"The Italians Have Gone Mental"

  Sadly I cannot watch this game live, with no tv, but the web-audio is an acceptable substitute; and this my first post so far into the tournament.  More sadly for the Aussies is this crazy making penalty in the last seconds of injury time, giving Italy a 1-0 win into the quarterfinals of the World Cup. 

From the sounds of it, it was a legit call by the referee, however no real soccer fan likes to see the official have such a role in the outcome of a match, especially at this level.  But in the end a foul in the box is a foul in the box, maybe some will argue he should have let it all go?  I will have to wait to see the video to fully decide for myself.  Such is the 'Unlucky' of soccer as it sometimes goes.

As a fan of Italy, Mexico, and Hjolland, this is all I have left at this point.  Mexico was eliminated in overtime by Argentina and my Dutch boys were sent home yesterday in a good tough match with Portugal.  If only they could have been wearing their Oranje instead of the white's, but that's just my superstition.  So off we go from here with Italy holding strong.

Some soccer troubadours will dismiss the Italian style for being too conservative or lacking flair and interesting play.  But I am a firm believer in a solid defense first, along the old coaches addage that "a good offense will win games, but a good defense wins championships."  I think that was shown today with Australia, as they utterly could not break down the Italian back line, even while playing with a man advantage.  Next up . . . .

Comments

[derek]

I'll definitely be interested in hearing your viewpoints about that call, Sal. And I'll have to rewatch later tonight myself, just in case I missed something--I was half-asleep when I watched the game. But damn . . . it sure did leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm sorry the Dutch didn't win as well. And like you, I'm positive that if they'd been sportin' the orange--with those nifty little collars--I'd be a lot happier right now and England wouldn't be. Oh well. Such is the game.

Nice site, by the way.