After 93 minutes of play, it was nil all in Australia vs Italy. Then, in yet another questionable decision by a referee - it's penalty to the Italians. It was over for the Aussies. Italy go through to the quarter finals.
Well done to the Italians. Despite being a man down for most of the second half, they held steady and, in fact, created the most chances to score.
I've just checked the news blogs and already there are some rather silly ideas being spouted out by some embarassing Australians. One suggestion is to introduce "video referees". Nothing could be more stupid! C'mon guys. This is football. This is life. We leave our fates to human judgement, human errors. This is what makes this game beautiful because anything can happen!
But enough of that. Let us celebrate this amazing Aussie achievement. Here are the goals we scored in the tournament - courtesy of bit9466.
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5 comments:
Video refs are not such a bad idea, they're used in other sports (rugby in the US for example). Most soccer fans would like to see them implemented.
Anything can still happen, but let the players be the protagonists, I say.
Sadd though it was to see Australia lose the reality was their mind was on the job for only 93 of the 90 minutes instead of 94!! They had to seal it in the last 5 minutes or else they didn't deserve to win. Italy's win was the football equivalent of a chess swindle. For Australia the loss was like their match against Iran at the MCG in 1997 when at 2 nil up they thought they had it made. I somehow think that up in the celestial stands there was someone named Johnny Warren quietly telling Australians that nothing is ever in the bag until that final whistle; done with his wry parting comment "I told you so".
Australia 0 - Referee 1
Thats now 4 out of 4 games where the referee has sucked in Australia's games:
1) vs Japan: our keeper gets taken out but its a goal
2) vs Brazil: any challenge is a free kick (including when Brazil players jump on Aussie players); 3 times more Brazil free kicks than Aussie free kicks
3) vs Croatia: 2 missed handballs and rugby tackle on Viduka, all in penalty box, plus the Croatia number 3 gets 3 yellow cards
4) vs Italy, Neill is lying on the floor, not moving (watch the replay, even at full speed), but the Italian player runs into him and takes a dive, the ref is 5 meters away and gives a penalty, just ridiculous
I wonder how much the Italians payed the ref to fix that? It's what they do, isn't it?
Personallly, I am not bitter about the loss. I'm just more upset at the way we lost. To end the campaign like that is just plain horrible. Anyway, the Italians played very well being a man down. They are, after all, reputed to be one of the best defensive groups in the world. The Socceroos just couldn't break them. To be honest, I think the Italians played well and created the best chances. Everytime they attacked there was a sense of panic in the Aussie defense.
That's just the way the game goes I suppose. So many possibilities can happeen. And this is what makes it attractive.
Thanks for the video link Amiel...we should remember the good moments and not dwell on the bad ones.
Most independant observers know we got quite a few bad referee decisions. The socceroos left a positive impression on the world football public.
What people should remember is that with Australia now qualifying directly through asia that there will be plenty of world cups in the future that Australia will compete in.
This is only the beginning...not the end!
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