Camacho joins referee critics

GWANGJU, South Korea (AP) -- Add Spain to the growing pile of critics condemning World Cup referees.

Jose Antonio Camacho was scathing of Egyptian referee Gamal Ghandour and linesmen Ali Tomusange and Michael Ragoonath for disallowing three goals Saturday before his Spanish lineup was ousted by South Korea on penalties.

Complaints about dubious calls have plagued soccer's governing body since the Italians -- eliminated after an extra-time 2-1 loss to South Korea -- complained they'd been victimized throughout the World Cup.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said some linesmen were "a disaster" and Pele, one of the greatest players of all time and an ambassador for the sport, told a news conference that "the level of referees is very poor, very low."

"The referee is an important part of the game. He cannot make easy mistakes. FIFA should work hard on that because they spoil the game." Pele was speaking before the latest apparent bungles.

RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, wants to sue FIFA for loss of potential revenue, claiming the world body was negligent in appointing referees.

Camacho said the complaints aren't sour grapes from Spaniards or Italians. Italy, Mexico, Portugal, and the United States all had been on the end of bad calls, he said.

"We expected the officiating to be better. This was a quarterfinal match after all," Camacho said. "I'm sad because we lost unfairly."

South Korea's win over the Italians prompted almost 400,000 irate fans to send hateful e-mails to FIFA, overload its computer system. The co-hosts' win over Spain will undoubtedly provoke even more angry exchanges.

Aiming for its first World Cup semifinals berth in 11 attempts, Spain hit the back of the net once in each half and again in extra time.

Fernando Morientes netted a close-range kick off a pass from Joaquin in overtime, but the linesman said the ball had gone out.

Romero was ruled offside just before halftime and Baraja angled a header into the net five minutes after the break, only for teammate Morientes to be ruled offside.

"We thought there was going to be more of a precaution to avoid this from happening, but it appears FIFA isn't interested," said Camacho. "There are too many games ending this way ... it isn't good for football."

Italy had five goals disallowed during the tournament, including one against the Koreans, mainly for questionable offside calls. Video replays showed some of the goals were valid.

Compounding the criticism, Francesco Totti was also sent off for diving in extra time against the Koreans, reducing the Italians to 10 man.

In an interview with the Milan daily Gazzetta dello Sport, Blatter said certain refereeing decisions against Italy had caused him to "suffer deeply."

Americans got the benefit of a missed hand-ball call against Mexico and then were denied a goal in Friday's quarterfinal against Germany when a shot by Gregg Berhalter bounced off German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and hit the left arm of German defender Torsten Frings, who was standing on the goal line.

Scottish referee Hugh Dallas, despite arguments from the U.S. team, declined to award a penalty kick.

"I don't want to be a sore loser, but that was a clear handball, and the referee should have given (Frings) a red card," Berhalter said.

Dallas didn't reveal whether he saw Frings handle the ball or ruled it wasn't deliberate.

The Brazilians aren't happy about going into the semifinals without Ronaldinho, who was red carded for a studs-up challenge Friday on England defender Danny Mills just minutes after curling in a 30-meter free kick for the winner.

"Ronaldinho didn't deserve the expulsion," Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. "The referee saw it in a very severe light."

Belgium also griped after a goal against Brazil was disallowed. And the Mexicans thought a U.S. player's hand ball -- which he later admitted -- should have led to a penalty kick.

Refereeing errors in the past have sparked calls for video replays to be used in soccer matches, but FIFA rejects the idea outright.

Responding to some of the criticism prominent referee Edgardo Codesal Mendez said there were always going to be mistakes, and match officials always tried to abide by FIFA instructions.

He said out of some 4,000 refereeing decisions in the first 56 games of the World Cup, only a handful were wrong.

"If you analyze all the decisions, you could find five or six mistakes," Codesal said Friday. "People "always the emphasize the mistakes, but never the right decisions."