OMG WTH!!!

Match has started, but the broadcasting problems here ahhhhhh AHHHHHHHHHHHhhhh ...

GO AUSTRALIA

Man that was disappointing ...
So much ball possession and little to no chances.

0-0 at the half.

That's the way Australia play, CavEmaN. I liked how they kept going for long passes to the top of the box, it's clearly something Guus has instructed them to do and it's created a couple of half-chances. I think we're clearly missing Emerton and Kewell, though, the ball is just not rebounding from defence as well as it usually does.

Italy look dangerous when they go forward but that was always going to be the case - just look at their strikers, they're world class. The most important thing is Australia has not conceded a goal yet, in all our other 3 games we went behind early in the game and had to claw our way back, this game the scoreline is still even.

0-0 with 5 minutes left.

...

A clean sheet after full time is good for my fantasy league!

Horrible penalty call.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

australia lsot due to a penalty kick from an iffy ref desiction at the end of extra time.

D'oh.

indeed.

hence my "NOOO!."

/cries quietly in a corner...

Bad calls plaguing the World Cup this year?

Yep

Bad idea to slide in the box in a 0-0 game in stoppage time, and the Italian player took an obvious dive.

Trust Italy to play dirty. Just look at this:

Italy Soccer Training Camp Video

Socceroos, we're proud of you!! To go so far and do so well when no one expected it... What a heroic effort. Yeah, they've made our country so incredibly proud.


Heartbreaking. Why is it always a bloody ref decision that ruins the day for Australia?

What a way to lose it... Italy weren't going to win it without a highly highly questionable decision like that. Lucas Neil has had a phenominal World Cup, and you cant fault him for what he did. He didnt touch the striker at all, the guy just fell over him, Neil did absolutely nothing wrong.

Italy defended flawlessly, you cant fault that, but you felt it was just a matter of time before Australia broke through. I guess 90 minutes just wasnt enough.



Ah well. Give it another 4 years and Australia will be back better and stronger. This World Cup has popularised soccer in Australia again, and the calibre of players we produce will only get better.

It was a goal unless Neil did something. He did something - Ok maybe not the absolute best thing he could have done as the striker could have stepped around him if he was good enough, but it was not punishable by a penalty. Neil made no intentional direct contact with the striker.

I know. The guy made a move past the slide then fell down. But knowing the Italians and their "flair" for the dramatic, you just can't take the risk at that atage of the game.

Oof. What a heartbreaker. I had every expectation that that would've gone right onto penalties, if not for that call in the last ten seconds. It shouldn't have been a penalty. Neil's challenge was clumsy, and didn't go anywhere near the ball, but neither would he have gone anywhere near the Italian if the striker hadn't purposefully ran at him instead of to where he'd already knocked the ball. I think he knew he'd lost possession and went to get what he could.

Actually, saying that, it's almost just reward from the Italian perspective. Matterazzi should not have been sent off by any means.

In all honesty, I think this World Cup is becoming an emberassment to the sport - it doesn't come down to the skill of the players, but to the referee.

I agree. The so called level of "sportsmanship" at this WC is at an all time low so far. A lot of nasty and unecessary tackles, quite a few drama queens, and just overall bad conduct in the hopes of getting the other team's players sent off with a red. :/

FIFA wanted to clean up on hard tackles, but they need to clean up the acting and diving too. Like if a ref stops play for an injury, the player has to go off, and so on.

Although it would disrupt the flow of the game a lot, if the ref could watch slow-motion replays, the game would be a lot more fair. Dirty tacklers could get booked, as well as divers with a knack for the dramatic flair.

So proud of the Aussies. Yeah they're out in crappy circumstances but they gave it their best. They dominated Italy, one of the best teams in the world, for 90 minutes. Statistically, on paper, logically etc they should not have been able to do that. Great effort.

Ukraine v Switzerland is down to a penalty shoot-out. Exciting stuff.

Ahhh! I might miss it! *runs*

Wow. The Swiss just got owned on penalties.

Damn those reffs!

Wow. Ukraine dominated that shoot out.

They started off the cup doing so poorly too. Didn't they lose 4 to 0 in their first game?

I already hate having a full-time job. It caused me to miss out on two games I really wanted to see today. Condolences to the Aussies on what sounds like an absolute screw job by the referee. I was really hoping to see them go far after the U.S. got eliminated.

Ukraine is not weak!

Absolutely gutted for the Aussies. The first fifteen minutes, and the last twenty, you totally dominated. If it had gone to extra time I reckon you'd have made it through. There were so many chances, but you were just having real difficulty breaking through the last defenders. Kewell was sorely missed. But seriously, what a way to lose it. Really gutting.

Serious props, boys. You came from nothing, made it through to the knockouts against all odds, and played damn well today. Nothing to be ashamed of. Now for Ukraine to beat the crap out of Italy.


Absolutely. My two favourite Aussie players, both missing. I know Kewell had a dodgy groin, why wasn't Emerton playing?

Alright, I'm thinking Brazil will dominate Ghana tomorrow.

I'm Spain and France will be close, but Spain will take it.

I think Brazil will win, but I think Ghana is going to come out running. They have nothing to lose, and their speed and size will make it interesting.

France is going to have their hands full. Spain has been firing on all cylinders, and France has been struggling to score. As long as Spain doesn't have another on of their infamous knockout stage melt downs, they'll be good. Zindane is out, and that's going to hurt France.

Damn. The Swiss and the Australians, two of my favorite teams, are out.

The past couple of days have been disappointing to say the least. I was actually more surprised at the Swiss's penalties (lack of) then the penalty rewarded in the Aus/Italy match.



Cast overview, first billed only:
Fabio Grosso ... "Man who got shot in the face"

Yeah, soccer has totally arrived in Australia. It'll be a fully recognised and big sport from now on. I'll be honestly very surprised (and more than a little dissapointed) if we dont qualify for South Africa 2010.

Turns out Kewell has gout on his feet. Unfortunate, but he's still my #1 deity. Emerton got a red card against Croatia.

I agree on the Brazil-Ghana point, and I also think Spain are going to beat France, but Zidane being out might be more of a boost for France than you may think. Every time I've seen him play in this World Cup, he's been showing his age. With him out this might be the chance for someone fresher and more energetic to come and play his role, which could be very effective.

Personally, I'll be very happy if Ghana score, even if they go on to get thrashed 7-1 or something

Ghana's gonna get trampled.

Hey, hey, hey Ghana aren't doing too bad. I think they're gonna score.

Although the 1-0 was a beautiful goal, Ghana does seem to be playing better than Brazil currently.

thats because brazil are just knocking the ball around like its a practice session.

they could bring it up a notch quite easily.