Soccer: Fifa boss sees red at Ivanov's performance

NUREMBERG - Fifa president Sepp Blatter said the referee in yesterday's Portugal/Netherlands game deserved a yellow card himself.

Each team finished with nine men after Russian referee Valentin Ivanov took centre stage in the second-round match to create a World Cup finals record for red cards in one match.

"I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee," Blatter said.

"This was a game of emotion, with exceptional drama in the last instant, with a deserved winner.

"It was a great show with intervention by the referee that was not consistent and [had] lack of fair play by some players."

Ivanov sent off four players and handed out bookings to eight others in Portugal's 1-0 win.

- REUTERS