AUSTRALIAN Vince Grella has launched a scathing attack on the Socceroos' Asian Cup rivals, accusing them of gamesmanship.

He also slammed the standard of refereeing at the tournament, calling it disgraceful.

The Italian-based midfielder, who finished Australia's abject tournament with a red card in the quarter-final loss on penalties to Japan, said there was no respect for the Socceroos playing in their first Asian Cup.

He is still bitter over the way Japanese striker Naohiro Takahara reacted in the incident which led to his 76th-minute red card in Hanoi.

'We respected all our opponents but they had no respect for us,' Grella told Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper.

'There were guys rolling around all over the place every time we played and all our opponents went out of their way to goad us.

'They all had a bad attitude towards us.

'I've written the names of Oman, Iraq, Thailand and Japan down, so it will be payback time when we meet again.'

Grella also accused the Socceroos' opponents of ganging up against the Asian Cup debutants.

'I don't know what they all had against Australia but it was a joke.

JUMPING LIKE KANGAROOS

'When Iraq scored against us (during their shock 3-1 victory) they were jumping around like kangaroos and when Oman scored a goal they went and celebrated in front of our supporters...that's taking the piss.

'Japan called us a bunch of wrestlers before the game. They were winding us up.

'As an honourable nation, their people should be ashamed of the conduct of their team. It was totally unacceptable and disgraceful.

'They drove me insane with their remarks - I (wanted to) kill them before the game even started. The way they acted wasn't in the spirit of football.

'We have players in the best leagues in the world and I don't even know the names of half their team. But I wouldn't have come out and said they were a bunch of nobodies.'

Grella believes he was a victim of bad acting by Takahara and ham-fisted refereeing.

'I barely touched him yet he went down screeching as if he'd broken his leg,' Grella said.

'It was ridiculous. It was a challenge I've made 1,000 times and I was surprised, to say the least, it got me a straight red card.

'Of course I feel responsible, because that left nothing else other than (for Australia) to play for penalties.

'But I also feel Takahara intimidated the referee.'

Grella said the referees were inconsistent and appeared to turn a blind eye to gamesmanship, including diving.

NO FAIR PLAY

'We all wore the fair-play badge on the arms of our shirts but there wasn't much of that going around on the pitch,' he said.

'We were frustrated with the inconsistencies of the decision making. The referees let it all go.

'We need to remember these things and give these teams a hiding when they come to Australia in the future, but we're too nice. That's our mentality.

'The Asians saw us as arrogant.

'But our organisation is humble and just wants to follow the rules of the sport.' - AP