Ref who missed Suarez bite in limelight for Brazil v Germany

Brasilia: The Mexican referee who missed Luis Suarez`s bite in the World Cup had encouragement from Brazil but a warning from Germany on the eve of Tuesday`s semi-final which he will also officiate.

Marco Rodriguez refereed the Uruguay v Italy group game when striker Suarez bit defender Giorgio Chiellini off the ball.

The official was following play elsewhere at the time so took no action, but FIFA gave Suarez a four-month ban from football and a nine-game suspension from playing for Uruguay - the severest ever sanction at a World Cup.

Asked if he mistrusted Rodriguez because he missed the bite, Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari sprung to his defence.

"He didn`t see it. Many things happen. Many times the referee doesn`t see a foul, other things that happen in a game. Sometimes when they`re looking at the ball, other things happen they don`t see. That`s why they have the assistants," he told reporters.

"He`s a referee who`s in his third World Cup, he has a lot of experience. I think he was one of the correct choices by FIFA to referee this match."

Germany`s concern was not about the missed bite but Brazil`s bruising style against Colombia in their quarter-final, when they roughed up midfielder James Rodriguez and there were a host of unpunished fouls long before the hosts` forward Neymar was injured following a strong challenge.

Brazil committed 31 fouls against Colombia but Spanish referee Carlos Velasco did not issue a first yellow card until the second half when 41 fouls had been made by both teams.

Tuesday`s referee Rodriguez needs to be tougher, Germany coach Joachim Loew told a news conference.

"My hope, or what I expect, is that the referee Rodriguez punishes these things," he said.

"In the past game (Brazil v Colombia) this physical involvement was almost over the limit. In Europe there would not be 22 players on the pitch in the end. It was a bit exaggerated. One has to punish these rustic and brutal tactics. There was maybe 38, 39 minutes of clean playing time."