akalai said:
Haha... yeah Francesco, poor Italy... so hard done by. Watch out, it's another conspiracy against Italy just like in 2002, anyone and everyone is out to get Italy!
"It was a scandal. The truth is that he [Moreno] had his mind set against us... this was a desired elimination. By who? I don't know... there are things greater than me, but the feeling is that they wanted us out." Francesco Totti, 2002
"I said that it would be tough, that we had additional opposition. I am not talking about a plot but about an additional opposition." Giovanni Trapattoni, 2002
...there are more than enough crazy X Files-esque type comments like these around from 2002...but I guess had the roles been reversed and Italy had been on the receiving end of this penalty call against Australia it would be due to some conspiracy or other??? Ofcourse!
I was not referring to bias from the referees, but screaming about Grosso's half dive (even the comments on the link you provided mostly agree that it was a penalty) and ignoring completely Bresciano dive that sent Materazzi off seems a bit hypocritical to me.
About 2002 it was a different story, Totti sent off without committiong a foul, a perfectly good goal disallowed for an non existing offside, and the Korean players that literally got away with murder were seen (and commented on) even by Blatter.
from wikipedia:
"In the 2002 World Cup, Italy was eliminated by co-host country South Korea in the round of sixteen. The match was marked by controversy, as referee Byron Moreno gave Francesco Totti a second yellow card in extra time for an alleged dive, and disallowed an Italian goal. Replays seemed to indicate both that the card was unfounded and the goal was legal, but the decisions stood and South Korea won 2-1, again with a golden goal in extra time."
If then you look at Spain Korea on the successive turn of the same world cup, and the doubt that the koreans made some nice presents to the referees is more than justified.
And about Moreno and his reliability as a referee, still from Wikipedia:
"In September 2002, Moreno, while a candidate in October elections for places on the Quito city council, was suspended for twenty matches[4] and investigated by Ecuadorian soccer authorities and FIFA[5] after a match he officiated between Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito and Barcelona Sporting Club from Guayaquil. With Liga de Quito trailing 3–2 at the end of the match, Moreno signalled six minutes of stoppage time, then allowed play to continue for thirteen minutes, during which Liga de Quito scored to tie the game in the 99th minute, then won the game in the 101st minute. Moreno was also accused of falsifying the minutes in which Liga de Quito scored their tying and winning goals in his official match report.
In May 2003, in his third game back from his suspension, Moreno was again suspended, for one match, after he sent off three players from visiting Deportivo Quito in a 1–1 draw at Deportivo Cuenca.[6] He retired the following month, blaming low marks for his performances."
