Officials (some) praised for playing cards right

Given that ideas spin off Sepp Blatter like sparks from a Catherine wheel firework, it is usually best not to take the Fifa president's suggestions too seriously. Certainly his proposal this week that there could be two referees on the pitch come the 2010 World Cup is unlikely to come into effect.

His comment is significant, though, in that it reflects a general unease about standards of refereeing at this World Cup, and specifically the number of red cards: the previous record of 22, set in 1998, was breached when Holland and Portugal both had twomen sent off in their tempestuous last-16 match - with12 games still remaining.

Valentin Ivanov, the Russian referee who took charge of that Holland-Portugal clash, was widely criticised for his performance, and he was pointedly left off the list of 12 referees to be considered for the quarter-finals. It is probably true to say he lost control of the game, showing 16 yellow cards as well as the four reds, but if players continue to commit bookable offences, what is he supposed to do?

The English official Graham Poll, similarly, was condemned after sending off three players in the 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia, but, although hehad an undeniably dreadful game, it would be virtually impossible to mount a case against any of the dismissals.

Angel María Villar Llona, the president of the Fifa Referees Committee, believes complaints about refereeing standards are misguided, insisting standards have been raised by a year-long training programme that ended with the selection of just 23 referees.

"We designed this preparation phase straight after the 2002 World Cup, and it has really proved worthwhile," he said. "The referees have performed much better than in South Korea and Japan, with fewer players getting injured as a consequence, and the offside rules have been perfectly applied by the assistants."

That last point is contentious, for three crucial goals - Harry Kewell's for Australia against Croatia, Adriano's for Brazil against Ghana, and Luca Toni's first for Italy against Ukraine - should have been disallowed for offside. In fairness, all three were borderline decisions, and that sort of error is inevitable until technology is used to judge offsides.

The other main area of frustration is the wrestling that goes on in the penalty area at corners and free-kicks, which is so generalas to be almost unmanageable. Referees have at leastin this tournament beenprepared to step in andwarn players before the dead-ball is taken, but that battle is far from won.

Generally, though, the spirit of this World Cup has been good. Fifa's message of "fair-play" and its guidelines seem to be working.

There has been less time-wasting than at any tournament in recent memory - even Italy, the supposed arch-cynics, preferred to score a second in their semi-final than take the ball to the corner and run down the clock. The lunging tackle from behind has virtually vanished (there is no such thing as a modern Claudio Gentile or Andoni Goicochea, and football is much the better for it); and diving and simulation have been less of an issue than at any World Cup for 30 years. It would be even less if Fifa punished such transgressions retroactively by use of video evidence. The argument that in some instances it cannot be absolutely established whether a player has dived or fallen is irrelevant; in some cases it is clear, and in those the perpetrator should be punished.

There are still those who bang on about "common sense", about the guidelines turning referees into robots unable to adjust to the "mood" of a game, but cheating is cheating. It is players who must adapt, and if a few games finish with nine against nine because they have not yet done so, that is a price worth paying for a fairer game in the future.