Ukraine in dock over 'racism' and flares
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Your support makes all the difference.The Football Association will lodge a formal complaint this week to Fifa about flares which were repeatedly thrown into England's penalty area by Ukraine fans on a night in which racist chants were also directed at Carlton Cole as Fabio Capello's side fell to their first defeat in a competitive match in his tenure.
Robert Green's box was littered with at least 20 flares before the goalkeeper's 14th-minute challenge on Artem Milevskyi which saw him dismissed, and Capello was incensed by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina's initial decision to send off the wrong player – Rio Ferdinand. Capello remonstrated with the fourth official, though the referee was quickly alerted to his error. "I think this is really big mistake from the referee," Capello said after the 1-0 defeat.
The Ukrainian fans' conduct led to Tannoy announcements at half-time warning that the game would be abandoned if more missiles were thrown. Capello said he was "proud of my team because in the second half we played very well".
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