KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany (AP) – The Socceroos were tough on Italy. The referee was tougher on Australia.

Another questionable call in this World Cup showed Italy the way to the quarterfinal Monday, giving the Italians a penalty kick that Francesco Totti converted for the 1-0 win as time expired.

Moments earlier, Italy’s Fabio Grosso was dribbling a few strides from the goalmouth when Lucas Neill slid in front of him. The Italian cut in Neill’s direction and tried to leap clear, but tripped over the defender’s back.

To the amazement of the Socceroos, Spanish referee Luis Medina immediately ruled it a penalty with 12 seconds remaining in extra time.

Totti, a second-half substitute, sent his penalty kick high and to the right of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who guessed correctly but couldn’t stretch far enough to stop it. With no time left to restart, the Italians started celebrating.

“We suffered but we gave them no chances,” said Italy coach Marcello Lippi, whose team plays Friday in the quarterfinals against Ukraine. “This is an incredible joy.”

There was no joy for the Socceroos, whose howls of protest over the call gave way to head-shaking and resignment.

“I just can’t believe it, mate,” Australian forward Tim Cahill said. “We play all our lives to be honest on the pitch and to work hard and I suppose these days you fall over on the pitch and get a penalty, free kick whatever. It’s disappointing.

I’m furious. It’s unbelievable. The luck we’ve had with refereeing decisions this World Cup. Everything’s been against us.”

About the only people in the Fritz-Walter-Stadion who thought Grosso was fouled were the Italians – and Medina.

With a match-fixing scandal rumbling along back home, only Italy could come up with this scenario – though there was no suggestion of any skullduggery here. Only more suggestions of a bad decision by the referee.

“It’s cruel, very cruel,” Australian striker Mark Viduka said. “This was a game where we really dominated. We had the feeling that if the game went into extra time we were going to beat them.”

It was another match filled with yellow cards and one ejection – a growing trend at this World Cup. The red card against Marco Materazzi was the 24th in this tournament, already a record with 11 matches left.

The ejection gave the Australians a man advantage for the last 40 minutes of the game, but Australia couldn’t capitalize.

“I never feared being eliminated,” Lippi said. “We still had the extra time, the penalties. We had had scoring chances, four or five, and even when we were down to ten players, we remained well organized. Italy has shown a great heart.”

It was the Australians who showed that a team ranked just 42nd in the world – in just its second World Cup, its first since 1974 – could compete with traditional soccer powers. In Germany, the Australians scored their first World Cup goals (five total), their first victory (3-1 over Japan) and riveted a nation that stayed up late and partied later when the Socceroos played.

Winger Harry Kewell, man of the match in the 2-2 draw with Croatia that earned Australia a place in the final 16, missed the game with what turned out to be gout in his foot. He supported himself with crutches as he watched from the bench.

Ukraine 0, Switzerland 0,

COLOGNE, Germany – The idea is to put the ball in the net, not just keep it out. Ukraine figured that out a lot quicker than Switzerland in the shootout Monday night.

And the World Cup newcomers are headed to the quarterfinals because of it.

After 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi didn’t have to work very hard in the shootout, either. The Swiss misses came right at him, and another shot clanged off the crossbar.

The Swiss, who did not yield a goal in the entire tournament, stood stunned at their lack of marksmanship from the penalty spot in the first shootout of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Artem Milevskiy, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleg Gusev hit the net after Ukraine star Andriy Shevchenko’s weak, low shot was stopped by Switzerland goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuehler. The Ukrainians mobbed each other in a pile after the 3-0 shootout win, which put them in a match Friday against Italy at Hamburg.

The Ukrainian capital of Kiev erupted in celebration Tuesday, with fans spilling out of bars shouting “Ukrania!” and drivers leaning on their horns in the early morning hours.

Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin chose to start the shootout with his top scorer, but Shevchenko’s shot was poor.

Marco Streller’s effort for Switzerland was worse – low and directly at Shovkovskyi.

And after Milevskiy scored, Barnetta hit the crossbar. Rebrov made it 2-0 and Ricardo Cabanas looked almost amateurish on his shot directly into the middle of the goal – and again, right at the Ukranian goalkeeper.

Then Gusev powered his winner into the left side of the net.

“We put in a good performance and I hope all of Switzerland is still behind us. Football is sometimes hard, but we gained a lot of experience for Euro 2008 in our own country,” defender Ludovic Magnin said.

Each team came close to scoring in the first half, hitting the crossbar.

In the 21st minute, Shevchenko dived to head the ball from 8 yards. The ball bounced down to the ground and up onto the crossbar before being cleared.

Three minutes later, Switzerland’s Alexander Frei shot from 20 yards and the ball bounced off the bar.

In the 34th, Switzerland’s Johan Djourou, who started for injured defender Philippe Senderos, was himself taken off. Djourou was replaced by Stephane Grichting.

Shevchenko also got close in the 68th, chesting the ball, then dribbling to get through the Swiss defense before discharging a powerful left-footed shot from the edge of the area. It narrowly missed the right post.

In another close call, Swiss Ludovic Magnin sent a free kick onto the roof of the net in the 73rd minute.

“It’s not that we play defensive football, we played how we’ve always played,” Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn said. “But it’s also true we have high-quality young defenders, which is why we allowed no goals throughout the tournament. Of course, that doesn’t help us now.”

AP-ES-06-26-06 1858EDT