Football: Aussies slam ref over exit.

Byline: By Geraldine McKelvie

AUSTRALIA No.2 Graham Arnold has blamed referees for the Socceroos' last-16 exit at the World Cup.

Arnold, caretaker boss following Guus Hiddink's departure, reckons FIFA whistlers didn't give his side a fair crack of the whip in Germany and claimed skipper Mark Viduka was unfairly targeted.

The former Australian international said: "Mark isn't a dirty player yet I would say he's the most penalised player so far in the competition.

"It's true - officials discriminate against smaller nations in big tournaments. I've been at Under-17s, Under-20 World Cups and Olympic Games and the smaller nations don't get favours - that's just a fact."

Fuming Arnold says the decision of Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo to award Italy a decisive late spot-kick in their 1-0 second-round victory was nothing more than "cheap".

He added: "I just want FIFA to get rid of the perception Australian football teams are dirty and aggressive.

"I will admit when I played in the mid-80s and early 90s we played on the edge because we weren't as good as the other teams technically.

"But now, when you have a team with world-class players like Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton, you just want a fair crack of the whip."