Joao Pinto is accused of punching referee

The Argentinian referee Angel Sanchez revealed yesterday that João Pinto punched him after he had sent off the Portuguese forward in Friday's Group D match against South Korea.

"He punched me on the left, in the ribs," Sanchez declared in a radio interview. Other Portuguese players had to restrain João Pinto after the referee showed him a red card for a first-half tackle from behind on Park Ji-Sung. But Portugal's captain, Fernando Couto, grabbed Sanchez by the face as he and his team-mates argued with the referee over the decision.

Sanchez said Eusebio, Portugal's 1966 World Cup legend, approached him after the game to apologise on João Pinto's behalf. Portugal had another player, Beto, sent off in the second half and lost the match 1-0, thus failing to qualify for the second round.

The American veteran Jeff Agoos is out of the World Cup with a calf injury. The 34-year-old defender, who was injured in Friday's 3-1 defeat by Poland, will not be fit for at least a month. After making his international debut in 1988, Agoos missed three tournaments and was playing in his first World Cup.

Fifa, world football's ruling body, will investigate the ticket-distribution problems that resulted in tens of thousands of empty seats at first-round games. "We will go into a kind of investigation to find out where are the responsibilities," the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, said yesterday.