FIFA admit World Cup referees made mistakes

Referees have made "one or two major mistakes" during the World Cup finals, soccer's world governing body FIFA said today.

Spain and Italy were incensed by the refereeing of their games against co-hosts South Korea, who beat the Italians in the second round with a golden goal last Tuesday and the Spanish team in the quarter-final after a penalty shootout on Saturday.

"One or two major mistakes have been made which is a concern," FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said. "Referees are only human and errors can never be entirely eliminated."

Cooper said FIFA had received quite a large number of e-mails from Spanish fans after the controversial quarter-final, but not as many as the 400,000 they got from Italy following the second round game.

"Emotions have bubbled over which is understandable," Cooper said.