To see Socceroo and Kiwi fans at the MCG...

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New Zealand manager Ricky Herbert was also quick to condemn Grella and Cahill, arguing both men should have been sent off for two separate tackles on Leo Bertos in the space of three minutes in the first half which resulted in the Wellington Phoenix winger being carried from the field with a leg injury.

Herbert revealed after the game that Bertos had suffered some 'bad contact' to his shin area as a result of the tackles and would undergo scans to ensure he has not suffered any structural damage before being cleared to play in the World Cup.

"I am probably a little disappointed with those tackles and I think in a normal game we would have been up against nine (men)," Herbert said.

And Verbeek had little sympathy for Grella and Cahill agreeing with Herbert that both players should have been sent off instead of receiving yellow cards, although he described Grella's two-footed lunge on Bertos as a far more serious tackle than Cahill's high shot on Bertos just minutes later.

"I think in the World Cup (as opposed to a friendly) that would have been two red cards," he said of Grella and Cahill.

"I cannot accept this (type of tackle) of course and the players know you should not play the game like this because you cannot afford to go into whatever game and make tackles like that."

Verbeek substituted both players at half-time but said he thought about taking two of Australia's best players off the field immediately as he feared the Kiwi players would seek retribution on two players he cannot afford to lose to injury so close to the World Cup.

"I was ready to take them out of the game immediately to protect them," he said.

"If I was on the field with the other side I would have been mad or angry (after those tackles) so you could expect them to cop something back and that is what they deserved.

"But you can only give compliments to the New Zealand players and the way they behaved themselves. They were professional, my players were not."

Verbeek said he would speak to both Cahill and Grella and remind them their behaviour on the pitch was 'unacceptable for the rest of the team'.

"I can't find any reason why you should do it so I am very disappointed in that," he said.

"And we are lucky it happened today and it should not happen again in the upcoming six weeks."

Verbeek said Grella's tackle was particularly bad and said it was borne of frustration at a time when Australia was already 1-0 down and struggling to maintain possession.

He added: "Vince was frustrated because he lost the ball a few seconds before that but they (Cahill and Grella) know they cannot do that anymore."

To see Socceroo and Kiwi fans at the MCG...

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