Linesman Admits Mistakes, Report Says

The Danish linesman who disallowed two Italian goals during the Group G game against Croatia that led to a disputed 2-1 defeat for Italy, reportedly is “very saddened” for having disallowed the goals.

Jens Larsen admitted that striker Christian Vieri was not offsides when he headed the ball into the Croatian goal, according to the World Cup correspondent with Denmark’s public radio DR. Larsen also has said that he was wrong when he later signaled a foul by an Italian forward seconds before Italy scored again, the radio reported. That goal too was disallowed.

“Both players and referees make mistakes, all human beings make mistakes,” an unidentified FIFA spokesman was quoted as saying by the DR radio that didn’t name the world soccer body official.

“The Danish linesman Jens Larsen is very saddened,” the radio report quoted the FIFA official as saying.