Soccer: Trigger-happy refs Poll and Ivanov dropped

BERLIN - English referee Graham Poll and Russia's Valentin Ivanov paid the price for their performances during the first round of the World Cup by being dropped from the remainder of the competition today.

FIFA's Referees Committee announced in Frankfurt the names of 12 teams of referees and their linesmen in contention to take charge of the remaining eight matches of the competition.

The list includes Germany's Markus Merk, who was involved in a public spat with Australia's Harry Kewell after their first round match against Brazil finished in a 2-0 win to the world champions.

Despite being criticised by FIFA for "inconsistencies in his match report" after the game and his failure to sanction Kewell, he remains among the six referees from Europe who are staying on.

Two South American referees and one each from Asia, Africa, CONCACAF and Oceania are also retained.

Angel Maria Villar Llona of Spain, the chairman of the Referees Committee, said in a statement: "For some referees the World Cup is now over, but for others the adventure continues.

"On the whole, I have been very happy with the performances of the match officials, even though they were not always error-free, something that is impossible to achieve. So far, the main objective, to protect the players, has been accomplished."

Poll, who refereed three first round matches, was criticised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter after showing three yellow cards to Josip Simunic of Croatia before sending him off in their match against Australia in Stuttgart on June 22.

Ivanov, who also officiated at three first round games, sent off four players -- an all-time record for the finals -- and showed a total of 16 cards when he took charge of the second round match between Portugal and Netherlands last Sunday.

Those departing include Egyptian Essam Abd el Fatah, who admitted to mistakes in the one match he refereed between Australia and Japan on June 12.

Carlos Simon of Brazil, who controversially sent off Teddy Lucic of Sweden in their second round match against Germany last Saturday, is also leaving.

Yesterday, Blatter criticised some of the refereeing in the tournament for being inconsistent.

- REUTERS