ok, so I wasn't watching...but a PK in the 95th minute?

[northzax]

did he decapitate the guy?

[Kipling]

1. No, any free-kick foul merits a penalty if it's right in front of the goal

[rooboy]

3. You obviously weren't watching the game either. n/t

[ticapnews]

2. The Italian player deserves an Oscar for that performance.

He went down like he had been shot, and as soon as the penalty was called, he jumped right back up.

The Australian defender made a brilliant play and stopped the Italian, so he jumped over him and dove into the turf and the referee bought it.

This game was delivered to the Italians with a great big bow on top as surely as Ohio was delivered to George W. Bush by Wally O Dell and Ken Blackwell.

I am sure it is a coincidence the entire Italian league is embroiled in a gambling scandal and the referees are handing games to the Blues. I would never insinuate that there is a connection...

[Hav]

9. .

Well, an Italian got a straight red I think (at least he got sent off).
And I wouldn't call it a brilliant play, it wasn't good defending. The Australian probably just wanted to block the way and doing it so that it wasn't him who rushed into the Italian. He surely thought that no referee would then decide for a penealty in the 93th minute if the Italian just walks over the Australian to fall down.
Yeah, it was shameful, especially how it was celebrated the second it was clear that it was a penealty. The bad thing is that Italy's next opponent will be either Suisse or Ukraine which would mean a pretty easy way to the semis.

I was never against Italy but now I can't wait to see them heading home.

[ticapnews]

13. And Grosso has received that Oscar!

Congratulations to Fabio Grosso!

[manic expression]

4. Pretty harsh call if you ask me (I'm about to spoil the result BTW)

the Australian defender had already gone to ground, but the Italian attacker avoided him. So the defender is pretty much lying there on the ground, and the Italian takes a step over him and falls to the ground, creating contact himself. PK, Totti takes it, smashes it into the top left corner, keeper without a chance, game over.

REALLY harsh, as a matter of fact. Can I PLEASE, PLEASE see a world cup match WITHOUT weak or BS calls? Pretty please? With sugar on top? Anyone? Bueller?

[manic expression]

5. Here's a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5uMInOylsU

[northzax]

6. ok, wow.

thanks for the link. I'm not really sure that would have been a penalty in the open field- not pleasant.

[underpants]

7. A penalty no where

The Italian, to my eye, just stopped running and fell down over top of the Aussie.

[Ravenseye]

8. It wouldn't have

cause it wasn't a foul. Legal move. Dive. Another game decided by the ref.

[brentspeak]

10. Grosso should have been given a yellow for diving

He made no attempt either move to his right (in the direction of his dribbled ball) or to at least raise his left leg over Neill. Instead, Grosso went out of his way to drag his leg over Neill's body so that he could feign being tripped up. And the ref bought it.

Highway robbery against the Socceroos.

[ticapnews]

11. What this video fails to show is Grosso's little celebration

ESPN has a great shot of it. Grosso tries to leap over Neill, thuds into the ground and - for just a moment - acts injured. But as he looks up and sees Mr. Magoo pointing to the penalty spot, he pounds the ground with both fists with a HUGE grin on his face. Then the Italian players gather around him, and it looks like they are showing concern over an injury, but they are, in fact, all celebrating - even the supposedly injured Grosso. He is so delieriously happy, they have to pull him to his feet. Not because of his alleged injury, but because he's so ufcking happy.

The referee should have carded Grosso for diving and let the game go to extra time. What he did was an absolute travesty for soccer. This World Cup has been ruined by the referees. The referees need to be held accountable for this bullshite and whomever it was at FIFA who wrote the memo instructing the referees to be more strict should be fired (from a cannon).

One last thing: :wtf: is the deal with the thumb-sucking celebration? Is Totti letting us know in his own special way that he is an immature baby who needs his mommy?

ETA: Some pics of Grosso's little act:





And the poor little boy who needs his mommy:

[manic expression]

12. Yeah that was classless

I hate that, you're not supposed to celebrate yourself getting fouled. It's just classless. Also, he didn't have to sell an injury in the first place because the ref pointed to the spot so fast.

About the celebration, I've seen a bunch of players do it, but I have no idea what it means. Luis Garcia of Liverpool and Spain does it a lot.

About the play itself, no one can argue that it wasn't a terrible, terrible dive, but the Australian player didn't make the best of moves to go to ground in front of an Italian (of all players) in the box. I mean, it was almost like asking him to fall over and get a PK. I hate the dive as much as anyone else, but the defender should have been smarter.

[TahitiNut]

14. It's like he's taunting the referee -- calling him a "sucker"

I guess I can't rationally think so, though, since "sucker" is American slang. I can't help regarding it that way, though. It was a reprehensible dive.