Live from Germany

Australia and Switzerland pay the penalty as Ukraine join Italy in last 8

World Cup newcomers Ukraine will meet Italy in a quarter-final on Friday after penalty kicks decided both matches on another day of tournament drama in Germany.

The Ukraine who are playing at their first ever World Cup defeated Switzerland 3-0 in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of action failed to produce a goal.

A tense encounter in Cologne see-sawed back and forth but neither team had the cutting edge or extra magic to conjure up the winning goal before the dreaded penalty shootout was needed to determine a winner.

Man of the match Oleg Gusiev fired home the winning penalty to set off wild Ukraine celebrations.

Earlier in the day, Italy had a Spanish referee to thank after his generous decision to award a penalty with 20 seconds on the clock allowed under-fire striker Francesco Totti to return to hero status and send the Aussies home gutted after a magnificent showing.

Totti, who had come on as a substitute for Alessandro Del Piero after 75 minutes, fired a nerveless spot-kick high and left, leaving Mark Schwarzer no chance though he dived the right way.

The Italians can be thankful to still be in the competition after surviving a second half onslaught from the unlucky Aussies following the 51st minute sending-off of Marco Materazzi.

"Now let the critics talk about me. Up till now they have massacred me. I am sure now they won't be happy," penalty hero Totti said.

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said that Australia had been unlucky but had to accept they should have taken their chances.

"We put the Italians under a lot of pressure. I'd say we were clearly the better team today. The problem was we didn't score a goal and, with the extra man after the sending off we should have taken our chance."

It was a gut wrenching way for the Aussies to exit the tournament with the match heading to extra-time Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo ruled the wily Fabio Grosso had been fouled by hapless Aussie defender Lucas Neill.

After soaking up waves of Australian attacks and supported by world class goalkeeping from Gianluigi Buffon, Italy struck at the death in arguably the most dramatic match of the tournament so far.

Italy will now Ukraine on Friday as the second of the quarter-final matchups is decided.

On Tuesday, Brazil put their crown on the line against Ghana with the winner to meet either Spain or France who meet in the evening match.