A Denmark official hurled abuse at Chinese team after they lost to the hosts 3-2 in a World Cup group game and caused an off-pitch scuffle involving some members from both sides, according to local media reports on Thursday.

Denmark head coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller seemed furious and refused to shake hands with his Chinese counterpart Marika Domanski-Lyfors following his side lost a crucial game to China on Wednesday.

"This was a very tight game and it's natural he was somewhat upset, so we can understand he was unwilling to shake hands with me. It is normal," Domanski-Lyfors told the post-match conference.

Heiner-Moller made no comment on this matter, saying: "I think FIFA will investigate it, and I now only want to concentrate on the games."

Sina.com released a story early on Thursday morning disclosing what really happened then.

It quoted a Chinese insider as saying: "After the referee blew the buzzer, our players were celebrating on the turf, and the Denmark players were very downcast. A Denmark official looking like an assistant coach walked up to us and raised his middle finger toward us."

"He even yelled a four-letter word at us. We could not bear it and made some arguments with him, then Domanski came up and separated us.

"All this happened after their head coach refused to shake hands," he said.

"The match was really enthralling, though Denmark lost, they scored two goals. They should be honored to display such performance before over 50,000 spectators. We should have relished all these moments, so it's a really regret given what happened there," he went on.

"Before the game, we established that Denmark had planned to win or draw with China. As they rarely beat Brazil, their last group opponents, so in order to qualify for the knockout stage, they wanted to seize some points from this game.

"They were very excited after scoring two goals in the second half to make it 2-2, and never expected we could hit in a winner. I think the goal scored by Song Xiaoli threw them into despair, which finally led to their loss of temper," he said.

Denmark scored the equalizer in the 87th minute, but one minute later substitute Song wrapped the game up for China with an unstoppable long shot.

"The game was a roller coaster, their euphoria turned into despondency in only one minute, so their mood must have been not good. But whatever the reasons, it is unacceptable that one of their coaches became foul-mouthed and made some obscene behaviors," he was quoted as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2007)