It's Over
What a way to exit the World Cup, on a umpire's blatant mistake. Australia can feel robbed by this mistake, as can Italy for losing a man to another dodgy decision. In my book one cancels out the other. Unfortunately that’s world football, a game where too often umpires decisions have undue influence on the result.
That said, we must face the inescapable fact Australia played most of the second half with an extra man, dominated possession, yet barely threatened Italy’s goal. Whereas Italy, when they did attack, looked more likely to score. And sadly a lack of class depth on the bench denied us the chance to introduce a game-breaker.
It doesn’t really matter though because Australia have every reason to be proud after a memorable World Cup campaign. Just the fact we finally made the Finals was a win in itself but to advance to the second round was the cream on the cake. Ranked 44th coming into this tournament we exit with a credible rating and new found reputation of which we can be proud. Congratulations Socceroos, played strong, done good.
UPDATE : Italian match reports in English.
UPDATE 2 : Penalty scorer Totti celebrated by sucking thumb in a dedication to his son.
Just watched the Socceroos lose to a REALLY DODGY PENALTY - sad... to I am moved to come and offer commiserations in your Aussie Blog.
After Argentina v Mexico, I couldn't stop smiling for two hours. Couple of female friends insinuated I must have had some hot carnal action.. I sighed, and replied, "I just saw the best football match I've ever seen. I've seen the World Cup final, and we're not even there yet..." which confused them totally..
Posted by: Deek Deekster | June 27, 2006 at 05:29 AM
yeah, if we were gonna win, we shoulda scored already. i reckon it's time to introduce video refs though, it's been a real display of dodgy refereeing, and as you say, not just aimed at us. that Italian shouldn't have been sent off either.
Posted by: rat | June 27, 2006 at 08:59 AM
:-(
Posted by: Ian | June 27, 2006 at 09:04 AM
Words can't describe how 'flat' I felt at the end of this morning's game! To lose by an erroneous decision by the ref, is just so, so, so frustrating! I definitely vote for video judges...a repeat of what occurred this morning should never be allowed to happen ever again! Apparently, even some of the Italians are saying they're not proud of the way they 'won'...and rightly so. Hey! It's not their fault...they were handed the penalty on a silver platter...of course, they would accept it without argument...we would do the same if the boot was on the other foot!
Congratulations Socceroos...you did yourselves and Australia proud. The dream is not over...just stalled.
Posted by: lg | June 27, 2006 at 09:15 AM
Another thing...can anyone explain to me why that Italian player who hit the solitary goal ran around afterwards with his thumb in his mouth?
Posted by: lg | June 27, 2006 at 09:28 AM
It was a bad way to exit the game but it wasn't the worst ref decision in World Cup History. The Hand of God Goal still takes the cake.
lg: They put their thumb in their mouth to say the other team sucks.
Posted by: Huggies | June 27, 2006 at 10:53 AM
i think it's time for the scapegoating to begin.
i'll start.
viduka.
does that guy have arthritis or something? i've never seen someone supposedly so fit move so bloody slow!
Posted by: invig | June 27, 2006 at 10:57 AM
I think today you all have a tiny tiny inkling of how it feels to be English.
Posted by: Herman8 | June 27, 2006 at 11:11 AM
Ummmm....huggies...I thought they might've been missing their mummas! ;)
Posted by: lg | June 27, 2006 at 12:40 PM
At the end of the day, we didn't get the ball into Italy's net in the second half. Despite some dubious decisions, we probably didn't deserve to win.
Posted by: Guy | June 27, 2006 at 01:29 PM
ig: They put their thumb in their mouth to say the other team sucks.
No, apparently he has a newborn son. The thumbsucking is another verson of the baby cradling they also use. Not deep....
And Guy is right: we did not deserve to win.
Posted by: ken nielsen | June 27, 2006 at 04:54 PM
Well, I agree to disagree...sure, we didn't get the ball into Italy's net in the first or second half...but neither did Italy get their ball into our net until a very suspect decision by the ref! Sure, we might have lost on the score board, but also Italy lost in the pride stakes. I'm sure they're not very proud of how they won the game. Sometimes, I really wonder if the whole thing is rigged! Money speaks volumes!
Posted by: lg | June 27, 2006 at 05:08 PM
After last nights game, I now know why I have never gotten into soccer before!
The acting, the refs, its all a bit pathetic isnt it?
I agree with Lg, I think the whole thing is rigged, we have been cained by the umps in everyone of our games. it's not an emotional game, its just a bloody frustrating game!
Well done to the lads tho, Top effort. Not your fault we were ROBBED!
Posted by: Heath | June 27, 2006 at 05:21 PM
I caught a taped delayed replay of the last 8 minutes of the match on one of the ESPN channels.
I know nothing about the rules and/or penalties of the sport, but my overall reaction was that Italy was dominating. They seemed to have the aggressiveness needed and the Socceroos seemed very passive. The Aussie goal was always under attack but the Italian goal could have been used for a "spot of tea", without any worry of being disturbed.
Anyway, the Socceroos made it a lot further into the eliminations that they were expected to, so congratulations for that.
Never Say Never!
Posted by: Wil | June 27, 2006 at 08:19 PM
nah don't reckon it's rigged, but even though we were one man up, as the others said, we weren't that scarey, a couple of nice chances, but not enough.
i reckon people will be debating the diving and acting for years to come :-)
oh well, shit happens, i'm still proud of our team
Posted by: rat | June 27, 2006 at 10:02 PM
As an Aussie Rules fan and ex-player all I can say is soccer is a game for cheats and pansies.
Posted by: slatts | June 27, 2006 at 11:19 PM
Well, I am, have always been and shall remain a League fan...bring on the State of Origin next Wednesday night. I also believe it should only be played in Brisbane and Sydney...after all it is the 'State of Origin'...and the passions run high between the Maroons and Blues at this time of the year! And there isn't anything rigged about the Origin games...that's for bloody sure!
Posted by: lg | June 28, 2006 at 08:05 AM
As a supporter of many sports, the thing that has irked me about this whole world cup debacle is how ever since we drew with Uruguay the soccer crowd has been claiming this is Australia's greatest sporting achievement. All I can say is you've got to be joking. I mean we have won World Cups in several sports - not qualified - actually won the whole bloody thing. We have had the top team in the world in many sports - sometimes dominating for decades. We have had unparalelled individual sporting achievements in so many sports I couldn't list them all here. Yet we qualify for the world cup finals in soccer and all these achievements are forgotten. And for what? Who did we actually beat in this World Cup? OK we beat Japan. We couldn't beat the Solomon Islands though. Who else did we actaully beat for this to be Australia's greatest sporting achievement????
Posted by: Jimi | June 28, 2006 at 11:45 AM
Yep...valid comments, Jimi....I've been thinking similar thoughts actually. A lot of hype about nothing. It's amazing how short some folk's memories are! Only today a Noosa guy, Josh Constable, won the Longboard Clasic Championships at Costa Rica. This feat will hardly warrant a mention, I'm sure!
Australians have achieved great things in the sport arena...and making it to Round 16 of the World Cup is not the greatest achievement. The Socceroos did well to get as far as they did, and I will admit I would have liked to see them get further...but our sportsmen and women have done us proud over the years and will continue doing so.
Posted by: lg | June 28, 2006 at 12:05 PM