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By Mitch Phillips
VIENNA, June 13 (Reuters) - Polish media vilified referee Howard Webb for his late penalty decision that cost their team victory over Austria at Euro 2008, but UEFA defended the Englishman's verdict as absolutely correct on Friday.
Webb awarded the stoppage-time penalty after Sebastian Proedl was dragged down by Mariusz Lewandowski. Ivica Vastic converted to earn Austria a 1-1 draw in Thursday's Group B game.
"We don't think it's controversial that when a player is pulled down by the shirt with both hands a penalty is given, there is nothing controversial about that," UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told a news conference.
Poland coach Leo Beenhakker complained that if that was a foul, dozens more should have been given in previous games as UEFA had said it would clamp down on the problem.
But Webb clearly had UEFA's support on Friday.
"You saw that the free kick was taken twice, there was a lot of wrestling in the area, it's probably why he took the decision. It was certainly within the rules of the game, that's for sure," Gaillard said.
"Maybe he could see that this particular foul was worse than he had seen in the rest of the game."
Gaillard said any analysis of Webb's performance would be carried out by UEFA's referees' committee after the match delegate's report.
The same would apply, via the control and disciplinary committee, to any possible punishment for Beenhakker, who said of Webb: "I don't know why the referee saw what nobody else saw, maybe he just wanted to show he was a big boy."
MEIER'S CRITICISM
UEFA aside, it was not all unstinting support for Thursday's match officials in Vienna.
Former top Swiss referee Urs Meier criticised them for not disallowing Roger Guerreiro's 30th-minute opener for Poland, which had clearly looked offside.
"The assistant referee did not move," Meier told German TV. "He was not standing in the correct line for offside as required by UEFA. It was a monumental mistake by the assistant."
Meier was involved in a controversial incident at Euro 2004 when he disallowed a late goal that would have put England 2-1 ahead against Portugal in a quarter-final they eventually lost on penalties.
He too was backed by UEFA but was savaged by the English media and received thousands of abusive emails. He needed police protection after a tabloid newspaper published his personal details.
