Enough To Make A Nation Cry

Anyone who claims this is not a penalty probably has never played football at any level.Grosso marauds along the left side of the pitch,manages to stay up after Bresciano’s tackle (if he was ill-intentioned he would have dived now and get a free kick from a good spot, instead he goes for the goal). He enters the box, Neill attempts a sliding tackle but misses both the ball and his feet (again would have been easier for Grosso to seek contact here). Now, Grosso by avoiding the tackle has lost his balance, his tired, tries to move forward but the defenders right and left arms are against both his shins (stop the video and look at those still footage!). He falls, referee rightly awards the PK. It’s not a bad foul and it was not Neill’s intention to trip him but the bottom line is that he prevents Grosso from going after the goal.It’s not the intention but the outcome that is penalized by the rules of the game. Again, try and play some real football and you will relaize that it’s not so easy as it looks on the telly. By the way, I am sick and tired of all these “cheaters” and “divers” accusations. I guess we have to thank that imbecil who circulated that “Italian training camp” video over the net.Very well done. I think that come out after Korea vs. Italy in 2002 when Totti was sent off for allegedly diving (by the way, that foul is even more evident…). In that game the referee did the following:
1) awarded a PK to the Koreans after their forward “died” in the box as someone slightly pulled his shirt. Few minutes later Vieri scored a header while a Korean defender was tearing off his…
2) Disallowed a legit goal by Tommasi that would have ended the game
3) Sent off Totti for the above…
We all know what happened next…
Anyway, apologies for talking too much about Italy on this blog. By the way, I love Ozzies and Australia and I go there regularly on vacation. Congrats to the socceroos and let’s enjoy what is left of this WC.

Posted from  Japan

Leon,

It wasn’t a trip as Lucas Neil did not move towards Grosso, he was either stationary or moving away from him. Therefore, if anything it was obstruction, and you cannot give a penalty for obstruction, only an indirect free-kick.

You obviously haven’t played football at any level then, have you?

Posted from  Australia

Completely agree with you, Bigone, and I am tired of comments who claim it was a penalty. All these people have to do is look at the rules of football and read the ten infringements that can lead to a penalty. Neill did not violate one of these infringements, if anything, as you say, it could have been at the worst an obstruction which should have been an indirect free kick.

Posted from  Australia

Bigone et al,

I am glad I could extract the word “free kick” from you. Maybe after the heat has gone people will realize that indeed it might have been a penalty. As you rightly pointed put, I guess the issue is whether Neill simply “impedes” his opponent or trips or attempt to, or push him. He is hardly “stationary” as you say as he is not a dead corpse and he is still finishing his sliding tackle which could beseen as an “attempt to trip”. By the way, Grosso is facing the goallie and there is an Italian unmarked right on the penalty spot. The probability that Italy would have scored was quite high and I would think that the referee was infuenced by that.Lastly, sorry to contradict you but I did play and still occasionally play football. Obviously at a very low level otherwise I would not be posting comments on this blog….Cheers and do me favor..root for Italy on Sunday. At least you can say you lost against the best….

Posted from  Japan

Italy scrape in to make the final. They couldn’t score a goal against the Socceroos in 90 mins. It just shows everyone what a top team the Aussies are. Hey we don’t even need to go to an acting school to get an advantage from the ref. We just play football. No tears either. Now that is a team worth respecting.

Posted from  Australia

hey eric maybe in a game of rugby the australian tactics might work but not in the world game keep this in mind PENALTY ITALY 1 australia 0

Posted from  Australia

Leon,
It was Grosso who moved towards Lucas Neil, not the other way round. Therefore it cannot be a trip, or an attempted trip, leaving only obstruction as a possibility.

Any fool can see that Lucas Neil did not attempt to trip Grosso, open your eyes man!

GO FRANCE!!!!!!!!

Posted from  Australia

Hey Andrea, don’t worry about rugby tactics just focus on red cards. Italy got one against us and didn’t they also get one for the worst incident in the whole world cup? Is that a team to respect?

Posted from  Australia

Hey Bigone/Eric…you’re both wrong…and yes Eric, you SHOULD respect that Team…I saw them in Dortmund and even GERMANS agreed that they witnessed something fantastic…even the Brit beside me was astonished and he was a lousy critic too…

Neil slid and then twisted his torso to get in front of Grosso, and Grosso tripped over him. Grosso was running parallel to the net. That’s a foul in the box…period.
People say that what Grosso did was bad for football but consider this. MAYBE, its good because it might teach young footballers not to make clumsy, amateur tackles in the box. Whether you agree that it was a penalty kick or not, you can’t deny the fact that that was one hell of a lousy tackle (the last twisting torso bit) and OPEN to interpretation. You’re cooked mate….stick to shrimps on the barbie…by the way, I’m Canadian and I was in Prague at the time. I’ve never seen so many sulking yellow shirts out there…almost as bad as Mexicans when they lost to Argentina. Leon’s right, sayonara Socceroos(??) and just like Australia, it’s all over but the crying for France too…

Loved the way Aussies partied in Melbourne after Italy beat the Ukraine by the way, saw the footage, looked like fun…football is ALL about drama and controversy, you’ll appreciate that again the next time Australia has a man advantage….and STILL can’t score. I love the way people say that it would have gone to PK’s, it was just a matter of time before Italy would have scored anyway, they’re just that good this WC…
P.S. wipe your tears and start rallying for rule change i.e “go upstairs” (hockey term for viewing replay RIGHT after a controversial call/goal) for football too.

Tome, you’re right, that was a penalty…plain and simple…

GO FRANCE………….!!

Posted from  Australia

hey Eric we just won the world cup what you think about that CAMPIONI 34 38 82 06

Posted from  Australia

TO MARK

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!
ITALIA WORLD CUP CHAMP: 1934- 1938 - 1982 and 2006!!!

AHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Posted from  Italy

Clearly a penalty.

Posted from  United States

ITALY won! France sucks, Aussie sucks as well. Take that sucker!!

Posted from  United States

Andrea, I think that they looked ordinary and France were the better team. But hey, a win is a win. Now they can go home and sort out the corruption in their league.

Posted from  Australia

hey eric all in all this was all done in fun cya in 2010 forza italia

Posted from  Australia

Andrea, I am worried about the 2010 world cup in South Africa. I think there will be big problems with crime, organisation and infrastructure. The Germans were brilliant. I know because I was there. I won’t be going to SA.

Posted from  Australia

yeh i noticed that bastard laughing too as he “tripped” over cahill. what bunk!

Posted from  Australia

“Marco, did someone do the typo for you mate…! there seems to less of the cryptic, and more of grammar in your posts nowadays…!!

Folks, i believe its time to leave that INCIDENT of dive-foul-whatever BEHIND us and get on with what lies ahead for Australian Football now that its here to stay( at least i hope it is..!)

Why don’t we start a new post where everyone can voice their opinion on what needs to be done to take the game further on and how best to get our team fighting fit and battle-ready for the next WC…?

Ideas anyone..?”

Good idea. I would like to see players like materrazzi banned from soccer and every other ball sport for the rest of theyre natural life!

Posted from  Australia

What Oz needs to do to take the Australian Football game further:

1) stop being cry-baby whiners.
start with self-examination, not self-defence.

2) be humble: no, not the lay persons, but the Aussie Football authorities & the Aussie media.
Most know less than a cahoot (was that a Cahill?) about Football, yet cry “Foul!” when there indeed *was* a Foul (pun intended)

Learn about the SPIRIT of the game, there’s much more than meets the eye.

3) Aussie teams as well as the national team need to play regualrly against strong European sides. Experience will be a valuable teacher in the years to come.

4) get into the Football sprit, the Football world. This takes decades, if not a generation or 2, but you have to start somewhere.

5) get European trainers, not just coaches. Hiddink started a mini-revolution that could be a good basis for this: that way the U-21 team & league teams can be better prepared to offer players prepared for international games.

6) value players with international experience. That clumsy tackle by Lucas Neil may go down in History as one of the most amateurish mistakes in all World Cup editions since 1930; but it shouldn’t put Oz down!
Australia has already a good base of players to start from….by slowly integrating fresh talent with the “oldies”, the experience gained won’t be lost when the veterans retire.

7) look at winning teams like Italy, Brazil, Gemany & France & learn from them. The first thing to internalize is dog-willed determination, patience, & perseverance.

Better luck next time, dear Australia.

Posted from  Malta

I am from Holland, but I saw this on the TV and i was so angry! Our Guus and your players where doing such a good job, and than they loose because of this, its just so stupid! I really hoped from the beginning that Australia would be world champion, not just because of the great country, but also for Guus Hiddink, I am a big fan of him!

Posted from  Netherlands

Has Neill said sorry to Grosso yet for this amateurish tackle?

I know the referee has apolgised for his sending off of Materazzi which forced Italy to play with 10 men for more than half the game.

preved ot slesarya Vasi

well eric your a wanker

Posted from  Australia

It was a poorly advised tackle, but it was not a foul. The two steps after ‘contact’ and the look up at the referee as Grosso falls to earth, just sickening.

Posted from  United States