Australia vs Italy: We Were Fucking Robbed

I rarely swear in life but I think this occasion deserves it. The referee's decision to give Italy a penalty right on the end of normal time was a fucking joke. There are so many more incidents worse than that and they never get given. But the ref had a brain failure and decided to blow the whistle in his mouth.

In the World Cup, not many decisions have gone Australia's way. This latest decision is just as bad and giving THREE yellow cards and missing a very blatant hand ball in the Croatia match.

My initial reaction was the same as everyone else at the bar. How could the ref give that and not call a million other things. Then it turned to hoping that Schwarzer could produce a miracle and save the penalty. When the penalty was scored, my feelings were of anger towards the ref, the Italians for all their theatrical diving and just how unfair football can be.

I've always said that what makes football so exciting is that most of the time the game is always balanced so finely and up for grabs. Like I've written in the pass, a moment of brillance by a player, a mistake by a keeper or a refeering decision can turn a whole match. It can be cruel to the losers and kind to the victors. I guess that's just the way it is, but when you're on the losing side, it's just so much harder to take.

Australia had played so well in this match and managed to keep the score to 0-0 at half time. When an Italian player got sent off, the Australians dominated most of the play but just couldn't convert that to a goal. They just seemed to lack that spark seen in other matches. Emerton and Kewell weren't there to make some lightning runs and put the defence into scramble mode. Instead Australia only had 1 or 2 real chances. Italy similarly had some genuine chances in the first half but didn't have many chances in the second half. That swan dive right at the end deserves an Oscar for acting. The slow motion replay clearly showed that he just leapt over Neill and totally played the referee for a fool.

In retrospect, Australia have had an unbelievable tournament which all of us can be proud of. However, to lose in such circumstances just sours it a little. Everyone will get over it in the next couple of days and then credit will go to all the players who played their hearts out and did a fantastic job on the world stage. Football in Australia will get so much recognition and never be the same again.