Quote Originally Posted by dragoonknight_kain
The ref only gave the penalty because he knew he had made a mistake by sending off Materazzi(sp). He was afraid of blundering against Italy again, so he gave the penalty. There's no way he didn't see that Grosso tripped on Neill.
I dunno. Materazzi's (sp?? xD) challenge was pretty bad. And to be quite honest, I didn't see that Grosso had fallen over Neill until the replay from a different angle, and the referee only saw it once.

I agree with Cz -- Neill was sterling throughout the game, and he didn't deserve that. But good of Grosso to press on.