Under fire refs skip media meet
Referees Jorge Larrionda and Roberto Rosetti were nowhere to be seen on Tuesday at Fifa’s third open day for media to meet referees in Pretoria.
Larrionda officiated over England-Germany tie and caused international uproar when failing to spot that Frank Lampard’s shot come off the underside of the crossbar and landed clearly behind the goal-line.
Had the goal stood, England would have levelled the Round of 16 game in Bloemfontein at 2-2 but instead the Uruguayan referee waved play on and Fabio Capello’s side went on to lose 1-4. In the subsequent match between Argentina and Mexico, Rosetti allowed Carlos Tevez’s opening goal for Argentina to stand even though the striker scored it from a offside position.
“They are taking part in a recovery session and they decided not to be here today,” explained Fifa’s head of refereeing, Jose-Maria Garcia-Aranda. “It’s a personal decision.”
However, Howard Webb managed to be present at the FH Odendaal High School despite officiating in Brazil-Chile tie on Tuesday night, although he did not participate in training.
Webb said he sympathised with Larrionda, revealing that when he makes a wrong decision, he is “devastated” and it takes him days to get over it.
“He will be extremely disappointed,” said Webb of how he thought Larrionda would be feeling. The Englishman said he is open to idea of new technology in football while Garcia-Aranda said referees would implement any rule changes decided by Fifa. — DPA
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