FIFA declines comment

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

FIFA was saying nothing yesterday about an error by match officials which denied England a goal in their 4-1 loss to Germany at the World Cup.

"FIFA will not make any comments on decisions of the referee on the field of play," football's governing body said in a statement

It said football's rules-making panel - the International Football Association Board - agreed last March not to pursue experiments with technology that could help referees judge goal-line decisions.

England believed they scored yesterday when Frank Lampard's shot hit the Germany crossbar, bounced down and back up off the bar again. Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda waved play on but television replays showed that the ball crossed the line.

A goal would have levelled the game at 2-2 in the 38th minute at Bloemfontein.

Later yesterday, match officials made another mistake in allowing Argentina's opening goal in their second-round match against Mexico. Argentina eventually won 3-1 at Johannesburg's Soccer City.

Replays showed Carlos Tevez was offside, with no defenders between him and the goal, when he headed the ball into an unguarded net from Lionel Messi's pass in the 26th minute.

Italian referee Roberto Rosetti allowed the goal to stand after consulting his assistant, while a group of Mexico players gathered around them to protest.

Two human errors in quick succession caused British bookmaking firm William Hill to cut the odds on FIFA introducing video replays to help referees before the 2014 World Cup to 7-2 from 5-1.

"With two such huge decisions being proved to be incorrect within such a short space of time and costing both England and Mexico dearly, the pressure will be on FIFA to take some action," Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe said.