In the interview, Blatter offered an apology to Australians who saw their team knocked out of the competition in the second round and claimed it was the Socceroos who should have progressed to the quarter-finals instead of the Italians.

But FIFA issued a statement on Monday denying that Blatter was making disrespectful comments about Italy, saying he was instead simply commending the Socceroos.

"The Italian team proved that despite serious pressures at home, they stuck together as a team and delivered exceptional football. The Italian team proved that superior skills, team-work and individual determination are the ingredients that lead to World Cup glory," Blatter said, in a statement released by FIFA.

"With my statement I simply wanted to pay credit to the Socceroos as well because they played a great match and their lack of experience did not permit them to go to extra-time."

Editorial supervisor of SBS Sport Les Murray agreed Blatter's comments were not targeting the controversial end to the Australia-Italy clash and were not delivered in a negative vein.

"At no time did the FIFA president make any inappropriate comment whatsoever concerning the Australia versus Italy match, and he most certainly did not comment negatively about Italy," Murray said.

"The topic as to whether the controversial penalty kick awarded to Italy in the last moments of the game was justified or not, never even came up during the interview."

Sportal