Portugal to appeal Deco's red card

Portugal plan to appeal against the red card handed to playmaker Deco in the stormy second round win over the Netherlands, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said on Monday.

The red card rules Deco out of Saturday's World Cup quarter-final with England.

Portugal will also be without midfielder Costinha, who was one four players sent off in Sunday night's game, a record for a match at the finals.

Speaking to reporters after a short training session, Scolari criticised Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, as well as the Dutch coach, Marco van Basten, and his players for not abiding by FIFA's fair play regulations.

"We accept that we made some disciplinary mistakes, but we cannot accept in any way the red card for Deco," he said.

"The Portuguese Football Federation, on the basis of the FIFA Fair Play documents, will put in a request to overturn the card for Deco," he added.

Scolari was unhappy with the first yellow card given to Deco, claiming that the Dutch had failed to return the ball to the Portuguese after a stoppage in play for an injury.

He accused coach Van Basten of encouraging his players to play on rather than give the ball back.

Deco, clearly enraged, chased after Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga as he played on and brought him down from behind.

Deco saw a second yellow card in the 78th minute for time wasting.