I agree that Italy has excellent defenders, they have always had excellent defenders. But at the same time Australia has poor strikers. Australia lacked the finishing touch. They had most of the possession of the ball ( check the stats on the game - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...06/5103890.stm ), but again, like in all their matches they did not know how to put it in the back of the net. They do all the hard work of getting the ball up there and then fail at the vital step. They failed to looked threatening, while Italy looked threatening the times they got the ball.

I think with the right coach and a change of mental attitude, Australia will be football force in years to come, and having reached this far, it will definatley get more kids/teenagers playing.

Btw, Christian VIERI ( though I don't think he plays for the national team anymore, though be played in the last world cup ) actually grew up in Australia, but his father saw that he had talent and moved back to Italy for him to develop his football talent, because at the time Australia did not take football seriously.