text: 1 Let me be very clear it was not a penalty, but that is not a fault of the italians. italians , spanish, french all these players have always had the tendency to go for penalties, its their game like it or not. why blame them only ? anyone remember Rivaldo against Turkey in 2002 group league, he faked to get a penalty. Brazilians do it too !!! It was the refs fault why blame italy ?\n\n2 Aussies played very very well, but they have to accept the fact that their finishing was pooor , & they created very little despite having a man advantage. They never looked like scoring & winning the match. On the contrary Italy had better openings.\n\n3 Ref was poor , but again Materazzi's red card was harsh, 11 against 11 would have been a different game.\n\n\n4 Italy did defend very well, give them credit for that. \n\n\n5  I agree there has been a mess in Serie A but you can never undermine the quality, Italian clubs have won European competitions more than any other country , check the records.\nItaly hve won 3 WCs, they are the first & only european country to win back to back WC. Also they have the 3rd best record in WC next to brazil & germany, better than Argentina or England, you have to accept that they are good.\n\nSome people say they have little sucess in recent times well check this\n1978-  4th\n1982- champs\n1986 - quarter finals\n1990 - 3rd\n1994 - 2nd\n1998 - quarter finals\n2002 - 2nd round\nthey have not last a WC knockout match in normal time since 1986, and have reached semifinals in 4 of last 7 WCs, they have played 16 Wcs which is 2nd to Brazil.