KAISERSLAUTERN: Australia s players said Egyptian referee Esam Abd El Fatah had apologized for allowing a disputed goal against them in their 3-1 over Japan in World Cup Group F on Monday. The Australians produced one of the great comebacks from a goal down to score three times in the last eight minutes for a famous 3-1 victory to kick-start their first World Cup campaign in 32 years. Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said El Fatah had apologized for allowing Shunsuke Nakamura s goal to stand after Atsushi Yanagisawa collided with the Australian keeper and knocked him off balance as the ball sailed into the empty net. The goal, which led to a furious protest from the Australians, gave Japan the early lead and the controversy threatened to overshadow the match until the Australians scored three times in a devastating late flurry. At the end of the day the referee made a mistake but everybody makes mistakes and I think it was big of him to admit it and overall I think he refereed the game okay, Schwarzer told reporters. I went over to him when one of the Japanese players was injured in our 18-yard box five minutes after they scored and I said to him referee, what s the story? and he just said sorry, I made a mistake. To concede the goal like we did, it was totally against the run of play and it was a clear foul and it shouldn t have been a goal, the Middlesborough keeper said. He said after the game [to Australia captain Mark Viduka] that God was on his side because the result went our way in the end ... in the sense that it didn t affect the result in the end. Viduka confirmed the referee had spoken to him about the incident. I think it was obvious that he made a mistake but everybody makes a mistake. He said that God was with him today because he obviously made a mistake. Australia coach Guus Hiddink also said the referee had got lucky. In the end justice was done in this game. It was a clear foul on the goalie. Reuters
