The Dutch coach flared at a pre-match press conference here Sunday when asked for his reaction to comments by the Japan Football Association chief Saburo Kawabuchi that "Australia are guilty of a lot of dirty fouls. They target ankles in particular. They are too terrible."

The Japanese chief was referring to Australia's 1-1 draw with Holland in Rotterdam last Sunday when three Dutch players were forced off the field with injuries and Australian midfielder Luke Wilkshire was red-carded.

"That is ridiculous. I was angry at some comments that we were playing rough against the Dutch, I saw the whole game, it was a very fair game, there were one or two injuries of the Dutch players, but it was normal," Hiddink said.

Hiddink said injuries to midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Phillip Cocu were not the result of foul Australian play.

"We have a good team, they like to fight and every team must fight and when people come in like this it's irresponsible behaviour," he said.

"The people who are making these comments are trying to create an atmosphere to condition the referee and I don't think that's fair. I think we should play fair at the beginning and let him judge at the moments that are there."

Egyptian Essam Abdullah el Fatah will referee Australia for the first time on Monday.

Skipper Mark Viduka, who dispelled doubts about a calf injury, said: "We are very competitive people, we like to win and we'll never pull out of a tackle, but it doesn't mean that we go out to hurt people."

Hiddink, who took Holland and South Korea to the semi-finals of the last two World Cups, has great respect for Japan in their Group F match in Kaiserslautern.

"If you just go on rankings then they have achieved more than Australia in the past, so that means that theoretically they are favourites, but you never know what will happen tomorrow," Hiddink said. "I love to work with these guys, they love to go for the adventure."

The match marks a contrast between the coaching styles of Hiddink and former Brazilian great Zico.

"I think you can see Zico's influence on the Japanese team. You see a little bit of Brazilian touch, the defence can play tough, but there is a feeling of creativity in this team," Hiddink said.

Hiddink said the likelihood of hot weather at the time of the mid-afternoon kick-off means that he is not likely to get 90 minutes' playing time out of midfielders Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell, who are fighting their way back to full fitness after recent injuries.

"Timmy has been doing all the practices in the last week, so that's encouraging and Harry has been participating in the last few training sessions, but I have my doubts about them getting in a full 90 minutes and I will think about how I will do that," he said

Defeat for either Asian rival will likely spell an early end to their World Cup hopes with matches to come against champions Brazil and former semi-finalists Croatia in an unforgiving group.

Australia, in their first finals for 32 years, have lost four of their last five meetings to the higher-ranked Japanese, who are in their third consecutive finals and are the reigning Asian champions.

But the 'Hiddink factor' clearly has the Japanese camp concerned with playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura believing Australia will prove tougher opponents than 1998 semi-finalists Croatia, whom they next play in Nuremberg on June 18.

"I think the Australians are similar to Japan (in style) and perhaps because of that it will make them the most difficult team for us to play against," the Glasgow Celtic midfielder said this week.

Australia believe they have aerial supremacy over the Japanese and influential English-based attackers Kewell, Viduka and Cahill are expected to be playing against them for the first time.