Every World Cup throws up at least one refereeing horror show, and the performance of Valentin Ivanov in Sunday's game between Portugal and Holland was technically the worst so far.

A grumpy semi-final between these sides at Euro 2004 suggested Ivanov was just the disciplinarian for the job. Instead the Russian turned out to be the wrong choice, though his father insisted yesterday Fifa had only itself to blame for the debacle.

Valentin snr, a World Cup inside-forward for the USSR in 1958 and 1962, said: "Fifa said it expected referees to get tough on players who used foul tactics, dirty play and their elbows. Valentin just tried to follow his orders. What did they expect?"

Ivanov's 16 yellow cards - including four red - took expulsions at this World Cup to a record 23 with 12 matches to go. He also equalled the record of 16 yellows in a single match and set a new mark for sendings off.

The Fifa president Sepp Blatter was not pleased. "The referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players," he said. "There could have been a yellow card for the referee."

No doubt a red will be delivered when Ivanov is dropped for the closing stages. England's Graham Poll is also expected to be released from the officials' plush compound near Frankfurt airport.

Fifa had given referees strict guidelines in an effort to clamp down on eight offences - diving, elbowing, reckless fouls, shirt-pulling, time-wasting, dissent, behaviour in walls at free-kicks and wearing jewellery.

The 1994 World Cup was the first at which Fifa laid down targets for referees, identifying the tackle from behind and feigning injury as unwanted elements. In 1998 it brought referees together for the pre-finals conference which was extended this year to a full-scale, week-long session.

But the over-zealous officiating has been criticised for unbalancing too many games, a charge defended by Fifa yesterday.

"Generally speaking, I can say that refereeing standards today are higher than ever before," said Angel Villar, the president of Fifa's referees committee.

Angel Marcos, the Argentinian coach who has been writing about the World Cup for L'Equipe, is almost a lone voice in showing some sympathy for the officials. "Referees are under pressure from Fifa to act early against foul play," he said. "But they should bear in mind the nervous tension on the players and the effect on the timing of a challenge of some of the pitches, which have been too hard and too fast."

With Fifa reluctant to embrace technology it appears, once again, that referees are being asked to do an impossible job.