Davids Ready for Juventus Comeback
Copyright � 1999 Nando Media
Copyright � 1999 Agence France-Presse
MILAN, Italy (September 6, 1999 9:57 a.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus has been given the OK to field Edgar Davids in the Serie A this weekend after the Dutch midfielder used medicines containing banned substances to treat an eye problem.
Davids, who is being treated for glaucoma, scored twice in Holland's draw last weekend with Belgium but has been kicking his heels at club level.
Juventus haven't used him for a month because Italian sports officials in Rome have been dithering over whether to give permission. A letter from FIFA, the sport's ruling body, only cleared the midfielder to play football at the end of last week.
Davids, who played on Saturday with swimming-style goggles to protect the affected eye, remains bitter about the whole affair.
"I'm pleased to have played at last, and to not have lost any of my fitness," he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
But asked if he had been through a difficult time, the Dutchman said: "Yes I have. Because you're working hard but you're not playing, and you're reading certain things in the newspaper.
"This really is a minor matter but in Italy they have made it out to be much bigger than it is."
Davids also admitted feeling victimised by Italian sports officials at the soccer federation and the national Olympic committee (CONI), saying: "I really do. Times have changed.
"When three different doctors tell you that you have to take a certain medicine and UEFA give you the OK , but Italy says 'no' that makes you angry."
CONI secretary general Raffello Pagnozzi said: "FIFA agreed to the treatment in a letter to the Italian football federaion last Thursday. The CONI received a copy. It says explicitly 'all competitions'."
The all-clear from both UEFA and FIFA should now be rubber-stamped by the International Olympic Committee.
The reticence of both the CONI and soccer officials, who passed the buck to the likes of FIFA and the IOC, follows a scandal last year in which Italy was held up to worldwide ridicule over the failings of its anti-doping programme and its IOC-approved test laboratory.
