Day 17

The mighty Italians (I WILL call them 'mighty':) had the Aussies in their path and as expected it was a tough game. But the Azzurri frontline failed to score and seemed to have lost it's sting. The game was marred by a few wrong decisions, and the notable one early on was the red card for Materazzi. This was a harsh decision - to put it mildly - and Italy were a man down for the better of the second half, and Australia were having a mammoth share of the possession. But try as they might, they were just not able to breach the famous Italian defence - even with a man advantage. With extra time looming large, the referee made another mistake -another costly one- and handed a penalty to Italy deep in injury time, and like the red card, this looked to be a harsh decision as well. Though the end result put Italy through to the QF's, the way in which it was carried out left little to be desired. I am pretty sure Italy would have won in extra time but it was a bit cruel for Australia. Totti calmly slotted from the spot to send the ecstatic Italian fans(me included!) into the next round! Much awaits for us!
Italy 1-0 Australia
90+ pen-Totti(ITA)

Ukraine and Switzerland had to battle it out for a place in the QF's against the Italians and this was destined to be a day of penalties. Both teams had chances at either end, but failed to score a goal and the game moved on the Penalties. Unfortunately, Shevchenko missed the first kick (why does it always happen to my favourite players!-beats me) but the Swiss managed to miss all the three and Gusev's kick sent the Ukrainians on their way to face Italy. The match was devoid of any action packed periods albeit for a few good chances which rattled the woodwork. In the end, Ukraine got the job done.
Ukraine 1-0 Switzerland PS
Shevchenko(UKR)-Saved, Streller(SUI)-Saved, Milevskiy(UKR)-Scored, Barnetta(SUI)-Missed, Rebrov(UKR)-Scored, Cabanas(SUI)-Saved, Gusev(UKR)-Scored