AUSTRALIA captain and former Everton player Lucas Neill has angrily hit out at critics branding his team as ‘whingers’.

Everton’s Tim Cahill and former Liverpool player Harry Kewell, sent off in Australia’s opening two World Cup matches against Germany and Ghana respectively, have both complained about harsh decisions.

Cahill said Australia “have never been given the fair go” while Kewell felt unjustly treated after being dismissed for handball on the goalline.

Those comments have been seized upon in certain sections of the media while Football Federation Australia president Frank Lowy weighed in by saying, “We’ve got to accept those decisions; whingeing is not a trait we should follow”.

Neill is incensed at the criticism and yesterday mounted a strong defence of his teammates.

He said: “Tim never said that. Why would he?

“Every single player went out of that dressing room the other day and took it on the chin.

“There is nothing we could have done about it.

“My quote was, ’We didn’t get decisions going our way’. That is not whingeing. That is just the way it is.

“Australia has never been a team that whinges.

“You look at how we reacted when we went down to 10 men – we took it on the chin. In the end we could have won the game.

“A team that whinges is a team that would have lost 3-1 or 4-1 – and then complained to the referee.”