Italy 1-0 Australia

Italy scraped into the quarter-finals of the World Cup after a fortunate 1-0 win over Australia and the defence was again the deciding factor as they did not put a foot wrong and kept Italy in the match right till the end.

With seconds remaining in a goalless match that seemed destined for extra time, Italian defender Fabio Grosso dribbled into the box and tumbled over Australian defender Lucas Neill, who had fallen to the ground. The referee awarded Italy a penalty and striker Francesco Totti stepped up and coolly drilled the ball into the top right hand corner of keeper Mark Schwarzer's goal.

The goal granted Italy a ticket into the quarter finals while leaving the Australians in shock and tears. Soccer Pundit feels that while Italy's tradition has always been to play defensive football, this particular team seems to be worse than their predecessors in terms of fluency and dominating the match. Add to that their rough play and unprofessional tackles and challenges, it doesn't really endear them to soccer fans and neutrals.

The ugly football doesn't seem to faze the players nor the manager who are more interested in winning than delighting the crowd. The record speaks for themselves, the Italians are unbeaten in 22 games with their last defeat coming in October 2004 in a qualifier against Slovenia. The key to Italy's progress so far has been a familiar one -- a rock solid defence that has conceded just one goal in four games and even that was a freakish own goal against the United States from defender Cristian Zaccardo.

During this match when they were down to 10 men, Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon had little work to do and was well protected by his back-four. Australians can only blame themselves as they were not able to take advantage of their extra men nor the possession which they had in the game. The final killer pass for their striker, Mark Viduka was sorely missing even as they beseiged the Italian defence time and again.

The Australians could be thinking of playing extra time where they had the advantage as Italy would be worn out from being a man down. However the Italians had other ideas and handed them a precious footballing lesson. The game is not over until the whistle is blown. Great teams are able to go on to become champions because they understand this fact. The Italians and the Germans are famous for scoring late goals and this is another classic case.

So despite the fact that the penalty should not be awarded, Soccer Pundit feels that the Italians are still justified to proceed into the quarter-finals. With their few forays into the Australian defence, they were the one who always looked more capable of unlocking the opponent's defence and scoring a goal, something which the Australians still have to improve on.

Meanwhile, coach Lippi meets Ukraine in the next round with his defensive options limited as central defender Alessandro Nesta remains doubtful with a groin injury and his replacement on Monday, Materazzi, will be suspended. Still, Soccer Pundit can't see the Ukrainian team stopping Italy in its track...