After a good opening week of the tournament, a number of mistakes by both referees and linesmen has caused outrage among players, coaches and fans.

Frank Beckenbauer, Germany's organising committee president, admitted today: "They haven't got the situation 100% under control."

Bernard Saules, head of the French referees union, has gone even further and criticised FIFA president Sepp Blatter for imposing referees from varying countries for political reasons rather than the quality of the officials.

Poll's aberration in booking Croatian player Josip Simunic three times before sending him off means he cannot hope to make the cut.

FIFA referees committee spokesman Andreas Werz said: "Under normal circumstances, he would not take charge of any other matches at this World Cup."

Poll is not the only referee with a previous high standing who looks destined for the chop.

Russian official Valentin Ivanov has come under fire for showing a World Cup record four red cards and 16 yellow in Portugal's tempestuous win over Holland on Sunday, a match that has since become known as 'the battle of Nuremberg'.

Blatter has criticised both Poll and Ivanov, saying the latter "deserved a yellow card" for his performance, while Poll's mistake "simply should not have happened".

Ivanov has defended his performance, telling Russian newspaper Izvestia the Portugal v Holland game was the "worst match" he had ever refereed.

He added: "You would expect some dirty tricks from the Portuguese. They are known for time-wasting or hitting from behind.

"But I was unpleasantly surprised by seeing such things from the Dutch. More so, they were the instigators."

German official Markus Merk, who was in charge of the Euro 2004 final, may also have blotted his copybook to an extent following criticism of his performance in the Italy v USA match in which three players were send off.

Argentina striker Hernan Crespo has also questioned the quality of World Cup refereeing and claimed his country have had three legitimate goals wiped out already this tournament.

The Chelsea forward said his side had been denied goals against the Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro and most recently in Saturday's 2-1 win over Mexico.

Crespo said: "We have won three matches in this World Cup and in those three matches now we have had good goals not given by the referee - for [Roberto] Ayala against Ivory Coast, for me in the second match and now for [Lionel] Messi against Mexico.

"Referees can make mistakes but at a high level you have to question whether they are the right people."

Slovakian official Lubos Michel now looks the most likely candidate for the final.

He refereed three matches at the 2002 World Cup, five at Euro 2004 and the 2003 UEFA Cup final. He was also in charge of the 2005 Champions League semi-final second leg between Liverpool and Chelsea.

Furthermore, as his country are not in the World Cup, he cannot be barred on grounds of nationality.