Japan Football Association chief Saburo Kawabuchi on Monday blasted an American umpire for a controversial call in Japan's 4-3 defeat to the United States in their World Baseball Classic second-round game and said it has "left an ugly blot" on the inaugural competition.
Speaking on a local radio program, Kawabuchi also questioned why umpires from a neutral country were not used, as is the case in international soccer matches, and accused the umpire of bias toward his own country.
"In soccer it's a matter of course that the referee is from a neutral country. He was an American umpire so you can only think that's (the reason) why he made an inexplicable call like that," said Kawabuchi, referring to plate umpire Bob Davidson. "I think this has left an ugly blot on this competition."
Japan appeared to have scored the go-ahead run in Sunday's Pool 1 game in Anaheim, Calif., when Tsuyoshi Nishioka beat Randy Winn's throw home and second base umpire Brian Knight ruled him safe.
But the game was left clouded in controversy after Davidson overturned the call after consulting the other umpires.
In television replays, Nishioka didn't appear to leave third base early on a sacrifice fly. Japan skipper Sadaharu Oh said later that he thought the closest umpire to the play should be allowed to make the call.