Italy progress as Australia cruelly knocked out

Australia were knocked out of the World cup as Francesco Totti scored an injury-time penalty after Fabio Grosso went for a dive over Lucas Neill.

Totti had been left out of the starting line-up by coach Marcello Lippi due to his lacklustre performances in the three first round matches.

The incident happened as Italy were down to 10 men and Australia were about to force Italy into extra time and only had 5 seconds left in normal time.

Italy are now into the last eight of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ and will play their next match against either Switzerland or Ukraine in Hamburg.

The goalscorer Totti was a 75th-minute replacement for Alessandro Del Piero.

Italy had been reduced to ten men following Marco Materazzi's red card five minutes into the second half and extra time appeared inevitable before Totti struck.

Australia will feed very hard done by but should have gone for the kill when Italy were reduced to ten men. They will however head home proud of their performance in Germany, having reached the Round of 16 on their first outing on the world stage in 32 years.

After the match Totti said, "Now let the critics talk about me. Up till now they have massacred me. I am sure now they won't be happy"

And his coach Lippi said, "We dictated the pace in the first half though we had few chances. In the second half it was ten against 11 so it was tougher and we had to go through the mill a little - Materazzi told me a straight red was a bit extreme."

The victory, which extended Italy's unbeaten run to 21 internationals, went some way to making up for their second round defeat at the 2002 World Cup by South Korea, who were then coached by current Aussie manager Guus Hiddink.

Italy came close to opening the scoring in the third minute when Alessandro Del Piero's left-wing cross found Luca Toni at the back post, but the giant Fiorentina striker, Serie A's leading scorer last season with 31 goals, headed into the side-netting.

A superb sliding tackle by Luke Wilkshire on Alberto Gilardino snuffed out another Italy attack as the Aussies came under early pressure, before Mark Schwarzer was called into action twice in the space of three minutes.

First the Aussie keeper tipped Gilardino's scissor-kick over the bar and then his outstretched leg kept out Toni's low drive.

Australia mustered their first real threat in the 24th minute when Marco Bresciano dinked a free-kick into the box, but Mark Viduka's weak header was comfortably gathered by Gianluigi Buffon.

The Aussies' confidence grew and Buffon came to Italy's rescue on the half hour, getting down low to deny Scott Chipperfield.

Toni spurned a good chance in the 34th minute, heading over the bar after Simone Perrotta had flicked Andrea Pirlo's chipped pass across goal.

Gilardino made way for Vincenzo Iaquinta for the restart before Toni spurned a glorious chance, blazing over the bar from 12 yards after Del Piero's effort was blocked.

A moment of madness reduced Italy to ten men in the 50th minute as Materazzi crunched into Bresciano and Toni was sacrificed for defender Andrea Barzagli.

Buffon kept Italy's goal intact by punching clear Chipperfield's rasping shot while at the other end Pirlo's curled free-kick was palmed over by Schwarzer.

Totti replaced Del Piero in the 75th minute as Italy tried to liven up their attacking options, and just as the match appeared to be heading for extra time Grosso went tumbling in the box and the Azzurri fans went wild with joy as Totti scored.

Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Grosso, Del Piero (Totti 75), Perrotta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Gilardino (Iaquinta 45), Toni (Barzagli 55). Subs Not Used: Zaccardo, Peruzzi, Amelia, Camoranesi, Barone, Inzaghi, Oddo, Nesta.

Sent Off: Materazzi (51).

Booked: Grosso, Gattuso, Zambrotta.

Goal: Totti 90 pen.

Australia: Schwarzer, Chipperfield, Neill, Moore, Culina, Wilkshire, Cahill, Grella, Bresciano, Sterjovski (Aloisi 81), Viduka. Subs Not Used: Popovic, Skoko, Kalac, Kennedy, Lazaridis, Covic, Beauchamp, Kewell, Thompson, Milligan.

Booked: Grella, Cahill, Wilkshire.

Att: 46,000

Ref: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)