Second Round - Italy vs Australia

[James219]

Agreed, Italy are a disgrace. They may be a better side than that of the Socceroos, but really, that's unbelievably bad sportsmanship. It was poor officiating, yes, but at times it can be difficult to determine the correct decision under the pressure of a WC crowd, so, as mentioned before, diving should really be scrutinized much closer than it currently is, and dealt with more severely- it's turning into a farce. Or, the ulterior conclusion would be for the players to just stop doing it...
Anyway, Australia kept in the contest with great heart and passion, never allowing themselves to be intimidated by the three time world champions, and really did their homework on the Italian style of play. They seemed to negate alot of their counter-attacking play, and although the Europeans had quite a few scoring opportunities, Australia did too, and looked very dangerous when they strung together extended periods of possession- a great positive from this tournament, apart from the obvious impact football's having over here, was the way they shaped passages of play; they looked like a really class team at times. Neill was very tidy in defence- probably the player of Australia's campaign- and I thought Bresciano was pretty solid in the midfield, too.

 

[Sureshot]

2 poor decisions by the ref (Sending off and Penalty).

The penalty wasn't, and it was a yellow for Materazzi not red.

Australia should've attacked more and maybe brung on Kennedy for the last 15 minutes as the Italians had fairly small defenders.

 

[sachin]

Agreed, Italy are a disgrace. They may be a better side than that of the Socceroos, but really, that's unbelievably bad sportsmanship. It was poor officiating, yes, but at times it can be difficult to determine the correct decision under the pressure of a WC crowd, so, as mentioned before, diving should really be scrutinized much closer than it currently is, and dealt with more severely- it's turning into a farce. Or, the ulterior conclusion would be for the players to just stop doing it...
Anyway, Australia kept in the contest with great heart and passion, never allowing themselves to be intimidated by the three time world champions, and really did their homework on the Italian style of play. They seemed to negate alot of their counter-attacking play, and although the Europeans had quite a few scoring opportunities, Australia did too, and looked very dangerous when they strung together extended periods of possession- a great positive from this tournament, apart from the obvious impact football's having over here, was the way they shaped passages of play; they looked like a really class team at times. Neill was very tidy in defence- probably the player of Australia's campaign- and I thought Bresciano was pretty solid in the midfield, too.

I concur with what you've said about diving and Neill.Italians are pathetic divers and i suggest next time we play them our players should line up at the centre line,just before the start of the match,and simultaneously drop to the ground whrithing in pain.*******s!

2 poor decisions by the ref (Sending off and Penalty).

The penalty wasn't, and it was a yellow for Materazzi not red.

Australia should've attacked more and maybe brung on Kennedy for the last 15 minutes as the Italians had fairly small defenders.

At first i though we were lucky with the red to Matterazi,but now seeing it fuul speed i think it was a penalty.He was miles away from the ball and his only purpose was to take Bresciano painfully.

 

[Cricket_60]

I love seeing our fans express the truth

Most people could probably agree with this

pic from here http://www.abc.com.au/worldcup/2006/blog/default.htm

 

[JamesyJames3]

You all are blaming the ref, and I understand this as you're pretty much all aussies, but Lucas Neill takes as much of the blame. He made that decision easy for the ref. You can't go to ground in the box unless you're 100% sure you will get the ball. He could have won that tackle by staying on his feet.

 

[evertonfan]

You all are blaming the ref, and I understand this as you're pretty much all aussies, but Lucas Neill takes as much of the blame. He made that decision easy for the ref. You can't go to ground in the box unless you're 100% sure you will get the ball. He could have won that tackle by staying on his feet.

Agreed. To be honest, as much as I criticise the ref for giving a pen, it did look like a foul when I first saw it live; Refs don't get replays!

 

[Sureshot]

I concur with what you've said about diving and Neill.Italians are pathetic divers and i suggest next time we play them our players should line up at the centre line,just before the start of the match,and simultaneously drop to the ground whrithing in pain.*******s!


At first i though we were lucky with the red to Matterazi,but now seeing it fuul speed i think it was a penalty.He was miles away from the ball and his only purpose was to take Bresciano painfully.

How can it be a penalty?

I thought it happened outside the box when Materazzi got unlucky.

 

[sachin]

How can it be a penalty?

I thought it happened outside the box when Materazzi got unlucky.

Wow...sorry there,i was thinking to many things at one time.I thought the straight red was justified.

 

[Iron-Haggis]

Straight red wasn't justified, in order for a foul to be a straight red Materazzi had to commit a foul that prevented an obvious scoring oppurtunity. But there was another Ialian defender right next to Bresciano who more than likely would of been able to take on Bresciano. Even though it was very close to a red, it wasn't quite a red card offence. Of course the other way to get a straight red is for very malicious play e.g two footed tackles, elbowing someone in the face (De Rossi).

 

[Sureshot]

Wow...sorry there,i was thinking to many things at one time.I thought the straight red was justified.

Well opinion is an opinion.

But I think the ref thought Materazzi was the last man, but he clearly wasn't. As Bresciano was involved in a Italian Sandwich

 

[sachin]

Zembrotta was just behind him,and i think he would have got away.Just because you think Zembrotta would have got it the ref nedded to be sure.And i think that if you look at it properly you can see how late Materazzi really was.

 

[Gilly Fan]

A dodgy decision got us sent home. I'm not a football (soccer) fan but I watched the World Cup. I got up at about 3 in the morning to watch that. I thought we were a chance of winning a Pen shoot out if we go there but with seconds to go, we had to be robbed!

He clearly jumps over Neil's body. Stupid! We did well back then. Ever since the World Cup, I have watched about 2 Aussie games.
According to all of you, that's football. I must admit that the refs in the Cup were shocking. Especially in the Aus V Croatia game where some guy from Croatia got 3 yellow cards before being sent off! 3! Disgraceful.
I'll just have to wait to the next world cup to get revenge to italy.

Still a year on, and I'm dissapointed.

I was just looking at some facts about the World Cup for Aus last year and this is what I found.

* Australia is currently the only team to qualify for a FIFA World Cup via penalty shoot out.
* The only team to score 3 (or more) goals in the last 7 minutes of a FIFA World Cup match.
* Only team to go out of a world cup with the last kick of the ball (in regular time).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_national_football_(soccer)_team

 

[formula1man]

If Aussies try hard they actually can beat Italy.. because Italy is not a very very good team.. But still they play quiet well!

so why did italy hold up trophy?

i've been watching that penalty lately. that was so crap. neil wasn't even moving any more he could have had a cup of tea before grosso fell over. grooso pushes the ball past neil than decides to run straight through neil to get to the ball i am so frustarated still. we could of beaten ukraine easily than god knows we beat italy why not germany and france