Soccer: Refereeing mistakes provoke FIFA row

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Fifa today admitted "major" refereeing mistakes had been made at the World Cup finals but dismissed ideas that soccer should use video replays to help officials.

Spain and Italy were incensed by the refereeing of their games against co-hosts South Korea, who beat the Italians in the second round with a golden goal and the Spanish team in the quarterfinal after a penalty shootout yesterday.

Sepp Blatter, president of world soccer's governing body, has taken the unusual step of attacking the officials' performances, infuriating referees at the sport's most prestigious event.

Fifa dismissed out of hand allegations by Spanish and Italian fans that their games may have been fixed.

But, quoting the words of Turkey's Senes Erzik, the chairman of FifA's referees' committee, Fifa spokesman Keith Cooper today said: "There have been one or two major mistakes which are cause for concern.

"The referees have been very well prepared. (But) Referees are only human and errors can never be entirely discounted. Emotions have bubbled over which is understandable.

"Conspiracy theories crop up in all walks of life and in 99 per cent of cases they are unfounded. This one is one of the 99 per cent."

Cooper said Fifa had received a large number of e-mails from Spanish fans after the controversial quarterfinal with Korea, but not as many as the 400,000 irate messages they got from Italy following their second-round exit.

Spanish coach Jose Antonio Camacho was unhappy with Egyptian referee Gamal Ghandour who ruled out a goal from Fernando Morientes when his linesman flagged that the ball had gone out of play. Television replays showed the ball was clearly in play.

Cooper said soccer was not considering following sports such as rugby and cricket which allow a fourth official off the field to use television replays to help the referee make rulings on difficult decisions.

"That is not on the agenda," Cooper said.

Blatter has called the linesmen at the tournament "a disaster" and said Fifa needed to introduce a system where officials would be appointed according to their ability -- not their nationality.

Fifa sources said referees had been infuriated by Blatter's comments in the media, especially since the Fifa president, who has always kept a close eye on refereeing, led a campaign to make sure officials from all over the world were used.

The sources said the referees' committee advocates using the best referees, even if that meant they largely only came from top leagues.

Its members are also frustrated that Blatter made his attacks in the media without attending a referees' meeting at the finals.

The committee was due to meet later today to decide on the officials for the semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cooper did not know whether Blatter planned to attend the meeting.

- REUTERS

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