Guus Hiddink will spurn Australian offers of a homecoming parade because he is already planning his move to Russia.

Hiddink created history by guiding the Socceroos into the second round of the World Cup for the first time and he is immensely popular in Australia, a country which has previously shunned football.

However, with various cities - including Melbourne, heartland of Australian rules football - vying to hold a welcome home party for the Australia team after their 1-0 defeat to Italy, the Dutchman is only thinking about his next job.

"I won't go back for a parade just for making it to the second round," he said.

"My schedule is so busy that my only holiday now is a few days in Russia before I start my new job there."

Hiddink had been linked to the England job but agreed before the World Cup to take over the Russian national team ahead of qualifying for the 2008 European Championships, a campaign which will see him go head to head with Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor Steve McClaren.

It leaves Australia looking for a replacement with former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill inevitably mentioned in dispatches along with former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier.

Hiddink blamed the referee, the Italians and, finally, his own side's inability to take advantage of an extra man following Marco Materazzi's sending-off five minutes into the second half for the defeat.

The Azzurri won the game thanks to Francesco Totti's stoppage-time penalty, awarded when Lucas Neill brought down Fabio Grosso.

"Even when Materazzi was on the park we controlled parts of the game and then when we were sent off, we assumed full control," Hiddink said.

"Then we fully dominated against a team that is much more highly ranked than us, before we got caught out in the last minute and if you see the replay there is no doubt it wasn't a penalty."

The Dutchman, who masterminded a controversial win over Italy when he was in charge of South Korea at the last World Cup, bemoaned the Italians' attempts to play on the counterattack.

In a game of few chances, Hiddink said his team tried to play attacking football - in contrast to the Italians.

"We tried to play another style, a style that is more attractive for the spectators," he said.

"The Italians wanted to play defensively, - they don't think about attractive football, they just think about the result."

However, with their opponents down to 10 men for most of the second half, the game was Australia's to win and Hiddink admitted his side had failed to properly test the Italian defences.

"Our crosses weren't good enough in the ultimate phase and as a consequence we didn't score any goals," he said.

"We had to use the wings more and the move the ball more laterally."