Fifa today refused to even defend their opposition to goal-line technology following Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal during England’s 4-1 defeat to Germany when the ball clearly crossed the line.
Fifa, who blocked any further experiments with technology at a meeting of the International FA Board in March, faced a barrage of questions at a media briefing in Johannesburg that reached almost farcical proportions.
Last night’s match between Argentina and Mexico had also thrown up another controversial incident, with Carlos Tevez scoring the opening goal from a blatantly offside position.
Fifa communications director Nicolas Maingot insisted he was “not competent” to answer questions on refereeing, nor was he the person to defend the world governing body’s position on technology.
Maingot said: “There are some questions on technology and additional assistant referee experiments and the International FA Board meeting in March took a stance on goal-line technology.
“We will not enter into any debate on refereeing at the daily media briefing. I am not competent to do so.
“The International FA Board, which Fifa is a member of, dealt with this topic in March. A clear decision on the use of technology was taken at the time.
“I don’t think football is very much different from other sports and not all sports have recourse to technology.”
Asked if Fifa were embarrassed by the latest incidents, Maingot was forced to straight-bat the question.
He added: “Fifa is not working on refereeing after just one case, Fifa is working on refereeing for many years with the confederations and the national associations.
“Refereeing is a global part of the game and we will continue to work on this.”
Fifa have admitted that replays of Tevez’s controversial goal should not have been shown on the giant screens inside the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.
Angry Mexico players surrounded Italian referee Roberto Rosetti after seeing that Tevez was in front of not only all the defenders but keeper Oscar Perez too.
Maingot said: “There was a controversial action shown during the game on the giant screens last night at Soccer City. This should not happen.
“The giant screens are part of the infotainment but should not show controversial actions.
“It’s handled by a team of colleagues from the organising committee and it has worked very well in most cases. Last night was a clear mistake.
“We will work on this and tighten up on this for the games to be played.”
Organising committee spokesman Jermaine Craig said: “It happened quite quickly, I’ve spoken to some of the guys in the master control room and in retrospect it shouldn’t have been shown and we will tighten up on that.”