10 great World Cup rants

One man’s sound reasoning is another’s rant. Here Colm O’Connor remembers those men who lost their rag so memorably at the World Cup.

1: Luciano Gaucci

It was the club-versus-country battle Jung-Hwan Ahn could never win, but he was astounded by the reaction to his winner for Korea against Italy in 2002. The president of his Italian club, Perugia’s Luciano Gaucci, decided Ahn had behaved insolently. Gaucci raged: “I am a nationalist and I regard such behaviour not only as an affront to Italian pride but also an offence to a country which two years ago opened its doors to him.” He sacked Ahn, who has since rebuilt his career in Japanese and French football.