No decision on exit for Poll until next week

BERLIN, June 24 (Reuters) English referee Graham Poll was expected to be among officials dropped for the remainder of the World Cup next Wednesday after his blunder in handing three yellow cards to the same player.

But Poll, who made the error in Thursday's Croatia-Australia Group F game which could have led to a re-match, will not be sent home in disgrace in the meantime as FIFA have the power to do to referees who badly under-perform.

Today, the FIFA referees committee praised him as an 'exceptional referee'' and a ''great sportsman'' and added that he was likely to overcome the situation ''thanks to his strong personality and love of the game''.

However, Poll has not been allocated any matches in the second knockout round which starts on Saturday and continues until next Tuesday.

Informed observers do not expect him to officiate again in these finals in the wake of criticism from the FIFA President Sepp Blatter himself.

The referees committee will announce on Wednesday which referees are staying on.

Poll booked Croatia defender Josip Simunic three times, after 61 minutes, 89 minutes and immediately after the final whistle when he showed him the yellow card for the third time and then the red card in Stuttgart.

A referee should show a red after two yellow cards and has no discretion in the matter.

POLL EXPLAINED Poll met the committee yesterday and in the statement, FIFA say he explained that he wrote down the name of Australian defender Craig Moore when booking Simunic for the second time and failed to realise his error.

Both Moore and Simunic were wearing the No.3 shirt for their respective teams.

The statement continued: ''The experienced official is disappointed at having committed the error, the first such mistake in his 26-year career.

''The FIFA referees committee also recognised the oversight and the fact that none of the match officials at the stadium picked up on the error.'' Blatter had told reporters yesterday: ''I cannot understand how the four people in the team refereeing the match, the referee, the assistants and the fourth official could have allowed this to happen. It is like they had a blackout.'' Poll's linesmen were Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner of England while the fourth official was Kevin Stott of the United States.

FIFA were spared a logistical nightmare because the match ended in a 2-2 draw and Australia qualified for the next round with the Croatians being eliminated.

If Australia had lost the match, they have confirmed they would have protested against the result. FIFA would then have been virtually duty-bound to replay Thursday's match.

In the most recent case where a referee committed a technical error, last year's Asian World Cup qualifying playoff between Uzbekistan and Bahrain, the match was replayed.

REUTERS DH KP1713