Australians wake up to World Cup nightmare

Asia-Pacific News

Australians wake up to World Cup nightmare

Sydney, June 27 (DPA) A nation accustomed to cheering invincible sporting teams was inconsolable Tuesday after Italy bundled Australia out of its first World Cup finals in 32 years with the very last kick of a tense match in Kaiserslautern that ended 1-0.

Parents stayed in bed and children skipped school as mass depression took hold after two weeks of daydreaming about Matilda waltzing off with the World Cup.

'I'm broken hearted,' a grave Prime Minister John Howard told his countrymen. 'It's a very cruel way to lose, right on the knocker like that, but the team just played so bravely the whole match.'

Howard is one of millions of Australians recently baptised into the football faith after decades following the three different codes of rugby the nation excels in and which dominate sports coverage on television.

'To hold the Italians to 93 minutes without them scoring a goal, and then to have a penalty right on the knocker, that's about as tough and as disappointing as you can get,' the dejected prime minister said.

Howard's heartbreak was evident in a country where an astonishing 2.2 million of the 20 million population stayed up until the wee hours to watch the Socceroos try and get beyond the final 16. It was national broadcaster SBS's biggest audience since the tournament started and signalled the coming of age of the round ball game in Australia.

Jessica Carbone, one of an estimated 30,000 who had packed outdoor sites in chilly midwinter Melbourne to watch the big game, was crestfallen when substitute Francesco Totti slotted the ball into Mark Schwarzer's net to send her team homeward bound.

'I just feel robbed, I feel cheated. Australia had more possession, Australia played a better game,' she told AAP news agency.

The fans were dashed - and so were the players. 'We are really gutted,' Australian Football Federation chief executive John O'Neil said in Kaiserslautern. 'Sport can be very cruel, but today it was excruciatingly cruel. The dressing room was incredibly sad, lots of tears.'

For captain Mark Viduka and several veteran Socceroos, the loss against Italy signifies a last World Cup appearance. They will be too old for South Africa in 2010. The team has also lost its coach, Dutch master Guus Hiddink, who moves to the Russian bench.

In the dressing rooms in Kaiserslautern, as O'Neill attested, there was very little stomach for August's Asian Cup preliminary round match against Kuwait.

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Australians wake up to World Cup nightmare