Fifa get busy with disciplinary decisions

World Cup: Australia’s Tim Cahill will only miss one World Cup game following his sending-off against Germany

World Cup:Australia's Tim Cahill will only miss one World Cup game following his sending-off against Germany. South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira escapes punishment for his comments about the referee after last night defeat to Uruguay and Portugal want Cristiano Ronaldo's yellow card overturned.

Australia were concerned Cahill's red card against the Germans - shown for a poor challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger - would rule him out for the remainder of the group phase.

But Fifa confirmed the Everton playmaker will only be unavailable for the clash with Ghana on June 19th.

The Socceroos were beaten 4-0 by Germany and must avoid defeat against the Africans in Rustenburg if they are to have any realistic hope of advancing to the knockout phase.

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Veteran winger Harry Kewell believes Australia can cover the loss of Cahill, the Socceroos' most prolific goalscorer of recent times.

"Tim is a great player and it's disappointing he won't be there (against Ghana)," said Kewell, who is expected to come into the side after surprisingly not being used at all in the opener.

"But we have got great players in our squad so we can cope with any players that we have or haven't got.

"But personally I don't think it was a red card (offence for Cahill) and a lot of other Australians probably think the same thing and probably most of the Germans don't think so as well but it's a World Cup and these things can happen."

Fifa plan no action against Parreira following his comments about Swiss referee Massimo Busacca in the aftermath of South Africa's 3-0 defeat to Uruguay.

Busacca booked two Bafana Bafana players and, in an incident late on, sent-off Itumeleng Khune and awarded Uruguay a penalty after the South Africa goalkeeper tripped Luis Suarez in front of goal.

Diego Forlan scored from the resulting penalty to make it 2-0 and all but ended the host nation's hopes of getting anything out of the game.

Coach Parreira said he was "very angry and very disappointed in the referee", adding that the referee "probably doesn't deserve to be here".

But Fifa have let the Brazilian off the hook.

"Yes, we have looked at it and no elements have been found by the disciplinary committee to open an investigation," spokesman Nicolas Maingot said. "This is because there was no violation of the Fifa disciplinary code."

Defeat means South Africa could become the first World Cup hosts to be eliminated at the group stages.

Fifa will reserve any judgments of a possible impact the exit of the hosts may have on the competition until it actually happens.

Portugal asked Fifa to cancel the yellow card Ronaldo received during the Ivory Coast game, saying the forward merely tried to walk away after being tripped and insulted.

Ronaldo and Ivory Coast right back Guy Demel clashed off the ball in Tuesday's Group G match and were both booked by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda.

"The Portuguese player was tripped and pushed near the Ivory Coast penalty box. As soon as he got up, he was surrounded by his opponents and then pushed and insulted," the Portuguese Football Federation said in a statement.

"Given these facts, there is a disparity in the showing of the cards, once the African player, who committed a foul received a yellow card, and the Portuguese player who simply tried to walk away from the situation received the same punishment," it added.

Television images showed Ronaldo also shouting at Demel and other players before being booked.

According to Fifa's rules for the World Cup, a player receives a one-match suspension after a second yellow card.

Portugal play North Korea on Monday and then face Brazil four days later.