Italy has gone through with a penalty-shot in the last second of the WOrld Cup.

Marcello LIPPI (ITA)
We were concerned about their high-tempo game and their tireless running, and because of that, we treated them with a lot of respect. We contained them very well in the first half and carved out three clear chances for ourselves. They had no chances to speak of. After the break, I brought on (Vincenzo) Iaquinta to speed things up a bit, but then we went down to ten men.

After that, the quality of our organisation and our spirit saw us through. We passed the ball well out of defence. Then at the end (Fabio) Grosso was superb and (Francesco) Totti perfect in tucking away the penalty. Let’s hope that gives him a lift. He had trouble lasting the distance against the Czechs, and that’s why I gave him a breather today. I intended bringing him on when the match had settled down and that’s what I did.

Guus HIDDINK (AUS)
I’m very disappointed with the loss, coming as it did as a result of a last-gasp goal, but I’m very proud of the way my players performed throughout the tournament and particularly against Italy. We started off saying to ourselves that we wanted to avoid penalty-kicks, but as things unfolded we would have taken them.

We wanted to play attractive, spectacular football, and we did. But in contrast to the Italians, we weren’t lethal enough in front of goal. The team tried their hardest and we can have no regrets.

Source: WCoffsite