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| June 20, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423 |
FIFA defends referees, linesmen
YOKOHAMA (Japan), June 19: World governing body FIFA defended the refereeing at the World Cup finals on Wednesday after Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni complained bitterly about officials’ decisions in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat by South Korea.
“I have said on many occasions that referees are subject to making errors like coaches, players and journalists,” FIFA communications director Keith Cooper told a news conference.
“It is always going to happen. The inaccuracies have been kept to a minimum.”
The Italians were furious that forward Francesco Totti was sent off in extra time and Damiano Tommasi had a goal ruled out controversially for offside.
Trapattoni said: “It was obvious from the start which way the wind was blowing. I don’t want to talk about conspiracies, but there were negative situations.
“They talk about fair play and then on the pitch you see things like this. You can’t play a World Cup with incompetent linesmen. I’ve never experienced such a negative moment in my career.—Reuters
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