Brazil have not complained over Kaka

(GETTY IMAGES)

FIFA have yet to receive a formal complaint from the Brazilian confederation regarding Kaka's sending-off against Ivory Coast on Sunday night.

The Real Madrid star was dismissed by French referee Stephane Lannoy for what he deemed to be two bookable offences, the second of which was a collision with Ivory Coast's Kader Keita who appeared to make a meal of the contact.

Under Article 72 of FIFA's disciplinary code it is almost certain that any appeal from the Brazilians on Kaka's behalf would fail, because the referee's decision is considered final except in circumstances where he has clearly booked the wrong player.

There had earlier been controversy over Luis Fabiano's second goal for Brazil in the 3-1 win, as he appeared twice to handle the ball before firing it in. Again, FIFA were not aware of any formal complaint at this stage from the Ivorians.

FIFA head of media Nicolas Maingot said: "I am not aware of any complaints from the two teams. If this is the case we will analyse the request and respond to it."

Brazil coach Dunga was furious with the decision against Kaka after last night's match and said: "It was a totally unjustified sending-off. It was a very complicated game, a very physical game I might add.

"There were many fouls committed and all of us, who love football and desire beautiful football, always ask that the beautiful game is controlled.

"We have to know what is good football and what is not. So when the referee allows certain fouls or certain incidents to go unpunished that is not right, as happened today."

Reports have also surfaced this morning that Malian referee Koman Coulibaly has been dropped from officiating at future World Cup matches, but FIFA were not aware that this was the case at their daily briefing.

Coulibaly disallowed what would have been a match-winning goal for the United States against Slovenia on Friday, with the American coach Bob Bradley and his players saying afterwards that the official gave them no explanation for why he had ruled out the goal.

The subject of pitches was also on the agenda today, with John Lockyer of the Sports Turf Research Institute revealing that the decision to prohibit teams from training on certain stadium surfaces was a measure designed to protect pitches in what he described as a period of "unseasonal weather" in South Africa.

He said: "We're constantly aware of the performance of the pitches and we assess that with the impact of usage and climate. With the unseasonal weather in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, it has forced us to take preventative measures to prevent longer-term issues. The decision of whether teams can train at the stadiums or not is taken on a match-by-match basis."

Lockyer admitted there were a few problems with the northern end of the Soccer City surface looking discoloured and said it had been caused by shade and frost.

"Being in almost permanent shade, the impact of frost has been most noticeable there. We are using frost covers and germination blankets to protect the pitch. We expect it to catch up within the next few days."

Local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo was asked about the lacklustre performance of African teams at the finals, with only Ghana having recorded a win at the tournament so far.

He said: "Of course we would love African teams to do well in this World Cup and we are disappointed that they are not, but there are a number of well-known teams here who are not doing so well.

"I am sure that the people of South Africa will continue to support the teams who do go through."