Italy heartbreak drives Socceroos at World Cup

* David Penberthy
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* May 28, 2010

It will forever be remembered by Australian football fans as a moment of infamy - but as a general rule, the last thing Socceroos captain Lucas Neill wants to discuss is his final-minute tangle with leaping Italian leftback Fabio Grosso which trundled Australia out of the 2006 World Cup.

But for the first time, Neill has revealed the Socceroos are using their controversial 2006 exit as a source of inspiration for South Africa 2010.

But when asked whether he still thought about his tackle on Grosso in the last minute of the Italy-Australia second-round match, Neill takes a different tack.

Grosso, who has since admitted that he "exaggerated" his reaction, dived through the air on being tackled and the Italians were awarded a penalty which Francesco Totti dispatched for a 1-0 victory.

It was the cruellest of defeats, with most impartial commentators saying the Socceroos had been outplaying the Azzuri after they were reduced to 10 men in the 50th minute when Marco Materazzi was red-carded.

Asked about the final minute of the game, Neill initially said simply: "I don't think about it at all.

"It is what it is. It was four years ago."

But Neill then revealed that the team had been using the cruel nature of their exit to drive themselves beyond the second round in 2010.

"We have used the manner in which we exited that tournament as our hunger and our drive to want to get into another tournament and see if we can go further," he said.

"We weren't outplayed, we lost a game in the last eight seconds of play.

"The disappointing thing was that there was no time for us to react to going a goal down, and from that day to this all we want to do is react to the conceding of that goal.

"So four years waiting and here we are, on the edge of going further than we did then."

Neill offered no comment on the fairness of Grosso's actions, or the decision of the referee in awarding the match-winning spot kick.

The tackle has been hotly debated and was recently listed on the goal.com foot- ball blog as one of the Top 10 Worst Calls in World Cup History.

Brett Emerton said that the team felt Australian fans probably expected more of the Socceroos in 2010 because they did so well in Germany, losing with dignity to the eventual world champions.

"The expectations this time around are a little bit higher than what we experienced last time," Emerton said.

"That's the way the Australian public are. They expect their teams to do well. But we expect ourselves to do well as well. It's a very tough group and it's going to be a difficult one to get out of, but we'll be doing everything possible leading up to the World Cup to make sure we're in the best shape and that we do everything possible to get through."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/soccer/italy-heartbreak-drives-socceroos-at-world-cup/story-e6frey4r-1225872254442