Edwin van der Sar has angrily accused Portugal - and Luis Figo in particular - of cheating to get Dutch players sent off during the 'Battle of Nuremberg' World Cup clash.

Russian referee Valentin Ivanov totally lost control of the bad-tempered encounter, dishing out an incredible 16 yellow cards and four reds as both sides finished the game with nine men as Portugal won 1-0. Costinha was the first to be dismissed, followed by Khalid Boulahrouz, Deco and Giovanni von Bronckhorst.

The Holland camp were incensed by some of Ivanov's decisions, notably the two he made involving Figo just after the hour mark.

First, the Portugal captain escaped with a booking despite clearly headbutting Mark van Bommel. A dismissal at that stage would have reduced the Portuguese to nine men at a time when Holland still had 11 on the pitch.

Instead, Figo stayed on and it was his over-the-top reaction to Boulahrouz accidentally catching him in the face as the pair chased a loose ball which saw the full-back sent off to even up the numbers.

The incident triggered the first in a series of mass confrontations between the two teams and led to a furious Van der Sar issuing a thinly-disguised attack on Figo.

"At the start of the second half, we had a man advantage, created a couple of chances and then Figo does what he does best," he said of the Boulahrouz incident.

"The worst part about it is he should not even have been on the pitch.

"If you headbutt someone, you should get sent off. Yet the referee, his two assistants and the fourth official were all there and somehow he only gets a yellow card.

"The thing that upsets me is the Portuguese players look up, work out whether their opponent has already got a yellow card or not, then act in a certain way. I know this is the World Cup, but that is not very nice."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has already indicated his displeasure with Ivanov's handling of the game, although given the spiteful nature of the contest, he could easily have produced more red cards than he did.

Boulahrouz was fortunate only to receive a yellow for the early studs-first attack on Cristiano Ronaldo's thigh which brought the Manchester United winger's evening to a tearful, early conclusion, while one Nuno Valente tackle was so high he planted his boot on a startled Arjen Robben's shoulder.

Van der Sar was honest enough to admit players from both sides crossed the line of acceptability. But the 35-year-old believes the referee was culpable due to his total failure to control the game.

"The referee destroyed the game," he said.

"When the referee is not strong, you get a situation where the players do things which are not fair and not right.

"For 15 minutes during the second half the game was nothing more than a series of cards. Portugal managed to slow the game down and there were so many bust-ups and different things going on it worked against us.

"The referee has to take responsibility for that. He was poor throughout the tournament and when you consider what went on after half-time, to only add six minutes on at the end was a joke.

"I am 35 now and I have been in the game for a long time but I have never seen anything like that."

The veteran keeper is expected to announce his international retirement at some stage this summer, although he was non-committal on the issue in the immediate aftermath of last night's defeat.

Instead, he was left to reflect on a sense of underachievement for a squad which has improved so much under Marco van Basten over the past two years but ultimately failed halt a sorry sequence of results against Portugal which has brought them just one win in 10 meetings.

"We are very disappointed," he said.

"This team is capable of doing far better than we have."

Manager Marco van Basten backed his goalkeeper's views.

"The difference between our team and Portugal was that they were just a little bit more experienced," said the former AC Milan and Ajax striker. "We saw all of the tricks and time wasting and that was a pity."

Scolari added to the explosive cocktail by reacting angrily towards Van Basten following a challenge on his captain, but the Dutch coach refused to be drawn into a debate over the actions of the wily Figo.

"It was so loud, I couldn't hear what he said," said Van Basten. "Portugal wasted so much time. But if you are going to talk about fair play, you have to watch yourself first."

But while the Dutch legend saw the behaviour of the Portuguese as a key element in the Iberian side's progression, he also accepted responsibility for his team's defeat.

"We tried a lot," he said.

"We created some chances in the beginning, we tried to play down the wings and in the last part of the game, when Portugal were defending, we just tried with the high balls because we couldn't get through. We were just unlucky that we couldn't score.

"If you look at how they edged forward with their tricks and playing for time and theatrics, it played a role. We did point it out on several occasions.

"We controlled the game but we lost the ball and they counter attacked and we are to blame for the defeat also."

Van Basten is expecting another entertaining clash when Scolari and England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson meet again in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, a repeat of the Euro 2004 quarter-final between the sides.

"Two years ago they played and it was a very nice game, an emotional game," Van Basten said.

"I hope it will be a very special game. The only thing is Portugal will be without some key players because they have a lot of yellow cards. It's a pity for football."