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Italian team outraged by a World Cup marked by questionable calls

Updated: Tuesday June 18, 2002 01:48 p.m. ET


DAEJEON, South Korea (AP) -- Seething Italian players marched out of their locker room after their stunning loss to South Korea on Tuesday, saying they were unfairly knocked out of the World Cup after suffering lousy refereeing throughout the tournament.

An early penalty, a red card and a disallowed goal were among the decisions that went against Italy on Tuesday. In their previous two matches, they had four goals disallowed, with at least three appearing questionable on video replay.

"The World Cup started like this for us and kept on in the same direction," Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni said after the match. "Inability and low attention in the end caused a disaster like this.

"We go out with our heads held high, but with a lot of recriminations," he said. "If we talk about who should have won today, I'd say it should be Italy."

South Korean coach Guus Hiddink said there were mistakes, but not grave ones. Tuesday's match was officiated by Ecuadorean Byron Moreno.

"Overall, I think the referee did a normal job with a few errors," he said. "I don't think they came in decisive moments."

Italy suffered a penalty in the fourth minute on Tuesday. Goalie Gianluigi Buffon miraculously saved it, but the Italians' bad luck didn't end there.

Numerous yellow cards followed -- many of which were for tussling that many referees would not have punished as strongly. Then, in the 111th minute, midfielder Damiano Tommasi put the ball in, but was called offside.

"I was perplexed by the call," Tomassi said.

Perhaps for good reason. Television replays suggested that Tommasi was onside when the ball was passed to him.

Goalie Buffon despaired.

"It was the last act of a run that we conducted well, suffering, giving all we had, sweating blood," he said. "I think that again we lost because of certain episodes that I saw in a different way."

In extra time, key playmaker Francesco Totti fell in the penalty area, and referee Byron Moreno of Ecuador reached for the yellow, believing the AS Roma star had dived. But the ref apparently forgot when making that decision that Totti had received a yellow earlier in the match and therefore had to be sent off.

It was only on the prompting of the Korean players that he pulled out the red.

"We have to turn the page, think about our vacations, and forget about it all," Totti said. "Unfortunately not because of us, but because of the refs."

In Italy's second group-stage match, a 2-1 loss to Croatia, they had two goals controversially disallowed. The first came when striker Christian Vieri headed one in only to be ruled offside -- a call that appeared incorrect on replays.

The second disallowed goal in that match came three minutes into injury time, with Italy trailing 2-1. Defender Marco Materazzi hoofed a long pass from beyond the halfway mark. The ball bounced into attacker Filippo Inzaghi's path, and then hopped over his foot into the goal.

The officials ruled that Inzaghi had pulled down a challenging defender -- again a highly debated call.

In the team's last group match against Mexico, Inzaghi put another one in the net only to have it annulled as offside again _ a ruling that the team later denounced. Then, Montella scored but was ruled offside.

"We have to take a close look at what happened in this World Cup," striker Alessandro Del Piero said. "I'm not one who complains about the refs. I don't want to do it now. But looking at the whole match, it bears a close look."

Italian soccer federation officials will be taking a close look once they get back to Italy.

"It's upsetting to leave so early," said soccer federation president Franco Carraro. "In Italy, after a break and in the right place, we'll examine this."

However, he indicated that Italy would not try to appeal -- an act that would not change the result.

"We're out of the World Cup and nothing's going to change that," he said.

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