In the second game, officials missed a clear offside against Argentina's Carlos Tevez whose header gave his team an early 1-0 lead over Mexico. The Argentines won 3-1 and also advanced.

Blatter said he apologized to England and Mexico and that FIFA was already studying how to improve refereeing or match control.

"We will start with a new concept, how to improve match control in high-level competition," added Blatter. "And we are going forward and we will come out at the end of October, beginning of November, with this new approach because something has to be changed."

Several FIFA referees reacted, noting that most of their calls are correct and very few mistakes actually affect the outcome of games.

But, like British referee Howard Webb, many said they welcomed any measures to improve the sport.

"I am open-minded about anything that makes us more credible as match officials, but as I've said earlier, it is a decision for the people [officials] to take," he said. "And whatever tools I am given, I will use them to the best of my ability. I will use all the experience I have to try to come to the correct decisions with whatever tools we have, and we will just watch the space with interest and see where it goes."

Football fans and analysts for years have called for the introduction of video replays to allow referees to review controversial calls. Others have called for adding more officials to the one referee and two linesmen currently in use.