Nielsen - in charge of semi.

By Jason Hughes, PA International, Yokohama

England's defeat by Brazil means David Beckham has avoided a reunion with the man who famously sent him off at France 98.

Kim Milton Nielsen was on Sunday appointed to take charge of Brazil's semi-final with Turkey in Saitama on Wednesday.

The Danish referee's red card to Beckham against Argentina led to the Manchester United midfielder becoming the scapegoat for England's exit four years ago.

In the other semi-final, Urs Meier will be the man in the middle for South Korea's clash with Germany in the highly-charged atmosphere of Seoul on Tuesday.

The Swiss official will attempt to keep things in check following the controversy that has surrounded the last two games of the co-hosts.

In the second round, Korea beat Italy on golden goal after the Azzurri had a golden goal disallowed and Francesco Totti sent off.

Korea triumphed against Spain on Saturday in a penalty shoot-out, but not before the Spaniards had two goals ruled out.

All six officials for the semi-finals are European.

FIFA had come under fire for appointing officials from lesser-known footballing nations for some of the big games.

But the World Cup's referees' committee seems to have had a change of policy following criticism on standards from FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Egypt's Gamal Ghandour was in charge for Korea's clash with Spain, while Byron Moreno of Ecuador refereed the match with Italy.

Earlier today, FIFA admitted the referees had some times got things badly wrong.

FIFA director of communications Keith Cooper said: "I have a comment from the chairman of the referees' committee Senes Erzik who says there have been one or two major mistakes which have been a cause for concern.

"But he feels that the referees have been very well prepared for the World Cup. He is keen to point out, as it has been done many times before, that referees are only human and errors cannot be entirely eliminated."

But Cooper denied the notion there was any plot to get Korea as far as possible in the tournament.

He said: "Conspiracy theories crop up on all occasions and in 99 per cent of the cases, they prove to be unfounded. This is one of those 99 per cent occasions."

FIFA also re-affirmed that the idea of video replays to help the officials was "not on the agenda".