They did have a case against the linesman in the Croatia game, but no way for this ref......How can you expect to win if you play/attack for 15 minutes total....sour grapes for the Italiani
World Cup: Stunned Italians Say 'Death to
Referee'
Tue Jun 18,11:17 AM ET
By Shasta Darlington
ROME (Reuters) - Dismay, disbelief, anger and tears -- Italy took their World Cup defeat against
South Korea ( news - web sites) like a slap around the face Tuesday and blamed the Ecuadorean
referee for their shock exit.
"Death to the referee," chanted hundreds of Italian supporters gathered in the
heart of Rome to watch the game on a giant television screen.
Scuffles broke out in front of the capital's central train station as Italians hurled
water bottles and insults at a small group of South Korean supporters who
had gathered to celebrate their team's historic victory.
"Thieves, thieves, you stole the game," the Italians yelled before police moved
in to restore order.
After trailing for much of the game, South Korea drew level just two minutes
before the end of normal time in Taejon, Korea.
In extra time Italy had a man sent off and a goal disallowed for offside -- both
decisions denounced by Italian television commentators -- before South
Korea scored the winning golden goal, cheered on by a stadium of ecstatic
local fans.
"Frankly, that was complete robbery," said Bruno Pizzul, Italy's most famous
commentator who was following the game for state broadcaster RAI in South Korea.
His anger was shared at the highest level back home.
"The referee was a disgrace, absolutely scandalous. I've never seen a game like it. It seemed as if they
just sat around a table and decided to throw us out," Franco Frattini, Italy's minister for public offices,
said.
SUMMER TEARS
Soccer-mad Italy ground to halt for the game. Streets emptied and crowds gathered around huge
screens set up in city center squares or else gathered around televisions in bars and offices.
When the decisive Korean goal hit the back of the net, silence descended. People hugged and
consoled each other, many cried openly, tears streaming down their cheeks in the boiling summer sun.
"I expected a victory, the pain is enormous. There is no justice in this world, especially with these
referees," said 26-year old Rosalba Petrone, sitting with friends in Rome's gigantic Piazza del Popolo.
In Milan, some 5,000 people defied temperatures close to 104 degrees to watch the match on a huge
screen set up in front of the city's imposing Gothic cathedral. When the final whistle went the mood was
funereal.
"It's too awful," said 68-year-old Nicoletta Carluccio, shaking her head in shock. "But Italy is a strong
nation so we will survive and come back."
Italy, which has won three World Cups, suffered a number of hotly-contested refereeing decisions in
their three first-round games earlier this month, with four goals disallowed -- three of them unfairly,
according to the local press.
"Don't betray us," the main sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport yelled in a frontpage headline
Tuesday beneath a photo of the Italian squad.
But, for once, no-one was blaming the players as they trailed off the pitch.
"I can say nothing. It was the World Cup and it's all over," Maurizio Romana, wearing an Italian flag
around his waist like a sarong, said in Milan. |
