Soccer: Shameless diving hard act to swallow

Fabio Cannavaro milks it for all it's worth during the All Whites versus Italy match. Photo / AP

The best divers will be in China for next year's World Diving Championships. If their divers are as good at it as their soccer players, the Italians must rate a decent chance.

Yet again the Italian players have been a blight on the beautiful game.

While Daniele De Rossi's effort - in persuading the referee he had been hacked down by young All Whites defender Tommy Smith in an act worthy of a penalty in yesterday's 1-1 thriller in Nelspruit - is not quite in the same class as Fabio Grosso's blatant effort in Germany four years ago, it further underlines the Italians' penchant for thumbing their collective noses at the call for fair play.

There might have been the slightest of tugs on De Rossi's shirt but certainly nothing to suggest Smith should have been penalised so harshly by Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres.

De Rossi, it appears, conned many more than just Batres - controlling his second match at the tournament after stepping in for the Algeria v Slovenia game on day two, just four days after his mother had died - with fans (presumably Italian) later voting him the man of the match.

In Kaiserslautern in 2006 Grosso won Italy a face-saving, match-winning 93rd-minute penalty with one of the most blatant acts of "simulation" ever seen.

With the scores locked at 0-0, Grosso charged into the Australian penalty area, tripped over prone Australian defender, now Socceroos captain, Lucas Neill and writhed on the ground as if he had been mown down by a bazooka.

Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo took the bait, pointed to the spot and watched as Francesco Totti booted home the last kick of the game.

Grosso later admitted he had "dived". Totti himself was no stranger to such antics, having been sent off for a second yellow card offence after his dive at the 2002 World Cup against South Korea, who went on to win 2-1 in extra time.

Fifa said they were determined to "toughen up" on simulation. There has been scant evidence of that so far but such incidents only strengthen the call for the use of television replays in such critical situations.

While no one would ever admit it openly, there has long been a suggestion that such calls will invariably go against the "underdog", with Fifa understandably keen to ensure the best teams progress.