Referees remain in the spotlight over costly blunders (News Feature)

By Arne Richter and Peter Auf der Heyde Jun 28, 2010, 12:58 GMT

Johannesburg - World Cup referees remained in the spotlight on Monday after poor officiating in two Round of 16 matches saw England denied a goal and Argentina awarded one that was offside.

In Germany's game against England on Sunday, the Germans had rushed into a two-goal lead before Matthew Upton pulled one back. It was shortly afterwards that the referee Jorge Larrionda and his assistant took centre stage.

Frank Lampard's blast off the underside of the crossbar fell clearly behind the goal-line, but the Uruguayan referee, much to the astonishment of the English side, waved play on.

To make matters worse, the incident was replayed on the giant screen in the stadium and all the fans saw that England had been denied a legitimate goal.

Germany overall deserved the win and can claim that the ghosts of the past were laid to rest for good. Germans always claim Geoff Hurst's shot in the 1966 final in Wembley didn't cross the line but it was ruled a goal for 3-2 in an eventual 4-2 victory for England.

'The linesman must see it. It was a clear goal,' said German icon Franz Beckenbauer during the half-time break at Sunday's match, which Germany won 4-1.

Just a few hours later it was Italian assistant referee Stefano Ayroldi, who allowed a goal that clearly was none to stand for Argentina in their game against Mexico.

Carlos Tevez was the nearest to goal when he headed Argentina's opener in the 26th minute in Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium after taking a pass from Lionel Messi.

Ayroldi did not raise his flag for offside and the goal was allowed to stand after discussions with referee Roberto Rossetti, despite protests from the Mexicans.

Argentina players then joined in the protests when it appeared the goal would be disallowed, as everyone in the stadium who had watched replays on the huge screens could see that Tevez was clearly offside.

Despite this - and because technological aids are not allowed - the goal was allowed to stand, although it was unclear whether the officials had seen the replays.

Although FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said on Saturday that: 'There were decisions that weren't good decisions,' the world controlling body on Monday refused to comment on the two specific incidents.

FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said he was not in a position to comment about refereeing decisions, although almost every question in the daily FIFA media briefing dealt with the issue.

Maingot said that the body which dealt with refereeing matters was the International Football Association Board (IFAB). 'This is a very important body.'

He also said that it had been a mistake to show the Lampard shot on the big screen with a replay. 'The replays in the stadium are handled by the local organising committee and their brief is not to show any potentially controversial decisions.

'This has worked well until now, but obviously it did not work in this case and was clearly a mistake.'

He again dismissed any talk of the use of technology being allowed to settle disputes. 'This has been dealt with at the IFAB level and they have said that they will continue their experimentation with two extra refereeing assistants.'

These two assistants, who are to be used in the Champions League in the forthcoming season, are to be stationed on the goalline.

The world body has also been criticised about its policy of bringing officials from all its confederations to the World Cup, but some poor officiating also came from European match officials such as Spain's Alberto Undiano who ruined the Germany v Serbia game with a flood of yellow cards.

Players and coaches were not amused as there appeared to be no clear line on how to officiate the 64 games.

'If those are FIFA's best referees I don't want to see their worst ones,' said New Zealand captain Ryan Nelson.

Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said: 'The best referees should be at the World Cup, those who officiate in the big leagues, and not referees who officiate on some beach.'

Eyebrows have also been raised that referees like Belgian Frank de Bleeckere, Rossetti and Mexican Marco Rodriguez appear to consider themselves the centre of attention.

But some have also used the world stage to show their class as match officials.

A prime example is Ravchan Irmatov of Uzbekistan who was flawless in the tournament opener between South Africa and Mexico, his next two matches as well, and is suddenly among the frontrunners for the top honour of officiating the July 11.