Hibs set for talks over
Ecuador pair
Sauzee to meet Ecuador FA officials -
STUART
CROWTHER
FRANCK
SAUZEE WILL MEET representatives
of the Ecuador FA in Edinburgh this week to discuss the international
release of Ulises de la Cruz and Eduardo Hurtado, with the Hibs boss
certain to put forward exactly the same view adopted by his predecessor,
including seeking to ensure De La Cruz does not play in the Gold Cup in
January.
Ecuador
were given a special invitation to the Gold Cup as a result of their
qualification for the World Cup finals, and not only has that invitation
been accepted but Ecuador have made it clear they intend to play up to 15
friendlies in preparation for their first tilt at the finals. And
that is a situation that former Hibs boss Alex McLeish found unacceptable,
and one that Sauzee is bound to resist in equal measure. Now
Patricio Luna and Dr Patricio Maldonado have arrived in the UK, speaking
first to Southampton boss Gordon Strachan about Agustin Delgado and Kleber
Chala, before flying north for talks with Hibs.
De La
Cruz has not performed as expected for Hibs, taking longer to settle
having been away for much of the opening months of the season as his
country finalised their qualification campaign. One of the first
statements made by Sauzee on taking up his post last Friday was to ask
Hibs fans to show patience with De La Cruz, a player he firmly believes
will show his true worth when he has settled to the Scottish game and of
course learned to speak the local lingo! Should the club record
signing however be forced to spend further weeks away from Easter Road to
play in warm-up games for the World Cup, then his Easter Road career would
be called into doubt. That will be a situation that Sauzee will hope
to avoid, as he will impress upon the Ecuadorian officials the importance
of both players being permitted to settle in Scotland.
Donald Park and Franck Sauzee - no major changes at the club (sns)
Meanwhile
Sauzee is considering supporting an appeal by Paco Luna against his
red-card for violent conduct in the game against Dunfermline on
Saturday. Sauzee will study television pictures closely before
decided if the club should support the Paco's claim that he did not act in
a violent manner, the Hibs boss saying last night: "We
respect the referee, he is in charge and has to make the decision, but if
the pictures show that he was wrong then of course we will appeal."
Assistant boss Donald Park has seen the video footage, and concluded
himself that there are some grounds for complaint from the Easter Road
club, saying: "There did not
appear to be a lot in it. I don't know what the referee saw but the
defender did not seem to complain and looked a bit non-plussed by it
all. However if the referee sees it as an ordering off then there is
not a lot we can do about it."
The red card takes Luna to 16 penalty points, so if the red card stands he
will likely miss the Edinburgh derby as well as this Saturday's visit to
Perth.
There
will be no major changes made at Easter Road by the new management team
according to Park. Sauzee had already made it clear on Saturday that
he planned no moves in the transfer market, and last night Park underlined
that when he said: "Franck
spoke to the squad and, to be honest, the boys have been absolutely
magnificent. There is not a lot wrong at all at the club, we were
very unfortunate to lose on Saturday. There will only be light
changes at the club, everything is upbeat and the players worked very hard
in the training sessions. If we continue to do that on the training
field, it will begin to translate in the games."
Hibs
Under-21's went down 3-1 to Hearts at Easter Road last night in the annual
East of Scotland Shield match between the capital clubs. A Derek
Riordan goal was all the young Hibees had to show for a good performance
against a more experienced Hearts side.
Hibs
allocation of tickets for the Tynecastle derby at the end of the month
have been sold out.
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