Substitute Alessandro Del Piero saved Italy's blushes today as he netted a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Mexico which ensured that the three-time world champions stayed in the World Cup.
The one point saw Mexico win the group with seven points while Italy took second place with four.
Croatia fell to a shock defeat at the hands of Ecuador, ending their chances of qualification. Croatia and Ecuador both finished on three points.
In their defeat against Croatia, Italy had two goals disallowed in controversial circumstances and amazingly the same thing happened again with two more chalked off for offside.
But there was more controversy in the final minutes as both sides stood off one another in the knowledge they were headed for the last 16.
Mexico soaked up huge amounts of typically patient Italian pressure before stunning their rivals by going into the lead with a Jared Borgetti goal on 34 minutes, the striker flicking a header past Gianluigi Buffon from Cuauhtemoc Blanco's centre for his second goal of the tournament.
Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni threw on his last card in Juventus golden boy Del Piero for Francesco Totti with 13 minutes remaining and he saved the day with his late contribution.
AFP