Blatter in showdown with Sven

FIFA president Sepp Blatter will today urge Sven-Goran Eriksson and the Football Association to take action against England's players for refusing to talk to the media last week.

Blatter is set to bring up the idea of imposing fines at a lunchtime meeting with the England coach at Claridges Hotel in London. He will also make the proposal to FA chairman Geoff Thompson at another meeting later today.

The FIFA boss believes the players were wrong to boycott the media after their 2-1 victory in Poland because they missed an opportunity to get their views about recent criticism over to the fans. All teams are required to talk to reporters after games at the World Cup finals.

Blatter told Standard Sport: "If every team did this, fans would soon begin to have a go at them.

"There has to be a balance of criticism of players of a national team, but those such as England, France, Germany or Brazil are public personalities and they have an obligation to communicate and to accept from time to time that they are criticised."