Egyptian referee Essam Abdul-Fattah will return home after not being included in the final twelve refereeing trios announced by FIFA on Wednesday. Of the original 26 refereeing trios, only 12 remain to take charge during the last eight matches. The decision of who would stay was made by FIFA Referees Committee in Frankfurt. Abdul-Fattah leaves Germany with a tarnished World Cup career after he was criticized for decisions he made during Australia's 3-1 victory over Japan. Australia was left frustrated when Fattah allowed Japan a goal after the obstruction of Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer by two Japanese players. Later in the match Abdul-Fattah infuriated the Japanese by disallowing a spot-kick. Refereeing has been in the media spotlight, with record number of red cards, including four in one game and a multitude of inconsistent and controversial calls, drawing scrutiny. Russian Referee Valentin Ivanov set the record for cards shown during a World Cup game in the match between Portugal and the Netherlands on Sunday. Another of Ivanov's calls was questioned by FIFA when Portugal's Luis Figo was only shown a yellow card after head-butting the Dutch Mark Van Bommel. During Croatia's draw with Australia Graham Poll, an English referee, booked a Croatian player three times before finally producing a red card. Both Ivanov and Poll have been cut from the final officiators list that was chosen by the FIFA committee. German Markus Merk, who was involved in a fight with Australia's Harry Kewell during Australia's 1-0 loss to Italy, is one of the 12 remaining trios who will referee during the tournament's final stages. Regardless of the controversy, Referees Committee chair Angel María Villar Llona expressed her gratitude for the officials' efforts, though she admitted some mistakes were made. “On the whole, I have been very happy with the performances of the match officials, even though they were not always error-free, something that is impossible to achieve," she said. "I am proud of them."
