The "Azzurri" advances to second Round, vs South Korea on Tuesday. June 18th.
One's anticipation must be very cautious, after watching Italy being outrun, 
outworked and outplayed by an overachieving Mexico, and salvaging a tie of 
1-1, with only 5 minutes left, by a "reserve".

Some would rush to point out that, not only did Italy have 2 "valid" goals 
disallowed in it's 3-2 "loss" to Croatia, but that incredibly, Filippo 
Inzaghi's 14th minute strike vs Mexico, appeared to be incorrectly ruled 
offside!

Mexico showed resilience, cohesion, and tenacity, and appears to be a vastly 
improved team to the one that lost to the US in April "tuneups", and will get 
a chance to prove it , Sunday, June 16 (at 11:30pm PT) vs the US.

Perhaps I'm thinking too far ahead, BUT if Italy beats South Korea, and US 
beats Mexico, and each team beats it's opponent after that, it would be an 
Italy vs US Semi Final !!!  Wouldn't that be sweet????  
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ITALY COMES TO A STANDSTILL ONCE AGAIN 
TO WATCH WORLD CUP SOCCER MATCH

Italy came to a practical standstill at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, as energy 
consumption records show, when the Italian soccer team made their entrance 
onto the soccer  field to play Mexico. 

Energy demand decreased at the beginning of the match and slumped during the 
second half when the national team was losing. 

In fact, between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., the consumption of energy went down to 
3,000 megawatts per hour. Energy consumption went back to normal when 
Italians, satisfied with the match results, went back to work. 
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TOKYO PRESS EXALTS ITALIAN WORLD CUP SOCCER HERO DEL PIERO
 
Japanese are big Azzurri (Italian soccer) fans and their press unanimously 
showed it today dedicating their front page to photos of Alex Del Piero 
scoring the goal that allowed Italy to advance to the quarterfinals (RAA: 
actually just the Second Round)
of the World Cup. 

"Italy struggled risking elimination like France and Argentina, but found its 
country's hero in Alessandro Del Piero," writes the popular Japanese national 
newspaper Yomiuri, adding that it would appear that "seven must be a magic 
number, because seven minutes after he entered the match the dispirited 
player got his smile back and restored peace of mind to a team barely hanging 
on."
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ITALY'S BOCELLI CONQUERS NEW YORK CITY AUDIENCE

Andrea Bocelli won over the New York audience at the Madison Square Garden at 
the first big concert in the Big Apple since Sept. 11. 

Attending the concert amid tight security were 15,000 people who paid up to 
$350 a ticket to see the Italian tenor and soprano Ana Maria Martinez 
perform. 

The program of lyric and Italian traditional music drew much applause and 
enthusiasm. Tenor Bocelli was making this public appearance in New York City 
on October 28, 2001, after his much-acclaimed summer 2000 performance at 
Liberty State Park with the spectacular city skyline including the World 
Trade Towers in the background. 

This time he sang Ave Maria in memory of the victims of Sept. 11 with the 
still-smoldering Ground Zero debris behind him.