Public relations commentators have shown a FIFA spokesman the red card after a dismal PR performance at a press conference by sidestepping questions about refereeing blunders during the England vs Germany and Argentina vs Mexico World Cup matches.
FIFA communications director Nicolas Maingot ducked, dived and prevaricated in response to suggestions by reporters that the latest round of refereeing howlers had made a mockery of the biggest and richest spectator sport in the world.
Maingot simply had no answer to the inevitable question about what FIFA intended to do about preventing similar mistakes in the future and declined to say why the governing body's president Sepp Blatter was unavailable for comment.
And Maingot's message to disappointed England fans that they continue to enjoy the World Cup did nothing to restore the credibility of an organisation branded as a laughing stock by reporters from all over the world.
Sepp Blatter has since entered the fray by suggesting that FIFA would review its stance on the use of technology after the World Cup.
However, most PR professionals believe that Blatter should have reacted more purposely from the start and it is now a question of reputational damage limitation.
But had FIFA's comms team instead gone into the press conference better prepared the organisation would have likely retained a far greater degree of credibility.
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