Hakan Unsal gets his marching orders (Allsport).

By David Anderson, PA Sport, Ulsan

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Leicester's Muzzy Izzet has defended his Turkish team-mate Hakan Unsal after he was sent off in the defeat against Brazil for kicking the ball at Rivaldo.

The Blackburn defender lost his cool in stoppage time during Turkey's 2-1 loss in the Munsu Stadium after the referee had awarded Brazil a controversial late penalty.

Izzet claims Hakan was angry because Aston Villa's Ozalan Alpay had fouled Luziao outside the area.

To increase Hakan's ire, Rivaldo converted the penalty for the winner and Izzet claims this was all too much for him.

"I think his red card looked a bit harsh," he said. "We had that decision that went against us and he was upset with the decision the referee had made so it was out of sheer frustration really.

"I thought the guy was outside the box when he was fouled, but I was a long way away.

"We were all disappointed in the way we lost the game and we felt we could have got something.

"It was hard losing the game and we thought we could have held on for a 1-1 draw."

Rivaldo did not help Hakan by making a meal of the incident and he fell to the ground clutching his face when the ball had only hit him in the stomach.

Izzet, though, remained diplomatic about Rivaldo's shameful behaviour and would only say: "That's not for me to comment on."

Juninho expertly sidestepped the question of Rivaldo's antics and he tried to gloss over the controversial end to the match.

The former Middlesbrough star claimed Brazil deserved to win, regardless of the ending, because they had played the better football.

"We all have to live with the referee's decisions and as players we have to accept the referee's decisions," he said.

"If you look at the game, Brazil deserved to win because we played better than Turkey.

"I don't really know about the penalty and all I do know is that Brazil were worthy of the victory.

"We were happy with the result and the most important thing at this stage is to get through to the next round.

"I think we played well and Brazil had the strength and power to come through at the end."

Turkey now face Costa Rica and China in their final Group C matches and Izzet is upbeat about their chances of progressing to the second round.

"We've got to accept that now we've got two games coming up that we've got to win," he said.

"The guys who were red carded against Brazil will miss one match each. It's going to be tough, but we're still confident."