Well from where I sat - a mere 20000 kms away at The Royal Oak in Windsor - I thought the game was very even.
Italy far from being 'pretty boys' as someone said, were in my opinion pretty good - not at all overrated. The Olyroos were also pretty good. I thought Emerton was tremendous closely followed by Colosimo. 0-0 would have been a fair result for both sides as neither deserved to lose.
Defensively I thought we looked pretty sound (Foxe's error apart). Milosevic made a couple of very good saves, Colosimo is destined for greatness and Laybutt was very solid. Foxe will hopefully learn the time to hoof it away (I wouldn't want him to stop playing the way he does but at 0-0 10 minutes to go in a big tournament with 1 man bearing down on you and another unmarked inside is not the time to be overplaying).
Central midfield worked their socks off but did give the ball away a little too easily and I expected a little more flair from Skoko. Emerton was fantastic. Unbelievable pace and stamina allied with no little skill - he is not a Kewell or Viduka in that regard but has improved a lot. I also thought Stan had a good game - a few poor first touches apart hopefully because he was a bit rusty - he looked dangerous getting down the left.
Up front Viduka showed his usual strength and good touches and was certainly the main threat as far as the Italians were concerned. They swarmed around him when he had the ball. Curcija benefited from this and also played well with lots of good running off the ball. It took a great save to deny his header in the first half.
All in all very promising - not only for this tournament but for the Socceroos as well as I would think perhaps 5 or 6 of these players will be in the first XI for the WC campaign.
A shame there was no Kewell - his class could well have made the difference.
I think we are capable of beating Nigeria and Honduras (actually a win and a draw may be sufficient as it was in Barcelona in '92).
Bring on Nigeria !!