Scolari rues bookings more than defeat against Swis

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari regretted not fielding a complete reserve side after the quarter-finalists lost their final group match 2-0 to already-eliminated Switzerland yesterday.

The four yellow cards the Portuguese picked up concerned their Brazilian coach more than the result, with his team already through to the last eight after winning their opening two games over Turkey and Czech Republic.

There were bookings for Fernando Meira, a substitute in the two previous group wins, Paulo Ferreira, Miguel and Jorge Ribeiro.

"Those yellow cards will be carried into the next phase so we're running risks. I didn't need to run this risk," Scolari told reporters.

"I told my players not to complain because they would get another caution if they made any mistakes," Scolari said of his halftime team talk.

"Later we are going to see the consequences."

Should any of the four be booked again, along with Jose Bosingwa who was cautioned earlier in the tournament, they would be ruled out of a semi-final if Portugal get through Thursday's last eight match.

Scolari made eight changes to the team that beat Turkey and Czech Republic to qualify for the knockout phase, keeping goalkeeper Ricardo and defenders Pepe and Ferreira in.

"I made a mistake. I should have replaced all 11 players but I reasoned the team would play normally," Scolari told reporters.

"We had a few opportunities but we didn't score the goal that would have given us the advantage we wanted," he said.