Referee decisions confuse, bewilder but stand in World Cup

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Facing criticism of the officiating in the World Cup, particularly from the Italians, FIFA defended its referees Wednesday. It also acknowledged the refs make mistakes, too. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s been said on many occasions that referees are subject to making errors, just as players, coaches and journalists are,&#39;&#39; FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said. ``That is always going to happen. Every effort is being made to reduce them to a minimum, and the general opinion is that those inaccuracies have been kept to the mininum.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Italian team, eliminated Tuesday after a 2-1 loss to South Korea, loudly complained that throughout the World Cup they were stymied by repeated calls against them. <br> <br> In Tuesday&#39;s match, the Italians had one goal disallowed, and in their previous two matches, four goals were disallowed, mostly due to offsides, At least three appeared on video replay to be questionable calls. <br> <br> ``The World Cup started like this for us and kept on in the same direction,&#39;&#39; Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni said of the officiating. ``We go out with our heads held high, but with a lot of recriminations.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In the Mexico-United States match on Monday, American midfielder John O&#39;Brien punched the ball away with his hand while defending a corner kick, but the infringement was not seen by the referee. A penalty kick would have been warranted. <br> <br> ``They showed the replay on the big screen and we saw it, 40,000 fans saw it,&#39;&#39; Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said after the Americans won 2-0, eliminating Mexico. <br> <br> O&#39;Brien later admitted he accidentally touched the ball. <br> <br> Cooper said it was highly unlikely the hand ball incident would be reviewed. <br> <br> ``That would only begin to happen if it&#39;s included in the referee&#39;s report,&#39;&#39; he said. ``And it&#39;s hard to believe it&#39;ll be in the referee&#39;s report, because he didn&#39;t blow it (the whistle) at the time.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Cooper said it was important to ``look not at the isolated incidents but at the overall standard, and the overall standard has been given cause for satisfaction.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Refereeing errors in the past have triggered calls for video replays to be used in soccer matches. Some also say a second referee on the field, the sideline or in the stands would help. <br>

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