The Card Sharks

BERLIN - Their ranks include a tax inspector, a tire salesman, even an airline pilot. Then they step on the soccer field and become referees.

Conventional wisdom holds that the best referees are the ones nobody notices.

Instead, the arbiters of what is fair and what is foul are fast becoming the story of this World Cup.

While it's normal for coaches and players to complain about officiating, there have been egregious calls that all but decided games. Other games have been so brutal that one might question - who are these referees, how were they selected, and are they qualified to oversee the world's biggest sporting event?

Until Sunday, the name Valentin Ivanov was revered in Russian soccer.

A prodigious goal scorer for Moscow's FC Torpedo and for the Soviet Union in the 1950s and '60s, Ivanov picked up an Olympic gold medal and made two trips to the World Cup.

But it was his son, also named Valentin, who had hundreds of millions of people watching their TVs in disbelief as he oversaw a Portugal-Netherlands grudge match that likely will be his last.

The younger Ivanov's name is attached to two World Cup records: He tied the mark for most yellow cards in a match (16) on Sunday, and issued a record four red cards. FIFA president Sepp Blatter's assessment was scathing.

"I think there could have been a yellow card for the referee," Blatter said in a television interview.

When FIFA set up the system for choosing referees, the aim was to have the corps mirror the global nature of the tournament. But different countries have different officiating standards, and that can lead to inconsistency.

Though all have passed FIFA's certification, many referees here are not full-time professionals. Coffi Codjia, of the West African nation of Benin, lists his occupation variously as marine traffic engineer and tax inspector. Slovakia's Lubos Michel formerly sold tires. Egyptian Essam Abd El Fatah is a pilot.

After the first round of the 2002 World Cup was clouded by basic errors from referees who lacked the proper experience, Blatter insisted on a strict selection process.

"We could not be more prepared with the referees - they have all been physically and psychologically evaluated," Blatter said before the World Cup.

His instructions were to crack down on sliding challenges and flailing elbows. Referees obliged by issuing a rash of cards in a relatively incident-free opening week.

After 53 of 64 matches, the totals were staggering: 24 red cards, 297 yellow cards, both World Cup records.

And, contrary to expectations, it has predominantly been top-shelf referees who have been getting it wrong.

"A lot of the games, everyone's talking about the referee, which shouldn't be," said Scott Chipperfield, whose Australian team was bounced Monday after a questionable penalty call let Italy win 1-0 on the final play of the game. "They should be talking about how good the game is. Not the refereeing."