text: was australia robbed by the ref. in the final minutes against italy?   the postings about 'italy's robbery' are a fine example of modern psychology's phenomenon, the so-called causal attribution error, meaning that if something positive occurs, it's due to one's own action, but if something negative occurs, it's the other's fault...  the socceroos will definately overcome their loss against italy and yes, it was a penalty-worth foul (as per the fifa rules, a foul is considered worth a penalty if a player is obstructed by a member of the opponent team and it definately was an obstruction by the australian player), even though the ref's decision might me considered 'undecent', 10 seconds before the match might have gone into overtime...