Hughes blasts FIFA dithering

MARK HUGHES took a swipe at FIFA yesterday as he finalised plans for Wales’ crunch Euro 2004 clash in Azerbaijan without seven of his star men.

The Wales chief has seen his combative midfield decimated by injuries with key men like Robbie Savage and Mark Pembridge forced to withdraw for the clash in Baku.

One problem near the top of Hughes’ list concerns the position of Gary Speed and whether he should move him from his newly-established place at left-back to bolster midfield.

But with youngster Danny Gabbidon also battling to prove his fitness, Hughes is keen to keep any changes to a minimum.

He said: ‘‘We have lost a lot in midfield, but we have internationals who can come in. We have strength and people who have been involved.

‘‘My initial thought is not to change the side any more than I have to, we have had enough disruption already.’’

That suggests Speed will stay in defence and Hughes will bring Portsmouth’s Carl Robinson and Bradford’s Paul Evans into his midfield.

With the side now unbeaten in over a year and sitting at the top of Group Nine with a 100% record, another win would take them five points clear of Italy.

But with a patched-up side, which could also include Cardiff’s Robert Earnshaw on the right in Craig Bellamy’s absence, Hughes knows they will have their work cut out even against the bottom side in the group. It would have been so much better had the wrangle over the four-day rule for the release of players gone in Hughes’ favour.

And for that he blames FIFA’s indecision.

He said: ‘‘The one thing I was disappointed with was the fact that we couldn’t get a definitive answer from FIFA regarding the rules,” he said.

Meanwhile, Scotland manager Berti Vogts has called on his players to prove they have been born again on the national stage and back up his claims that earlier defeats were meaningless.

Tonight’s friendly with Portugal in Braga represents the Scots’ sternest test since the German began the job in March.

The then world champions slaughtered Scotland 5-0 to begin a win-less run of games which was only halted last month with back-to-back victories over Iceland and Canada.

Those successes boosted confidence levels within the squad that had been dangerously low following the draw in the Faroe Islands in September.

Comparisons with the Paris game and tomorrow’s test against the 11th-best team in the world were inevitable but Vogts was quick to dismiss the French defeat, and subsequent losses to Nigeria, South Korea and South Africa last season, as nothing but experimental exercises, adding that the real start to his managerial reign came when Denmark came to Hampden in August.

He said: ‘‘My first match was against the Danish side in August, not the match against France. And the tour to the Far East, that was not the Scottish national team.

‘‘We played very badly against Denmark but after the second half in the Faroes I think the progress started.”

Wales (probable side): P. Jones, Delaney, Melville, Gabbidon or Page, Speed, Earnshaw, Davies, Robinson, Evans, Giggs, Hartson.