What a bad referee. It was not a penalty. Aussies deserved much more than that. What a shame. But Aussies leave with dignity in tact.

Italy is playing with 13 players, the ref and FIFA, its a shame!!! always the same, very good Australia did a great job againts a poor team without ideas...

Bad luck for Guus (Geluk) Hiddink now, a lot of luck 4 years ago with Korea. You can't always have luck! But Italie didn't deserve to win, that's for sure!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-26 20:08 by I'm Stoned.

I'll bet Ghana will become Worldchampion!!!

No it was no penalty. But they've played 45 minutes against 10 Italian players, and were not able to create any real danger, even less danger than Italy. What was the plan? Wait another 30 minutes and then penalty shoot-out against Italy? That's a dead end too, for sure.

If you want to win you've got to score.

That said: I regret the Aussies have to go home, they were my favourite underdog. Even more because Italy happens to be my least favourite potential champion. (No offence meant, I just like the others better. Although Italy has played a lot less filthy and defensive as they used to do.)

Jelle

don't say that. the red card for materazzi has been incredible. penalty has been generous, it's true, but both teams could have win.
anyway, a very bad match, italy won't go far if they play like that

This won't help the Aussies, but the ref gets a black mark from FIFA and won't play in the last few important games.

as i posted on other thread on game.i will repost here:

well the ref looks to me made an error at the end… although from far away without the replay it did look like a penalty..however the ref should have been closer than me watching tv and seen that it was not a pk and if he was not sure he should not have awarded it..

however, guys lets face it: australia was not going to score.. they could have kept attacking all week and would not have scored..italy created the better chances and either italy would have won in overtime OR they would have won in penalties as buffon may just be the best goalkeeper in theworld..

ultimately, if you are an australia fan i can see how you would feel very bitter (i wish the ref had not awarded the penalty) but when you are up a man an entire half and don’t score thats going to come back to haunt you and it did..

a lot of the blame has to go to the ineffectual australian attack.. when you’re up a man you have to take advantage before the ref either evens up the count by sending off one of your players (suprrised he did not do this) or makes a mistake against you…

australia did not take advantage of being a man up on a questionable call by ref and ultimately fell victim to another questionable call (maybe more questionable i will agree)

i say look at the world cup like boxing..

italy is the defending champion and australia the challenger.. the challenger always has to do MORE to win in boxing and it strikes me watching this world cup that its the same here…its not so much that its not fair but more that the burden falls on the challenger…

that is why argentina-germany is going to be a fascinating match… cause both are champions..and even if game is in germany i hope ref stays out of it and lets them duke it out fair and square

I agree Australia looked unlikely to score anyway.
But I don't understand why the idea of one ref who is supposed to see everything is allowed to continue. The ref often has to guess what happened. There need to be more refs on the field so they are not screened out and are closer. The fourth ref if in the booth could get a better view (especially if he could see the replay). The flopping is a disgusting part of soccer but it works because it is easy to fool the ref who is so far away.

i agree completely that FIFA is a mess! sick of them.. they need to do something..

at the same time... people who are obsessed with flopping..i just don't get that... i don't know that the guy "dived" per se... an australian defender was on the floor in his way...its natural at that point to fall when you have a defender with his whole body stretched beneath you

americans and english in particular, no saying this is your case LIVEWITHME, cannot see the beauty of soccer because of a few dives or theatrics..to me the dives and theatrics are just part and parcel of the game..the game after all is played by human beings and its natural to complain to the ref, to stay on the ground a bit longer..it does not ruin the game.. its a problem and FIFA should do better combatting it but it does not ruin the beauty of soccer..to focus so much on the diving or theatrics, at the expense of the game, does not make sense to me

While the red card for Materazzi was completely uncalled for, the penalty was in my view beyond dispute. Grosso obviously looked for the penalty and ran into an Australian defender who was clearly out of control. He didn't dive; he just did a smart play. In the end, Italy played its usual, gritty game and created 5-6 chances in the first half. As for the Australians, the game would be still going on if we had to wait for them to score. If you ask me, this game bodes really well for Italy's chances. Nothing excites our national pride like winning ugly.

Also, all the talk about Americans and English being too "pure" for dives and theatrics is simple bs. I don't recall any outrage over Reggie Miller routinely kicking his leg out to get a foul call during three-point attempts.

The shame of it all........

I did not say it ruined the beauty of the game but I think it does make it less beautiful. The current rules reward a player more for falling on the ground instead of trying using their superior skill to make a difficult play. What makes the game beautiful is players using creativity to do what does not seem possible. The "theatrics" are totally obvious when you can see a replay. It is embarrassing to see and outrageous that it is effective so often.
A penalty kick is such a critical penalty to call. How can the ref call it if he is not very sure of what happened?? To have the outcome of a four year process decided by a faked penalty makes no sense.
Lucky I am not Australian or I would be really mad!!

oh well
maybe the rugby team will win the rugby world cup (na come on new zealand)

we would have won for sure
i reckon Hiddink was holding out for extra time, then he would have thrown big Josh Kennedy up front (prob taken off Viduka)

Cahill was having trouble with the high balls in the box, Kennedy would have slotted them

Guus was waiting, we only needed 20 secs and it would have been extra time

Damn refs

we have been screwed in ALL games :
Vs Japan - 2 players collided with keeper for Japs goal
Brazil - free kick count astronomical against us
Croatia - missed Viduka penalty and missed blatant handball in box
Italy - dodgy as penalty and a hint of handball in box as well

Us Aussies arent bitter and dont begrudge the Italians (hell they hung on and did grab a peanlty) but the refereeing in a lot of games (esp games feat us) has been absolutely shithouse.
When will FIFA get it right?
It is so wrong that a dubious decision by a ref can have such a telling role to play in the outcome of a game.

Maybe Fifa need to look at Vid replays for these 'iffy' calls.
Too much is riding on it ...
does anyone think there may be a conspiracy to keep the bigger countries alive in the tourny ?

It should be Aust V Sweden in 1/4 final, which we would have won and then fallen to Argentina in semis

damn refs and damnyou Fifa - get it right next time..
heres an idea - make the Refs go Pro.
have a selct number of FULL TIME refs.
how hard is it ?

"It is so wrong that a dubious decision by a ref can have such a telling role to play in the outcome of a game. "

Are you talking about a red card at the beginning of the secold half that was completely wrong?

To say that the referee and the behind him the FIFA was backing Italy yesterday is really incredible. The penalty is clearly a mistake due to Grosso smart way to "not to avoid" the body of the defender. But "our" referee left us playing 10 vs 11 for 45 minutes for a fault that maybe was a yellow card, do you forget that?

Moreover: turn the field around, put an australian forward who, in the last minute, fall in the italian penalty area that way and think about a referee who does not call your team a penalty. what would you say?

point taken
that red was def a yellow if any

but when we add it all up, we look liek we were hard done

like Graham Arnold said : if fifa dont want us there .. just tell us

If we look at the stats we can see that Australia kept the ball (which was obvious since Italy had one player less than Australia), but otherwise we cannot find any evidence that Australia would/should won the match.

Italy - Australia
Shots on Goal 6 - 4
Shots 11- 8
Fouls 17 - 26
Corner Kicks 2 - 2
Free Kicks 1 - 1
Offsides 2 - 2
Own Goals 0 - 0
Yellow Cards 3 - 3
Red Cards 1 - 0
Ball Possession 41% - 59%

They (Australia) had only four (4) shots on goal in whole match even when they had 11 men against Italy's 10 men over 40 minutes !! You cannot possibly blame the referee if you cannot shot on goal or can you?

That was too bad yes. I hoped for Auusie. We still have the chance for a Germany - England final. :-D

JumpingKentFlash

fark and how many did the Italians have ?
Italy had their chances in the first half and didnt take them.
And we desreved a penalty, handball in the box.
Viduka got done earlier in the box with an accidental handball.

Guss made a tactical error in not bringing Aloisi on earlier, and maybe even Kennedy.
He was obviously waiting for extra time to give us fresh legs.
Then we would have nailed them.

We can blame the ref for a shithouse decision that cost us the game with 5 secs to go.
He should have let the game go to extra time and let the game work itself out fairly.
If we lost 1-0 or 2-0 in general play we could live with that .. but not a dubious penalty in the dying seconds.

-------------
reports from Herald Sun

[www.heraldsun.news.com.au]


AUSTRALIA coach Guus Hiddink has no doubt Italy's last-gasp penalty to end the Socceroos' World Cup dream was a mistake by the referee.

The Socceroos were bundled out of the second round 1-0 by the three-time world champion in the most dramatic fashion - with the final kick of the game when substitute Francesco Totti slotted home from the penalty spot in injury-time.

Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded a spot-kick after Lucas Neill's challenge on Fabio Grosso in the box, with television replays casting doubt on whether the decision was correct.

Hiddink said there was no doubt in his mind the referee had got it wrong, though Italy had battled bravely throughout the final 40 minutes of the second half with 10 men after centre-back Marco Materazzi was sent off in what looked a similarly harsh decision.

"If you see the replay, there was no doubt it was not a penalty," Hiddink said.

"That's bitter to see that in the last second.

"But overall when the emotion goes down, we can very proud of what this team has achieved in the last four games."

The penalty decision was a particularly cruel blow for Neill, who has been the Socceroos' best player of the tournament and was magnificent again today.

The Socceroos were without star attacker Harry Kewell, who entered the stadium on crutches with an ankle injury.

Hiddink said Kewell had aggravated an ankle problem after the Socceroos' 2-2 draw with Croatia game, with the crutches just to take pressure off the joint.

His immediate prognosis is not yet known.

--------------------------

AUSTRALIA'S World Cup dream was ended by yet another dubious refereeing decision.

Francesco Totti's winning penalty with the last kick of the game was a bitter end to an otherwise heroic performance in a match the Socceroos did not deserve to lose.

Spanish referee Luis Cantalejo pointed to the spot after Fabio Grosso dribbled into the box, Lucas Neill dived in but hardly made contact and the Italian fell over him.

Totti scored and Australia was left to do a lap of honour before packing its bags for home, when really it deserved to be lining up in Friday's quarter-final in Hamburg.

It was an inspirational performance by the 12 players who took the field for Australia, but Vince Grella and Lucas Neill deserve special mentions.

Marco Materazzi's red card in 50th minute may have been harsh, but it seemed only just considering the woeful calls that went against Australia at the World Cup.

Italy's coach Marcelo Lippi turned his back to Materazzi as he walked to the changerooms.

And five minutes later he paid Australia the ultimate compliment by replacing striker Luca Toni -- Italy's most dangerous player to that point -- with defender Andrea Barzagli.

Italy was sitting back and playing for a draw.

Italy was rattled. Captain Fabio Cannavaro was urging his players to calm down, Lippi was animated on the bench.

The Socceroos were in the box seat and the impossible was nigh -- a quarter-final fixture at the World Cup.

If the Socceroos controlled the first half, they dominated the second.

They were knocking it around and beating the Italians at their own game but could not get past the world's best keeper, Gianluigi Buffon.

Superstar Totti came on in the 75th minute -- in time to grab the glory.


-------------------

Australia 0 - Italy 1
AUSTRALIA'S World Cup hearts were broken early today when the Socceroos lost 1-0 to 10-man Italy with the last kick of the match.

With extra time beckoning at the end of a gripping duel, Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantelejo controversially awarded a penalty against Lucas Neill for a foul on Fabio Grosso.

Amid a deafening din of catcalls, superstar Francesco Totti scored past goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to plunge the dagger into Australia.

After twice coming from behind to stay in the competition in the group stage, Guus Hiddink's brave men had no time left to hit back.

The final whistle sounded before they even had time to restart the match.

But the heartache was tempered by the salute of an army of supporters, who had turned a little section of Germany into a green and gold fortress for the past two weeks.

In the end, the Azzurri -- three times World Cup winners and pulsing with pedigree -- got out of jail against a Socceroos side hampered by the loss of the suspended Brett Emerton and the injured Harry Kewell.

Playing against 10 men for almost the entire second half following the dismissal of defender Marco Matterrazi, Australia never gave their celebrated opponent a moment's peace but could not break through

Any lingering hope Australia had that groin injury victim Kewell might come off the bench as an impact player was emphatically ended when he arrived at the ground on crutches. His place went to Luke Wilkshire.

As expected, Mark Schwarzer returned to the Australian goal and blunder keeper Zeljko Kalac was replaced by No. 3 Ante Covic on the bench after being described by coach Guus Hiddink as mentally fragile after his goal-conceding gaffe against Croatia.

Italy fielded an ultra-attacking formation with three strikers, Alessandro Del Piero, Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino.

But it was Australia who pressed early, with the Italian-based midfield duo of Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella bristling with invention and Mark Viduka full of intent up front, where he had the raiding Mile Sterjovksi and Tim Cahill for occasional company.

At the back, Neill added more to his burgeoning transfer value by breaking up attacks with timely interceptions as Toni and Gilardino ran into a green and gold wall.

Then it was Scott Chipperfield to the rescue to block Gillardino's shot as the Azzurri tried to unpick Australia's defensive lock.

Despite playing with three forwards, as a mark of respect to the quality of Hiddink's team, Italy sat back and sought to hit Australia on the counter.

And it almost paid off in the 20th minute, when a flowing move ending with Schwarzer tipping Gillardino's rising shot over the crossbar.

Schwarzer then had to make a wonder stop with his feet after Toni's turn and shot seemed certain to bring a goal.

Then appeals by Grella for a foul by Toni as he burst clear fell on deaf ears and earned him a booking for dissent from the referee.

Australia came close to beating the Italian door down in the 30th minute, when Chipperfield connected with his right foot to a free-kick headed on by Craig Moore and keeper Gianluigi Buffon was relieved to hold on.

At the other end, Italy had Australia scrambling in the 34th minute before Toni headed over under pressure from Moore.