Papers in Portugal said the world might have seen the ignominious ending of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s tenure as national team coach after the Brazilian threw a punch at one of Serbia’s players following an ill-tempered 1-1 draw in Lisbon. The embarrassing outburst added insult to injury as Portugal slumped to a third consecutive draw in European Championship qualifying and the second in a row at home. Portugal is third in Group A with 17 points after four wins, five draws and one loss, two points behind second-place Finland and five points behind group leader Poland.
After the match, as Portugal midfielder Ricardo Quaresma became tangled with Ivica Dragutinovic, Scolari came up behind the Serbian midfielder and threw a jab that Dragutinovic says brushed the side of his face. “I don’t know what the pictures show, but I didn’t touch him, I didn’t even bump up against him,” Scolari said. “He was going to hit Quaresma and I jumped in to stop him.”
On Thursday, UEFA said it was opening a disciplinary investigation into the matter, which would be ruled on, on Sept. 19. Serbia coach Javier Clemente expects the Portuguese coach to be fined and suspended. “I don’t understand it when a world champion coach comes onto the field to hit an adversary,” Clemente said. Portugal’s Secretary of State for Sport, Laurentino Dias, agreed: “The result and Portugal’s performance disappointed and saddened me, and the behavior at the end of the match must be censured.” One Portuguese paper, the Record, said, “If Scolari doesn’t resign … someone will have to do something about him.”