The Star
Sunday October 24, 2004

Dutch request change of venue for World Cup qualifier

ANDORRA: Holland have requested to FIFA that their World Cup qualifier
against Andorra next month should be played outside of the tiny Principality
for security reasons.

The Dutch, in a letter sent to football’s world governing body and the
Andorran football federation, have asked for the match to be switched
because they claim the security of the players cannot be guaranteed.

On Monday, an Andorran federation spokesman had said the Nov 17 fixture
would be played in Andorra with 60,000 euros being spent on improving the
press box and flood lighting.

The Andorrans are in Group One along with Romania, the Czech Republic,
Holland, Finland, Macedonia and Armenia.

The Dutch previously played Andorra in March 2001 in a World Cup qualifier,
beating them 5-0 in Barcelona.

Andorra won their first ever match and secured their first points on
Wednesday last week with Macedonia playing the role of fall-guys in the 1-0
World Cup defeat.

The closest they had come before to any sort of success was in qualifying
for Euro 2000 when they were only just beaten 1-0 by France in a match
played in Barcelona. – AFP