DOHA: There have been only two "glaring mistakes" by referees at the Asian Cup, said the region's deputy football chief, as Japan's players lashed out at decisions during their hard-fought quarterfinal victory.
"The refereeing at the Asian Cup, mostly by Asians, has so far been flawless," said Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) vice-president Yousuf Yaqoob Al Serkal.
"It speaks volumes of high standards of refereeing on the continent."
Al Serkal, chairman of the AFC's referees committee, told Qatari media that the officiating had been better than at the World Cup in South Africa.
"I would give them eight marks out of 10 for their effectiveness in Qatar," he said.
But he identified by name Australian referee Benjamin Williams and Torky Mohsen of Iran as being responsible for two big mistakes so far. Neither has taken charge of a game at the tournament since.
The Kuwait Football Association made an official complaint about Williams, who oversaw their 2-0 defeat by China in their opening game.
Williams showed left-back Mesad Nada a straight red card after the defender kicked out at Chinese forward Yang Xu.
The Australian also rejected a strong Kuwaiti penalty appeal and refused to award a goal when China goalkeeper Yang Zhi fumbled the ball on his line.
Japan were left seething about the sending off of goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima in their 2-1 win over Syria.
Mohsen gave Kawashima his marching orders for bringing down Sanharib Malki despite the player being flagged offside.
The Japanese were similarly furious on Saturday following their dramatic 3-2 win over hosts Qatar in the last-eight a day earlier.
The three-times champions came from two goals down despite going down to 10 men when centreback Maya Yoshida received a second yellow card on the hour for an innocuous tangle with Yusef Ahmed.
Captain Makoto Hasebe said of Malaysian referee Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh's decision to dismiss Yoshida: "It's no use talking about refereeing and things like that.
"But if they want to raise the level of Asian football, such refereeing won't help."
It was not immediately clear if Al Serkal's comments were made before or after the latest refereeing controversy.
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