No-goal referee dumped

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21 June 2012-DPA

The no-goal that was ... John Terry clears the ball after it had crossed the line

Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai, who missed Ukraine's goal against England, was one of four match officials to be discarded by UEFA for the rest of EURO 2012.

Collina defends extra official

Also going home after the group stage are Carlos Velasco Carballo of Spain, who refereed the tournament's opening game between Poland and Greece and sent off a player from each side.

Wolfgang Stark of Germany and Bjoern Kuipers of the Netherlands are the other two referees eliminated as UEFA reduced the referees from 12 to eight for the rest of the tournament, UEFA's chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina said.

Collina indicated the controversial decision not to allow Ukraine's goal, which television pictures showed crossed the line, influenced the decision not to keep Kassai on.

Kassai waved play on after his goal-line assistant judged wrongly that ball had not crossed the line.

The decision "unfortunately was a mistake made by a human being" but not the fault of Kassai, Collina said.

"We can clearly say he was not responsible (for the decision) but he would have come under pressure," Collina said.

"Keeping Kassai here for another match would have been difficult for us. He is one of our best referees ... it is something very unlucky for him."