Referee Howard Webb of England shows the yellow card to Brazil's Kaka during the 2010 World Cup second round soccer match against Chile at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg June 28, 2010. [Agencies]

Open mind

Only hours after Blatter spoke, World Cup referees said they would welcome technology if it made their jobs easier and helped the decision-making process.

"I am open-minded for anything that would make us more credible," referee Howard Webb said after a World Cup referees' training session in Pretoria.

"Whatever tools I have I will use to the best of my abilities."

Blatter said that while FIFA would reconsider the goalline technology debate, he was not sure the Hawk-Eye system was 100 percent accurate.

He said a chip-in-the ball system, the Smartball, developed by Cairos technologies through adidas was "too complicated".

Blatter said: "The Hawk-Eye system is not 100 percent accurate because it can only reveal what the camera can see."

Apologies given

Blatter revealed he had said sorry to the England and Mexico camps for the refereeing errors.

"I have apologized to the two delegations and I understand they are not happy," he said. "The English delegation said 'Thank you', the Mexicans bowed their heads."

He said: "I deplore it when you see the evident referees' mistakes. They were not five-star games for referees."

Blatter has been opposed to the use of goalline technology or video replays for years and in March the international board repeated its long-standing opposition to the idea.

Reuters