He sparked headlines around the world after he lambasted referees, officials and rival teams, blaming them for Australia's early exit from the competition.

Today Grella was brief when asked about his post-Cup blue - but said his comments had not come across as intended.

"My ears have been burning a little bit from what I said after the Asian Cup," he admitted.

“I’m not really going to go against what I said but I think in the heat of the moment, I probably could have kept a few things to myself.

"But in the end that’s the way I am and what I was trying to get across only in the best interests of the game, and not in the best interests of Vince Grella.

"It was for the love and passion of playing for Australia because that’s what I do it for.”

But he added: "I'm getting little birdies coming back to me that people's hairs have been standing up a little bit about what I said.

"I wouldn't say it's disappointing, but I thought after these past couple of years some people might understand the kind of person I am."

Grella is the latest Socceroo to commit himself to Australia’s September 11 friendly against Argentina, at the risk of defying his new club, Torino.

Speculation has been rife that most European-based stars will not return home for the match but Grella says he is a certain starter if picked.

“Torino are not really super-happy about it," Grella said. "But before I signed I made it very clear about my commitments with the national team.

"The man in charge agreed on me being available for any game that I wanted to play in.

“You can’t get much better than this game... playing in Melbourne in front of a home crowd against Argentina."

He added: "I think all the players will be excited with the opportunity.

"Argentina have very passionate players as well and whenever they play for the national team they always give their 100 per cent.

"Once they step onto the pitch, it will be a tough game.”

With the South American giants the hot favourites to win, Grella says the Socceroos remain a chance - but a return to a solid performance is the main priority.

He added: “With our home support and with a full squad, we’ll be pushing to win.

"We’ll see at the end of the game what the final result is. An acceptable result is to at least get ourselves back together and put in a good performance.

"I don’t want to get back into the Asian Cup, but a lot of things didn’t go our way.”