THE BITTERNESS over the 2018 World Cup intensified last night when one of the most senior figures in Russian football damned England’s bid as “absolutely primitive” and the situation as “comical”.

As Fifa’s shell-shocked executive committee gathers today to discuss the possibility of postponing the vote for the 2022 tournament until a later date in the wake of corruption allegations, England’s team was last night considering its response to the outburst from the honorary president of the Russian Football Union.

Senior England 2018 sources believe Vyacheslav Koloskov’s intervention could be a ploy, designed to provoke them into a response that would itself fall foul of Fifa’s rules forbidding bidders from commenting on their rivals.

Because Koloskov, a former long-standing Uefa and Fifa executive committee member, is not a formal member of the bid team, he falls outside the rules, despite lobbying extensively on Russia’s behalf.

The dispute exploded on Tuesday when, during a presentation by the Russian chief executive Alexei Sorokin in Zurich, it emerged England had submitted an official complaint to Fifa demanding an apology over his reported comments on London’s crime rate and youth alcoholism.

Despite anger at what they saw as repeated attempts to undermine England’s bid by making slurs and then blaming them on mistranslation or misconception, insiders insist they wanted the dispute to remain private.

But Koloskov said the complaint was an admission that England were behind in the race to host the 2018 World Cup and they were rattled. He also referred to the recent Sunday Timesinvestigation that has left Fifa battling to salvage its reputation.

“It’s a comical situation. The English are afraid of how badly their bid is going. Their journalists are provoking members of the committee, and they now say one of the members of our bidding team has spoken out against England in an improper manner,” he told the Russian website championat.ru. “I think it’s a raising of tensions, and also an attempt to in some way influence the work of our bidding team.”

Sorokin has maintained his comments were misinterpreted, and that he was merely drawing attention to the tactics used by the English media to discredit the Russian bid.

“These acts have little chance of success. Russia should not be afraid of sanctions. There won’t even be an investigation,” said Koloskov of England’s complaint to Fifa, which said yesterday it had spoken to both sides.

“The behaviour of the English is absolutely primitive. Instead of talking about their own excellence and merits, they try to put off their opponents.”

Earlier, Sorokin said he had written to the England bid team to explain his actions but would not be apologising formally.

“I expressed my regret over the whole thing, it was just a misunderstanding,” he said. “It wasn’t a formal apology because I don’t feel like I’ve broken any rules . . . I hope we can put this matter to rest for good now.”

After Koloskov’s intervention there now seems little chance of that, and England will have to decide whether to risk inflaming the situation further or accept Sorokin’s clarification.

Meanwhile, Alex Ferguson acclaimed Javier Hernandez as the new hero of Manchester United after the Mexican’s goal took the club into the fifth round of the League Cup, with a 3-2 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night.

Hernandez, an 81st-minute substitute, struck the late winning goal after the visitors had twice equalised. “We tend to build up heroes very quickly at this club,” Ferguson said, “but the boy is justifying all the praise he’s getting at the moment. He’s very professional, first out on the training ground and the last one back in every day.”

The United manager, who saw the €8 million summer signing Bébé score his first goal for the club, added of Hernandez, who is nicknamed the Little Pea.

“When he gets a chance you know he’s going to take it. His touch, control of the ball and vision are improving and that’s because the training is intense – we care about it and make sure the players do improve.”

- Guardian Service