I am very proud of what the Socceroos have achieved by getting into the second stage of the World Cup Finals. To top that even further, they have managed to give the 3 times world champions a run for their money by keeping them at a draw for 90 minutes. However with Italy down a man, and Australia still having two subs for the overtime, the match was decided when the referee gave Italy a very questionable penalty with 5 seconds left. From the slow motion replays it is very obvious that defender Lucas Neill was going for the ball and that the Italian player, while jumping over his body decided at the last minute to fall over. There was no malicious foul at all.
Though disappointed, the Socceroos have done a great job. They have defied all the critisism and non-believers to stamp Australia’s name onto the list of soccer nations. I think the next event is the Asia Cup. It would be very interesting to see the crowd at a Taiwan vs Australia match.
I watched the match at The Brass Monkey and it was an amazing experience. There was around 30 or so Aussies and we were cheering and chanting throughout the match, drowning out the Italy supporters who were less vocal. Whenever we did the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant, my friends who are Italy supporters would give me an evil glare. Not to mention the playful shoves when we shouted “Bullshit.. Bullshit..” whenever it was obvious that an Italian player had dived.
Now I don’t know which team to support in the World Cup. Or maybe I should just watch Wimbledon and forget about it.
The Chaz Chop 
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