Fabio Grosso fell over a scrambling Lucas Neill in the box in the final seconds of stoppage time to earn Italy a penalty, which Francisco Totti knocked home to oust the Australians 1-0.
It was another match of quick cards and an undeserved sending off, but the ref had no choice but to give the penalty. Italy held the scrappy Australians even though they were down to 10 men for almost all of the second half after Matarazzi was inexplicably sent off. Actually, with Viduka just standing around on the pitch all day, Australia was playing a man down as well.
The match looked certain to head to extra time. If that happened, it wouldn’t have looked good for the Azzurri. The Australians seemed the more dangerous side, and they were bound to nick one sooner or later. Buffon was up to the task, but the ball would have eventually found the back of the net. It only seemed a matter of time.
Instead, fate swung the other way for the Aussie’s this time. They get nipped at the wire, by a penalty call that the ref had to make. There was never a doubt Totti was going to bury it, and send the Socceroos back to Oz after a fine World Cup.
Gus Hiddink’s Australian side have nothing to hang their heads over. Heart and fire took them further than they had any right to expect. At least, further than I expected. Today, they had one of the best teams in the world on the ropes. One mistake cost them the match.
Italy, ironically, are bound to face a slightly more talented team in the next round, but are sure to have an easier time of it. Whoever wins the Ukraine/Switzerland match won’t match the Aussie’s in pure desire, and Italy matches up well against either side.
The Aussies had a great run. They really blew the good fortune the ref gave them by not capitalizing when they were a man down. They were also lucky to be even, because Italy had some great chances early that just couldn’t get into the net.
I love the way the Italians are playing. Their defense has been great, but they are attacking like crazy.
The refs were disappointing again, but like you said, they had to make that call on the penalty. Totti blasted it in instead of going with a weak shot. It’s nice to finally see Italy win on a penalty instead of losing a heartbreaker. Go Azzuri!
I wonder if Mr. Moggi of Juventus organised that referee for the Australia match as Italia easily got past Australia.
Great teams make great plays and that fake fall by Grosso was truly a superb piece of work. Let’s see how Italia handle the Ucraine. Ukraine will probably play for the 0 – 0 and pray for penalty shots at the end. Italy usually don’t put up two embarrasing performances in a row so maybe they can handle the Ucraine.
An interesting note, a very popular former Italian player, Gianluca Pessotto, now an executive with Juventus, attempted suicide on Tuesday by jumping from the top floor of the offices of the Juventus team. He was severly injured but thankfully did not die. Several players on the current Italian team are very close with Pessotto as is Coach Lippi.
This situation has distracted the clubs attention and therefore they may be less prepared against the Ucraine and the risk for Italia is a second straight underperformance. Luck seems to be on Italia’s side but two games running….