 Russian referee Ivanov shows the red card to Portugal's Costinha |
Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed his England players have been told how to behave on the pitch ahead of their quarter-final match on Saturday. Two former referees visited the England hotel to explain the new Fifa rules in the light of a large number of bookings made during the World Cup.
"They were talking about the new interpretations of the rules," said England coach Eriksson.
"The tolerance level for tackles is now much less for yellow and red cards."
A World Cup record of 25 players have been shown the red card, while 290 yellow cards have been issued.
The second-round match between Holland Portugal saw 16 yellow and four red cards issued by referee Valentin Ivanov.
 | I think some decisions have been hard for some of the players to understand England star Owen Hargreaves |
England defender Rio Ferdinand believes that bookings have been handed out "too freely".
"The referees have been very tough, in my opinion over-tough," said the Manchester United player.
"A lot of tackles that have been booked... well, the yellow cards have been handed out too freely.
"But that's the way it goes and we've got to deal with that and the team that deals with that best will be the team that wins."
| WORLD CUP BLOG Our man in the England camp |
Team-mate Owen Hargreaves said some of the decisions made by officials had resulted in bemusement.
"There are some of the best referees," said the Bayern Munich midfielder.
"But I think some decisions have been hard for some of the players to understand because they have been blowing the whistle so much.
"Obviously it's important for the players that the ref has a good day and lets the players play because it is very difficult to get a flow to the game if it's stopped every 30 seconds."
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