I will recognize that last call on which Chiellini obtained the foul was quite ridiculous, but to be honest the referee made some dodgy decisions during the entire game, and they went both ways. Especially with regards to fouls: a given time a slight touch on the shoulder would be called as a foul and 2 minutes later, on a blatantly deliberate shoulder charge he’d wave play on.

However in all seriousness, to all those that are even contesting whether Di Natale’s goal was valid and Ferguson’s goal was offside, do us all a favor: get some prescription glasses and please stop driving your car for a while, we’ll all feel safer.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/italy/sco-ita.html

“Italy hit the back of the net for a second time, but it was disallowed for an incorrect offside position. Toni, Camoranesi and Di Natale combined as a series of ricochets finally saw Di Natale blast in from six yards, but the linesman disallowed the goal for offside. Replays show the Udinese star was kept in play by the Scottish defence when Gordon parried Massimo Ambrosini’s effort into his path.”

During the game, I heard Fabio Capello use the term “fuorigiuoco” (offsides) a few times after Di Natale’s annulled goal. Donadoni said the same thing to the BBC in English after the game. Last night, there was a video on their site with his comments.

I also heard, as I’m certain that you did, different commentary about the game from McFadden and Mr. McLeish.

I agree with you Steve, Italy are worthy World Champions, but I had not believed it since I saw the game last night. They are a team who refuse to lose, unlike Brazil who is usually the team that scores more goals. Fair play to Italy who played a relatively clean game (given the standards they have set from games such as that against France).

I know this does not mean much for the Scots after they have just been sent out of the competition, but they have played on Saturday better than England have played in the past five years and they deserved, more than any other team, to be in Austria/Switzerland next sumemr. Like Dan said, “hang your heads high”!

If you look again at Barry Ferguson’s goal, he was in an offsides position. It has already been noted that Di Natale was onsides. When asked about the call that produced Panucci’s goal at the death, both of these points were raised by Mister Donadoni during his interviews with the BBC and RAI.

I agree that England and Italy would be sorely missed from an economic perspective. But one call by the referee does not determine a game. Mr. Gonzalez made several that were questionable on either side of equation. There were 45 fouls whistled in this match: 27 against the Scots, and 18 against the Italians. Given what was at stake, there was a great display of fair play by both sides. Surely, as fans, we look at a big call and want to paint the entire game by that stroke. Panucci easily could have scored three minutes before, and the free kick that didn’t go Scotland’s way would have been moot.

Shots on goal were 17 (10 on target for Italy) to 13 (7 on target for Scotland). Ball possession was 50/50. Scotland had 6 corners to 4 for the Azzurri.

Scotland beat France twice, who are rated number 3 by http://www.eloratings.net/. Not many teams, including Italy, have done that recently. Italy hasn’t defeated France in normal time since 1978. As Donadoni also noted, 24 points was a significant accomplishment from this tough group.

Scotland’s resurgence, along with their great supporters, have given world football a fine example at a time when we need it. Italy demonstrated that they are worthy World Champions, and won for the first time on Scottish soil.

Great game report, Marco.

(i) they punished the scots for their sloppy defending for the first goal. If a team concedes a goal 68 SECONDS into the first half at home then it shows that they can’t handle the pressure of a big game, there should be no excuses for that. Luca Toni must have been pinching himself after that golden opportunity!

(ii) Italy had a perfectly good goal disallowed even though the scorer was onside. It would have been an injustice had they not won the match.

At the end the Scots were ROBBED, not by the Italians, but by UEFA, who desperately have to have Italy and Engalnd at Euro 2008, otherwise, their revenue will be cut by a couple of million euros… disaster! Can you imagine?

Italy and England do not deserve to qualify, but one of them already has sealed a place and I fear (‘I’ being an England fan) that the other will qualify too, breaking even more hearts.

Theres still WC 2010 and Euro 2012..