The upset of a century was underway in Germany today.  The scorching heat favoring the fit Australians who were outplaying the mighty Italians at an anything but friendly game of football.

The 90 minutes was expired and it was still 0-0.  The Australians were up a man after a controversial red card sent off the expensive sports car Mazerratti.  The funny thing is the tackle was so wreckless it took out a fellow teammate more than the Australian.

The Italians feisty defense was only outclassed by the incredible ability of the Australians to get their butts, chest, legs, or feet in the way of many dangerous Italian shots.  The momentum had to favor the Australians in a game that was sure to go to overtime.  Not only might they be the fittest team scoring 4 of their five goals in the last ten minutes of the game in this World Cup, but they were up a man and had two substitutions left.  The Italians had used all of their subs but could not be counted out because the rare times they were able to attack they were far more dangerous than the Australians.

Surely we were headed for another overtime thriller comparable to the Mexico vs. Argentina game a couple days before.  Surely it would take a flash of absolute brilliance to win this battle of defense and goalkeeping.  Surely it was not to be.

Instead once again the referee took the game into his own hands and with time expiring in injury time he awarded a PK to the Italians.  A bold move even if there had been anything near a foul.  Instead Grosso did a gross thing.  He juked one Australian and then juked another (Lukas Neill) who slid in front and past Grosso.  Grosso could have been a real superstar and side stepped the defender he just juked and blasted a shot in the back of the net.  Sure it would have been off-balance, sure it would have been a tough angle, but it would have been a goal and a real way to win.  Instead Grosso steppend over the helpless Austalian on the ground and dived.  A pure bred unforced flop that would make Vlade Divac jealous.  Surely the ref could see that this was not even close to a foul, let alone away to get knocked out of the World Cup.  No but that was not the case.  Instead it was the worst call of the World Cup.  With time expired Francesco Totti netted an unstoppable PK.  Just like that the great socceroo story had ended.  Cinderella's wicked stepmother was the referee and he just shattered the glass slipper.

I do want to give credit to Totti.  He came in the game late and helped the Italians get some offensive spark back.  A man whose World Cup was in jeopardy a few months ago after a broken ankle came off the bench and made spectacular heel flicks and passes that gave the Italians hope that they could still score a man down.  It is just too bad that the game ended the way it did, and that we were all robbed of seeing the players do something special to win the game.  Instead it was the actor and the referee.

That is why Americans hate futbol.