Sunderland Football Club News

• Nickname:Black Cats
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Martin O'Neill

• Ground:Stadium of light
• Capacity:48,353

Cats await Chopra verdict

21 Jul 2008 - 09:29:00

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Sunderland boss Roy Keane is keeping his fingers crossed that Michael Chopra will not be banned for the start of the season after being sent off in a stormy friendly victory over Sporting Lisbon.

The Black Cats were 3-1 winners over the Portuguese side on Sunday, but the game was overshadowed by a series of late incidents.

Striker Chopra was shown a straight red card for a foul on Sporting defender Marco Caneira in the final ten minutes and Keane followed his player down the tunnel after remonstrating with the referee.

Chopra could find himself banned for the first three games of the new Premier League season should the referee report the incident.

"There's no such thing as a friendly, is there? It was a good game, very competitive and there were some good goals," Keane told the club's official website.

"There were a few tackles going in on our lads but what we tend to find with most of the English teams is they get up and get on with it, but it doesn't seem to work the other way round.

"I don't mind there being an edge to a game and a few tackles because you've got to tackle in football. There were a few tasty tackles going in and that's what football's all about.

"I think Michael Chopra was very unlucky to get sent off and hopefully not too much will come of it.

"Anyone who knows Chops knows he can't tackle. I suppose it was a typical striker's tackle - slightly mis-timed.

"I thought a booking would have been the worst possible scenario but unfortunately he got red. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully that will be the end of it."