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WORLD CUP SOCCER
Italy Goes to Hard-fought
Quarterfinals
Though the Costa Rican national
team was eliminated from quarter
final playing, many Costa Ricans
and certainly
Insidecostarica.com is rooting
for the Italian team, yesterday
beating Australia 1-0 with
difficulty in the Kaiserlautern
Fritz Walter Stadium Monday.
The Italian team played with a
man short since the 50th minute
but they kept their goal line
unbeaten until the second half,
when there was a doubtful
penalty on Italian Daniele di
Grosso, which was scored by
outstanding midfielder Francesco
Totti.
The game started with a strong
and fast rhythm, and both teams
fought during the first minutes.
Italy had two chances for goal:
one by forward Luca Toni, and
another by Gilardino, but the
Australian goalkeeper caught
both shots.
Twelve minutes after the start
Italian forward Alessandro del
Piero could not control a ball
inside the area and when
Gilardino kicked it, a
defender"s leg was in the middle
and avoided the goal.
A head touch by Luca Toni went
over the Australian goal cage at
the 34th and from then on, none
of the teams had any other
chance, and they went to rest.
In the second half, main umpire
Luis Medina Catalejo (Spain)
went wrong and showed out his
red card to Italian defender
Marco Materazzi when he tried to
stop Australian player Mark
Bresciano from scoring a goal.
This caused more pressure on
Italy's goal cage.
Just about to end the second
half Fabio Grosso got a penalty,
scored by Totti to give Italy
the ticket for the
quarterfinals.
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