Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was involved in another World Cup controversy as he appeared to bite Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during their Group D clash.
The Liverpool striker, 27, lunged at Chiellini in the penalty area just before Diego Godin’s Uruguay winner.
Chiellini pulled his shirt down to show the referee a mark on his shoulder but no action was taken by the official.
The maximum ban Suarez could face if governing body Fifa takes retrospective action is 24 matches or two years.
“It was ridiculous not to send Suarez off. It is clear, clear-cut,” Chiellini told Italian television station Rai TV.
“Then there was the obvious dive afterwards because he knew very well that he did something that he shouldn’t have done.”
After the clash between the players, Suarez, 27, went to ground holding his mouth, apparently suggesting he had been elbowed.
As the Italian ran after referee Marco Rodriguez, Uruguay forward Gaston Ramirez attempted to get Juventus defender Chiellini, 29, to cover his shoulder.
Suarez has twice been banned for biting and, at the 2010 World Cup, committed a handball on the line to stop Ghana from scoring.
Fifa will wait to receive the referee’s report, with a spokeswoman telling BBC Sport: “We will gather all the necessary elements in order to evaluate the matter.”
The disciplinary committee of world football’s governing has the authority “sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match officials’ attention”.
In Fifa’s disciplinary code it states that the maximum ban would be 24 matches or two years, although the longest ban in World Cup history was eight games for Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for breaking Spain’s Luis Enrique’s nose in 1994 with an elbow.
Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce said: “There is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism.
“Fifa must investigate the incident seriously and take whatever disciplinary action is deemed necessary.”
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez tried to play down the incident and believes there is a vendetta from certain media towards Suarez.
“I’d like to see the images first before making any comment. If it happened, then the referee probably didn’t see it,” said Tabarez.
Uruguay captain Diego Lugano also defended Suarez, whose two goals in the tournament so far came in a victory over England, and criticised the actions of Chiellini.
“What did you see? You saw this, really? You need to show me because I didn’t see anything,” said Lugano.
“Did you see it today or did you see what happened in other years. You couldn’t have seen it today because nothing happened.
Italy manager Cesare Prandelli said he was resigning after the defeat by Uruguay, which eliminated his side from the tournament in Brazil.
“I didn’t see the images of Suarez but I did see the bite marks in Chiellini’s shoulder,” said Prandelli.
Luis Suarez and Giorgio Chiellini
Liverpool’s Suarez was banned for 10 games for biting Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match in April 2013.
He was also banned for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal’s shoulder while Ajax captain in 2010.
The forward courted controversy at the tournament four years ago when he used his hand to block Dominic Adiyiah’s goal-bound shot in the 120th minute.
Suarez was sent off, while Ghana missed the subsequent penalty and went on to lose the World Cup quarter-final on penalties.
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