suggested the FA may appeal against David Beckham's red card.

The England captain was sent off for two bookable offences in quick succession at his former stomping ground at Old Trafford, but replays suggest the Real Madrid midfielder was harshly treated.

And Eriksson admitted his unhappiness about Luis Medina Cantalejo's decision to show yellow cards to Beckham for raising his arms against Andreas Ibertsberger and then a tackle on the same player minutes later.

"From the bench I thought it was very very harsh," the Swede told the BBC afterwards.

"He has his arms out but he's not trying to hurt him. It's a free kick but nothing else. And the second I don't think David really touched him.

"Maybe we can appeal against this."

Many observers have been critical of the lacklustre performance by the England team today, which was won only by a first-half penalty from Frank Lampard after Michael Owen was felled in the area, but Eriksson professed his happiness with the performance.

"As a performance I thought we did very well while we had 11 against 11 men," he added.

"I'm very very happy with the boys' performance."

© Adfero Ltd