messyflatmate you are partially right, in the sense thatI couldn't see the match as I was in UK for work, I only saw higlights, and for what I know the referee might have been quite ok, mine was basically a rensponse to all those saying that it was the italians who cheated.

Also notice that the Italian player who was sent off, even if he knew that was wrong decision, didn't protest at all, showing a good attitude toward the word sport. This is a result, in fact that particular plaier is infamous in Italy because he usualy behave in the opposite way, so we appreciated his behaviour.

Yes it is true,Italy never plays a football which is spectacular in the same way as the football of other teams. After the 80's the only spectacular Italy team was at the USA '94 world cup, where we lost the final against brasil at the penalties. But in that team we had a coach called Sacchi who was famous for his spectacular football, and we had a player called Baggio one of the best plaiers of ever in the world, who, after that, have always been left home because Del Piero "had" to play instead of him (probably for some reasn related to sponsors or to money interests)...Baggio was good and spectacular, Del Piero has never been either good either spectacular with the national team, and as I have been told, he has been crap also against Australia.

Also in Italy we always protest against the fact that our team is never spectacular, but I would like to observe that yesterday I red a report of the match in an english newspaper, and the author said he appreciated a lot the match because it had thrill and drama.
Now, it is true that when brazil wins 3-0 against Ghana it is spectacular to see 3 goals, but it is also true that the result of the match is never put into discussion, so there is no thrill at all and there is no drama, there is only a show of good technique, but the match, as a competition, turns out to be not interesting at all. It is exciting when your team wins 4-0, but you'll forget this match soon, while you will never forget a thrilling match, maybe with a win at the last second of the match. And probably, people will forget more esily about the goal scored yesterday by Ronaldo then the goal scored by Totti against australia.
I think even basketball fans will admit that a win at the last second (with the ball going into the basket in the same moment as the whistle of the end of the match) is something extremely exciting, even if your team hasn't plaied that good.
Soccer, Calcio, Football, is first of all a sport, not a show even if the owners of TV channels try to convince us of the opposite.
And however, even considering it as a show, as I said, maybe sometimes a show with thrill and drama is more interesting then a technically perfect but uninteresting show. Of course people may like one or the other, as people may like love story movies or thriller movies....and in this case Brasil's easy wins are like love story movies, while the match Italy -Australia was like a thriller.
Usually Italy at world and european cups doesn't play a "spectacular" football, but (at least in the matcher where you are in or out) its matches are always thrilling and dramatic, which, after all, is not that bad....expecially when you win!