Slovakia Beats Russia; More Trouble in Streets
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Late Wednesday afternoon, seconds after Russia’s Denis Glushakov scored with a sharp, well-placed header, a fan in the Russian end of Stade Pierre-Mauroy lit a flare. The flame was dark red. The fan held it above his head while other spectators danced and cheered, the sparks licking the air while the smoke rose.
Stewards quickly confronted the fan and the flare was extinguished. But the questions now lingering over this European Championship group-stage match — which Slovakia won, 2-1 — are obvious: did the use of a flare, which is prohibited under UEFA rules, constitute another instance of a “crowd disturbance” by Russian supporters? And, if so, does that mean UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, will follow through on a last-chance warning it issued Tuesday and eject Russia from this tournament?
It seemed unlikely that a single fan, and a single flare, would send home an entire country, especially one that will host the next World Cup. Yet the vagueness of the language used by UEFA in giving Russia a “suspended disqualification” for the violent behavior of its fans after an earlier match in Marseille left murkiness over what might come next.
In an email, a spokesman for UEFA, Pedro Pinto, quickly sought to play down the possibility that the flare could be seen as a crowd disturbance. “A flare qualifies as the use of fireworks and not as crowd disturbances,” he said after the match.
The incident came near the conclusion of what had been a largely genial afternoon, with the vast majority of fans on both sides showing good will inside and outside the stadium. But after the match the police used tear gas in the center of Lille to disperse a brawling group of Russian and English fans.