Gutted

It had to end sooner or later, although it is a heartbreaking way to go out. There were eight seconds of normal time left when the clumsy Italian striker Grosso found an excuse to throw himself to the ground.

The referee pointed to the spot immediately, it was a brave decision. And under awful pressure, Totti stepped up to slot the ball home and bury the dreams of the plucky Socceroos.

So Australia’s first real world cup adventure is over. They feel cheated, angry and gutted. Even the many Italians here don’t know what to think. While they are delighted to progress as Italians, they are distraught that it had be Australia that lost.

But as a football nation Australia now has a history and a touchstone, a point of focus or, if you like, their very own ‘Hand Of God’ moment. Every serious footy nation needs one, today Australia has graduated.

In truth, Australia never looked like scoring, even after Italy had a man harshly sent off. As for the penalty…I don’t think they can complain. Lucas Neill has had a brilliant world cup which might land him a transfer to Barcelona, but it was naïve for a defender to go to ground in the box like that.

If the boot was on the other foot and Australia had been denied such a penalty, they would be equally outraged. Italy were slightly the better of two teams lacking an edge. The result was probably right, it was just the timing which was devastating.

So super coach Guus Hiddink now leaves Oz to take a job with Russia as possibly the best paid coach in the world now. He will take this accolade away from the worthy Sven.

From here it seems that SuperGuus has turned an ordinary bunch of players into a spirited and purposeful outfit. I believe this ability to create something greater than the sum of the parts is called synergy.

The opposite is called Svenergy.