Thursday, June 29, 2006

23. WORLD CUP - MY DIARY-page 7

ITALY vs AUSTRALIA Result: 1 : 0

Quirk of fate? That is what one has to say of this match. By the half time itself Italy got one of their men sent out with a red card. Second half was 10 vs. 11. Ball mostly was in the possession of the Aussies – the game was centered around Italy’s goal mouth. There were many scoring chances. Either Aussies missed or messed them up. Foray into Aussies goal was just sporadic. Minutes were ticking off. Time was over. The whole of 90 minutes. Games extends for 3 more minutes for the lost time. Now the seconds were ticking off. When there was hardly a minute Italy’s Lucas Neill had a solo run and was at a striking distance when he was fouled by Fabio Grosso. Penalty was awarded and Totti did not have any trouble putting the ball into the right corner of the goal.

This time I expected Italy to win and also wanted Italy to win. It won. But always my heart goes in sympathy for any team that is defeated with a penalty stroke. This time my sympathies lie with Aussies.

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