Oh interesting - what do you think of the standard of refereeing so far ? personally there have been a few good decisions but overall I have to say it's been poor, specifically with yellow cards, they seem to be dishing them out for anything.
As I am in the U.S. I have not been able to watch all the games I would like since many of them happen during my working hours. I have been able to record a few. I think the officiating has been generally pretty poor, but then I have thought so the last few Cup games. The Euro Championships were much, much better. I think there are several factors that play into this. First and foremost is the pressure. You as a ref are on the world stage here and not many have ever experience that before (I haven't) and of course the harder you try to be perfect the more glaring mistakes you make! Second, FIFA is pushed to use refs from a lot of small, third world countries that never have the level of play expected in the Cup. Mali is a good example. Add the inexperience to the mix. Third, there is a definite language barrier. I am sure that many of the refs would rather caution the players verbally before pulling out that card but it is difficult to do that when you don't speak their language and I am sure even accents get in the way during the speed of the game. And don't forget the ego of the players. Lastly, I have no idea if FIFA itself is putting on a lot of pressure to hand out those cards.
The aggressiveness of the play in the Cup is far beyond what we see in professional football even at the upper levels. I never went beyond officiating semi-pro teams but if I had seen much of the play at those levels years ago I would have worn my pocket out pulling cards! I understand it is all part of the game now and at this level.
Note that none of the above excuses some of the outright bonehead calls I have seen made. One can only hope that such calls do not alter what would have been the outcome anyway, but things like the mystery nullified goals, or the double-handballs that were not called do alter it. And that is a tragedy. If we expect these players to be the best in the world and the team that wins to be World Champion then we should expect best-in-the-world officiating and that is just not happening.