Crouch: I pulled Sancho’s locks

In an interview with journalist Rob Draper of the Mail yesterday, the six-foot seven-inch tall Crouch made the confession.

The article under the headline “Oh well, at least Crouch will be strutting his stuff again” on pages four and five stated:

“Crouch also confesses that his breakthrough goal against Trinidad was lucky to be allowed. The striker was seen to tug the dreadlocks of defender Brent Sancho as he climbed to head the opener in England’s 2-0 win.”

The article quoted Crouch as saying “Yeah, I did it but I honestly didn’t realise until after the game. It must have been instinctive. When I watched German TV that night, though, I knew. They constantly repeated it.”

It appears that the incident will be on the sports pages of the British press on a regular basis similar to the Diego Maradona incident when the Argentina player handled the ball to score a crucial goal against England in a quarter-final encounter in the 1986 World Cup tournament in Mexico.

England were knocked out of the tournament after the controversial goal which is often referred to as the “Hand of God” goal. In the same newspaper an article by Patrick Collins, Chief Sports Writer in Berlin for the Mail yesterday wrote under the headline “Cheats? Talk to Shearer and Lineker.”

Collins was reviewing comments by the two ex-England players concerning the England/Portugal match.

Collins wrote: “Incidentally, we haven’t mentioned England’s match with Trinidad and Tobago, the one in which Peter Crouch headed the crucial first goal after yanking aside the dreadlocks of defender Brent Sancho.

“I don’t recall Shearer and Lineker mentioning that piece of cheating, either. Probably slipped their minds.”

Trinidad and Tobago continue to get good reviews from the British press and football fans for their performance in the three match in their debut at the World Cup Finals in Germany.