People are provoked all the time on the field. I am provoked by the homeless crazy men on the street. You just ignore it and walk away. Scolari was wrong to hit him.

im portuguese through and through but im not about to offer any explanation or excuse as to why scolari attempted to hit an opposing player

just cause he was provoked doesnt mean anything….he was just wrong to do it and any criticism he takes is well deserved

http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=853851&div_id=1194

He mentions words in spanish thrown at him, clap on ther hand, says “he was wrong, says he was protecting one of his players, that any person can do wrong while trying to do right, that he’s prepared to accept consequences, and a lot of I’m sorry, I know I was wrong but these were my reasons.”

Yes… Nuno Gomes highly sensitive feelings were probably pretty struck, specially after another extremelly poor performace. That’s why we call him “Maria Alice” or “Prima Donna” (more on the sissy side) in Portugal… If he’d score any goal, even only once a year, OK, he’d be forgiven and maybe even loved…

I also liked Scolari’s swing… ;-) Pitty it didn’t hit…

The Portuguese media are in a frenzy after the summer’s youth failures, they must have exploded all over Scolari after this nice, useful provocation.

Scolari didn’t hit him, but the swing was a pretty good one. My favorite thing about the video is the look on Nuno Gomes’ face when Dragutinovic comes back at Big Phil — he looks as if his sensibilities have been deeply offended, like he’s thinking “Have you lost your mind, Sir?”

About the issue itself… :-) Scolari didn’t really touch anything more than thin air (or a piece of hair) and it’s also very clear who was charging at who, either talking or attacking, provocquing in any case… 8) Next time a huge guy will think twice before trying to scare off somebody else from another team they were very lucky to beat…

But this is just my position. ;-) Back in PT Scolari is being fried by the media…

I’m not excusing Scolari’s behavior. Clearly as a coach he should know better, but given the same situation I probably would’ve done the same thing.

Dragutinovic is a punk and had no business over in the Portuguese technical area. It’s too bad Scolari missed. Dragutinovic was issued a red card after the incident.