Football: Charlton blames weather

JACK CHARLTON, the Republic of Ireland manager, said the extreme heat and humidity were largely responsible for his side's defeat yesterday.

'It was much as we expected: a very hard, very tough game and my players suffered in the heat, particularly before half-time when Mexico scored their goal,' Charlton said. 'We ran ourselves into the ground today to try and get something from the game and we came very close. But it is not the end of the world.'

Charlton showed anger at suggestions by Mexican reporters that he was blaming the heat for defeat and not the Latin American team. He said: 'The players worked so hard, but they could not close them down as fast as they do in Europe. It was very difficult. Next time, we'll play them in the winter and see what happens. It was 100 degrees in the stadium today.'

When a Mexican reporter reminded Charlton that in their last meeting, in Dublin in 1986 during the European winter, the teams drew 0-0, he grew more angry. 'I am not blaming the weather. It was just part of it. It was difficult to handle. We lost steam towards half-time and it cost us the game. My team worked harder than ever before in a football match. A good team beat us today. And it had to be a good team to beat us. We played a very good side today. But you Mexicans don't seem to want to listen to what I say. Go and write what you want, you're going to anyway.

'I'm not going to answer any more of your questions. I am going to talk to the Irish lads here now.' With that, Charlton ended his part in the media briefing and walked into a scrum of Irish and British reporters, his demeanour entirely different from that of the relaxed man who had joked in the same room two days earlier.