KAISERLAUTERN, Germany - No time for a comeback in this game.

Australia, which made the World Cup via a penalty-kick shootout against Uruguay, exited the tournament Monday at the painful end of a penalty decision in second-half injury time.

After Francesco Totti converted the kick in the 95th minute, the whistle blew for a 1-0 second-round win for Italy, ending the Socceroos’ valiant World Cup run — and their first participation in the tournament in 32 years.

“We should still be in this World Cup,” said forward Tim Cahill.

“There’s no words to describe how we feel at the moment,” added midfielder Jason Culina. “Last-second penalty and it wasn’t even a penalty.”

Coach Guus Hiddink showed his class by walking over and shaking the hand of Spanish referee Luis Medina, who awarded the penalty. Coincidentally, Medina was in charge of the Uruguay game that advanced Australia into the tournament.

Then Hiddink consoled his players and led them to a corner of the stadium where the Australian fans were massed.

He said later the penalty was unwarranted, but took the high road.

“We are very disappointed because we were so close, but I can be proud of the way they placed, “ said Hiddink, who now leaves to take over the Russian national team. “It’s the way the world loves to see a team play.”

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Back in the dressing room, his players watched replay after replay of the penalty decision. Italy’s Fabio Grosso beat Marco Bresciano in the corner and then sped into the penalty box, where he toppled over defender Lucas Neill, who had fallen already.

“It just looked like he dived over him. Didn’t look like there was any contact,” said defender Scott Chipperfield.

Cahill was incensed, saying the Italian should have been yellow-carded for diving.

“I just can’t believe it, mate,” said Cahill. “We play all our lives to be honest on the pitch and to work hard and I suppose these days you fall over on the pitch and get a penalty, free kick whatever. It’s disappointing.

“I’m furious. It’s unbelievable. The luck we’ve had with refereeing decisions this World Cup, everything’s been against us.”

Forward John Aloisi tried to be diplomatic about the call.

“I don’t really want to say too much, because I have that referee in Spain,” said the forward, who plays for Alaves.

Neill did not speak to reporters.

“Of course he’s devastated,” said goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. “But then obviously once he saw it on TV, he thought, ’Well hang on, there’s nothing I could have done about it.’ Because it wasn’t a foul.”

The Australians have had some legitimate complaints. Against Japan, Egyptian referee Essam Abd El Fattah apologized to Schwarzer during the game for not calling a foul on a play that resulted in a Japanese goal. The Australians rallied to win 3-1.

Harry Kewell went after German referee Markus Merk following the 2-0 Brazil loss, irate at his performance.

And in the 2-2 tie with Croatia, English referee Graham Poll gave a Croatian player three yellows before eventually sending him off.

“They look after the big nations,” Chipperfield said. “They want the big nations through to the semis and finals. It’s always the way.”

And he pointed to other refereeing controversies at the tournament.

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“A lot of the games, everyone’s talking about the referee, which shouldn’t be the way. They should be talking about how good the game is. Not the refereeing. It’s something that needs to be looked at.”

But the Australian players also praised Italy for battling when down to 10 men and said the Socceroos had their chances.

The Australians played without Kewell, who was on crutches with a bout of gout.

“He’s in a lot of pain. He can’t walk,” said Chipperfield.

Kewell started against Japan and Croatia, came off the bench against Brazil, but trained little in the days leading to the Italy game because of a lingering groin injury.

The Australians were comeback kings in the first round, rallying to beat Japan and tie Croatia in group play. They did it the hard way, leading in only one match — against Japan — and that didn’t happen until the 89th minute.

“We’ve done ourselves proud and I think the whole of Australia is proud of us,” said Aloisi. “And the world’s taken notice that we’re no mugs, that we can compete with anyone.”