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International referee Kim Young-ju was swept into a dispute for alleged unnecessary harsh decisions in the match between Brazil and Turkey when he expelled two Turkish players in the last minutes of the game. "I was surprised that many people thought that I would be upset by the players' objections," he said. The first Korean to be head referee at the World Cup games, Kim arrived at the headquarters in the Seoul Grand Hilton Hotel, on Tuesday and in a telephone interview, said, "I did my best for a fair game."
- What led you to the first red card?
"The Turkish player (Alpay Ozalan) pulled the Brazilian player (Luizao) back from behind. The player had a yellow card already in the first half, and so was red-carded for interfering in a clear scoring opportunity. You can't do that in the World Cup."
- The Turkish team and some foreign reports say that since the foul happened outside the penalty zone, it wasn't a penalty.
"Of course the Turkish player started to pull the other's shirt outside the penalty area. However, since the Brazilian player continued the attack, I applied the advantage rule and didn't call a foul. However, the Turkish player held on to the shirt into the penalty box and because of this, the Brazilian player fell in the penalty zone. I clearly saw it from behind. Even the assistant referee sent me a signal for a penalty kick."
- Brazilian player Rivaldo got hit on the knee with a ball that the Turkish player kicked yet pretended to be hit in the face.
"I know. However, regardless of whether Rivaldo put his hands over his face or anywhere else, it is still a fact that he was hit. Isn't it proper to punish the cause of ungentlemanly act first? The Turkish player already had a yellow card from the first half and the second yellow card resulted in him being expelled."
(Sung Jin-hyuk, jhsung@chosun.com )
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