Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his players were more upset with the refereeing than with the 2-0 loss to already-eliminated Switzerland.

The Brazilian coach hinted that the farewell atmosphere surrounding the co-hosts' final match at the European Championship ended being a factor.

"We saw we came to participate in a party," Scolari said.

With a place in the quarterfinals already secured, Scolari replaced eight starters in Sunday's match in Basel to avoid losing them for the next rounds.

"We should have actually replaced 11 rather than eight. We ran too many risks during this match. I made a mistake. I made a big mistake," Scolari said.

Four Portugal players received yellow cards, including regular starter Paulo Ferreira. Scolari took the left back out of the game and said that he later warned his players not to approach Austrian referee Konrad Plautz so as to avoid being booked.

"I told them not to say anything at all because other cards could be awarded," Scolari said.

In addition, Portugal had an apparently legal goal disallowed for offside in the 36th minute, when Helder Postiga's strike from inside the area was called off even though TV replays showed he was level with right back Stephan Lichtsteiner at the time of the pass.

In the beginning of the match, Nani went down in the area after trying to get past a defender, but the penalty appeal was waved away, and the Portuguese also complained of the penalty awarded to the Swiss on their second goal.

"Maybe things could have been different if the referee hadn't performed the way he did," Nani said.

It was Portugal's first loss to the Swiss since a 2-1 defeat in a friendly in 1982.

In addition to giving some rest to the starters, Scolari, who was appointed Chelsea coach earlier this week, said he wanted to give playing time to some of his reserves so he could use them in the future, if needed.

"We took into consideration those who had been playing a lot or were coming off injuries, giving chances to the other athletes," Scolari said.

Midfielder Deco and right back Jose Bosingwa nursed injuries earlier in the competition, and most of Portugal's starters are coming off a long European season. Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho joined the squad late because their clubs played in the Champions League final.

Portugal, which lost the Euro 2004 final to Greece at home, is playing in the European competition for the fourth consecutive time and fifth overall.