FIFA calls for calm from Italy on Friday after their controversial World Cup exit provoked a threat of legal action and 400,000 angry e-mails in one night.
The Italians are furious about the refereeing of their 2-1 second-round defeat by co-hosts South Korea on Tuesday. State broadcaster RAI says it is even considering taking FIFA to court for lost earnings caused by the decisions of the officials.
FIFA communications director Keith Cooper refused to get drawn into further debate on the game at a news conference in Yokohama, Japan. "The whole situation with Italy versus Korea is so overheated, I have no intention of commenting to escalate it," he was quoted by British news agency Reuters as saying. "Our intention is to calm things down."
FIFA's computer system crashed because of all the e-mails sent from Italy, which landed during the Japanese night.
In an interview with a leading Italian newspaper, FIFA president Sepp Blatter denied media allegations that the world governing body had been part of a plot to oust Italy in favor of the Koreans. He called on Italy to show dignity in defeat.
But Blatter took the unusual step of launching a fierce attack on officials at the finals in South Korea and Japan, calling the linesmen "a disaster". He told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he would demand changes in the way referees were selected in future.
In public, the World Cup referees are saying that they welcome any new ideas but privately they are frustrated by the attack, FIFA sources said.
In the Daejeon game, Italy had a goal disallowed for offside and playmaker Francesco Totti was sent off by Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno.
Edgardo Codesal, a member of FIFA's Referees Committee, told the news conference that the Italians were partly right that they were out because of refereeing but he said referees made mistakes like players and coaches. "Part of the comments are right," said the Mexican official.
"But we need to be more human with referees. Referees are human beings. I know very well that it is almost impossible to see everything."
Codesal himself officiated the 1990 World Cup final between Argentina and Germany, in which he made history by sending off two Argentines, the first dismissals in a final.
He backed Blatter's view that referees should be chosen on ability rather than nationality even if that meant more than one referee from each country at a World Cup. "It could be one solution to have more than one referee from one country. We need to have the most qualified referees."
RAI has asked its legal department to study building a case showing that FIFA was responsible for the refereeing errors which it said were "so blatant they could only be described as the product of serious fraud," Reuters reported.
Last year, RAI agreed to pay German company KirchMedia around 140 million U.S. dollars to show all games from the finals and 25 matches from the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Until Italy's defeat, games involving the Italians were drawing up to 20 million viewers and substantial advertising revenue for RAI. But with the team's exit, rating is expected to drop sharply.
Editor: Rebecca & Ronnie
Source: Xinhua
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