Refs making the wrong headlines

Two things are guaranteed to happen at every World Cup - there is always a ticket scandal and there is always a row about the competence of the match officials.

So despite witnessing more than a few shock results, the 2002 World Cup is certainly running true to form.

After dominating headlines for the first two weeks of the tournament, the ticketing scandal has gone quiet, but of more pressing concern now is the standard of officiating. But why is anyone in the least bit surprised?

These were the words of then-Brazil coach Mario Zagallo midway through the 1998 World Cup.

Speaking after Cafu was booked for taking too long over a free kick during Brazil's quarter-final win over Denmark, he said the refereeing was so inconsistent he no longer knew what advice to give his players.

"Really, I don't understand it," he said. "Players have done far worse things than Cafu and not been booked."

Four years on, nothing has changed. In 1998 FIFA president Sepp Blatter lambasted the officials, saying the time had come to have professional refs.

Writing in this month's FIFA Magazine, George Cumming, the director of FIFA's Development Division, explains the lengths the ruling body goes to select and train the best 36 officials for the World Cup.

"They have gained their places by performing to a consistently high level in major matches, both nationally and internationally," Cumming states.

"They have been tested in the white-hot heat of hostile environments during the qualifying matches and they have proved their ability to handle the pressures they will face in Korea and Japan."

From the same issue of the magazine emerges another fact - of the 36 referees chosen for the tournament only two list their professions as anything to do with football.

They are Graham Poll of England, whose services FIFA did not retain after the first round, and Byron Moreno of Ecuador, who refereed the controversial South Korea-Italy match.

Moreno lists his jobs as "Football Ref" and "Student of Law" and says his fondest memory is: "(Being) fourth official at the 2001 Confederations Cup final and being presented with an award by the FIFA president."

One can only imagine what Blatter presented him with after he sent off Italy's Francesco Totti and disallowed an Italian goal before South Korea won the match 2-1.

His woeful performance ranks alongside the combined efforts of linesman Michael Ragoonath of Trinidad and Tobago and Egyptian referee Gamal Ghandour who effectively cost Spain a place in the semi-finals.

Ragoonath, an agricultural assistant, flagged to Ghandour, an accountant, that the whole ball had crossed the line and was out of play before Joaquin crossed for Fernando Morientes to score a golden goal winner for Spain.

But television replays showed that not only was the ball not out of play - it was not even touching the line.

Ragoonath was not the only official from the CONCACAF region to confound the laws of the game. Jamaican Peter Prendergast disallowed a perfectly good goal scored by Belgian Marc Wilmots against Brazil.

Inexplicably, Prendergast, a businessman, ruled out the goal because he thought Wilmots pushed defender Roque Junior before heading the ball into the net.

Last week, Blatter said the linesmen had been "a disaster" at the World Cup, while FIFA has admitted that "major" refereeing mistakes had been made but dismissed the idea that video replays should be used to help officials.

FIFA have been saying this for years - yet they use video evidence to examine incidents arising in matches all the time, but only after the event.

There was one more interesting observation in the FIFA magazine article - the headline: "The Team That Cannot Win."

The likes of Moreno, Prendergast, Ghandour and Ragoonath have made sure that is absolutely correct.

Semi-Final Referees:

Germany vs South Korea - Urs Meier (Switzerland).

Brazil vs Turkey - Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark).