Holland manager Marco van Basten was left seeing red because of Russian referee Valentine Ivanov's hotly contested calls during the 1-0 loss to Portugal in the World Cup. Ivanov handed up 16 cautions and four red cards to register the biggest number of bookings in a single game throughout the World Cup history. "It is a pity the referee made a mess of this game," Van Basten said in Sunday's post-match press conference. The Russian teacher dismissed Costinha and Deco from Portugal and Khaled Bouhlarouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Holland in an ill-tempered match that saw Van Basten's side bow out of the tournament. The Dutch coach was frustrated by both the calls on the aggressive play and the poor performance Holland made in the second-half despite outnumbering Portugal. "The advantage we had slipped away, and when it was ten against ten, we tried to attack, but for 45 minutes we didn't play our normal game. There was a foul every minute. It's a shame," he said. "What is also regrettable is that the refereeing has such an influence on such an important match."
Van Bronckhorst, who was sent off five minutes into injury time, was disappointed by his team's inability to follow through in the second period. "It was a crazy game. We put in a lot of effort in search of victory," the 31-year-old defender said. "It's hard to take being knocked out of the World Cup, after creating plenty of chances but failing to take them. We had no luck at all." While Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari commented on the rough sportsmanship, he was more concerned about how Portugal would face England on July 1st without some key players. Holding midfielder Costinha and instrumental playmaker Deco will be serving an automatic one-game suspension while Cristiano Ronaldo, who limped off the pitch with a thigh injury, remains a major doubt for the game. "We have to congratulate these players, in spite of the odd moment of excess on the part of both teams. It was an intense, controversial and difficult game," said Scolari. "Now I have to put a team together to face England, but with a few problems. But that's part of my job."
