Poll did not realise he had already given Simunic a yellow card when he booked him a second time and only showed a red card when he was confronted by the player when the match was actually over Thursday.

Blatter said he could not understand why neither Poll's assistants nor the fourth official picked up on the error especially as they were wired up to communicate via radio headsets.

Poll's assistant referees were fellow Englishmen Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner while the fourth official was American Kevin Stott.

"It simply should not have happened. We have had four officials and what is not understandable is that nobody intervened," Blatter said Friday.

"I can't understand it. There are people there and on of them should have intervened and run on to the field and said, "Stop, stop".

He said the FIFA referees committee would decide whether Poll and the other officials were to be sent home.

"I place my trust in the referees committee. I think they have the right amount of feeling to deal with this case," Blatter said. "We should not forget that Graham Poll in his previous matches achieved fantastic things.

"Of course, we cannot excuse it but perhaps we should understand it. Naturally, referees are human beings and they make errors and we have to work against the quota of errors but total perfection does not exist."

FIFA's referees' assessors will meet Poll Friday before reporting to the referees committee, who will decide whether to throw him out.

FIFA communications director Markus Siegler said: "We had a first in the history of the World Cup, unfortunately, when a player received three yellow cards - this is a little bit too much.

"In terms of the referee, this will be analysed and we cannot make any further statement on that."

He admitted that, had Australia lost the game and gone out of the World Cup, they would have had grounds to request a replay.

--DPA