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Xinhua - Abel Pacheco, the president of Costa
Rica, said that football is above politics, supporting plans for a friendly
Costa Rica-Iran soccer match, which one Costa Rican deputy said should not
go ahead because of Iran's controversial nuclear energy program.
"Football is one of the few ways that human being can come together in
friendship. It is a symbol of unity among peoples," Pacheco told a press
conference in San Jose.
On Monday evening, Aida Faingezicht, a Costa Rican legislator, called on
Hermes Navarro, head of the Costa Rican Football Federation (Fedefut), to
cancel the match, saying that it was inappropriate to play sport in Iranian
captial Tehran while the country in the middle of a controversy over its
nuclear program and its stance on nearby Israel.
Costa Rica should suspend the trip "as a way of expressing respect to the
humanitarian values and tradition of peace that has characterized Costa Rica
and earned it a great respect in the international community".
Pacheco said that Navarro had his vote of confidence in whatever decision he
took, adding that a head of state should not interfere with purely sporting
matters. The football match is due on March 1, as part of Costa Rica's
warm-up for the 2006 Germany World Cup.
Costa Rica's most read newspaper published an editorial supporting
Faingezicht, describing the plan as a grave error.
Navarro responded with a statement published on the Fedefut website that
there is no going back on the decision and that Costa Rica was above all
political, racial or religious prejudice.
Separately, Alexandre Guimaraes, manager of the national team announced his
choice of 16 players for the March 1 match, including Paulo Cesar Wanchope,
29, one of Costa Rica's most celebrated forwards.
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