Romashchenko quits Belarus

Midfielder Maksim Romashchenko has retired from international football after being substituted in the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier against Slovenia.

'Feeling hurt'
The FC Dinamo Moskva player was taken off after 51 minutes of the 4-2 victory on 11 October with his team 2-1 down and now says he will not play for the national side again. "They say I am feeling hurt," said Belarus's 2004 Player of the Year. "Perhaps they would have been right if something like this had happened for the first time, but such things happen time and again.

Humiliating
"I am 30 years old, and it's hard for me to ignore this," added Romashchenko. "I can't understand why they substituted me five minutes into the second half. Coach Yuri Puntus could have taken me off in the first half or during the break if I had been playing that badly. There was no need to humiliate me in front of the whole country."

Final decision
Puntus managed to persuade Parma FC forward Vitali Kutuzov to return to the squad after announcing his retirement earlier this year but he has had no such luck with Romashchenko, who has scored 14 goals in 52 internationals. "I spoke with him on the phone," said the coach. "I didn't talk about the details, just asked whether emotions were governing his decision. Maksim said that his decision is final."