The referee at the centre of the trouble (Allsport)
ITALIAN PRESS IN A RAGE
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The Ecuadorian referee was scandalous, and FIFA
are staging a dirty World Cup.
That is the assessment of Italy's press today after co-hosts Korea knocked
them out of the World Cup.
Korea beat the three-time winners of the competition with a golden goal.
But the Italian newspapers are crying foul, claiming the Auzzurri would have
scored a winner in normal time had a linesman not wrongly raised his flag for
offside when Damiano Tommasi ran onto a pass from Christian Vieri.
Referee Bryan Moreno also awarded a penalty to Korea early in the match, and
sent off Francesco Totti in extra time when the Italian went down in the box.
The headline in Gazzetta Dello Sport screams: "Ecuadorian referee scandalous,
Italy out of the World Cup".
The sports daily then writes: "Shameful, Moreno does everything, gives a
penalty to the Koreans, takes Totti out and stops Tommasi's goal. Surrender to
the golden goal of Ahn."
Korean star Jung Hwan Ahn plays in Serie A. The Perugia man missed a penalty
kick early in the game but made amends by heading Korea's winner.
Chievo Verona's respected coach Luigi del Neri explained in Gazzetta why
Christian Vieri did not score late in the game when he could have sealed the
win.
"Italy have battled well but they have made many mistakes in the attack," he
said.
"If Vieri had not been so tired in the 92nd minute, he would have scored that
goal. We would be talking about a different result."
The referee is also the target of Corriere dello Sport's wrath.
The headline says: "The Killer Referee Takes the Azzurri Out of the World
Cup". A sub-head adds: "Thief".
Tuttosport had harsh words also for coach Giovanni Trapattoni, saying he
should not have settled for the one-goal advantage but pressed for a second to
kill off the game.
"Enough due to the referee and of Trap - Italy are out of the World Cup,"
the Turin-based sports daily said.
Corriere della Serra reminds readers that Italy had been on the receiving end
of bad calls before.
Twice against Croatia, Italy had goals disallowed for offside when the video
replay showed the linesmen were wrong.
"Azzurri eliminated by Korea in a dirty World Cup," it said.
La Repubblica summed up the feelings of all Italians with the headline:
"World Cup, farewell with rage."
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