You know I completely agree with you about the 06 and 78 world cups. I watched the Italy-Australia game and in my mind the Aussies outplayed the Italians, just look at the time of possession in that game and ignore the shot count (the majority of the italian shots were from very long distances so they were easy for the keeper to handle). The Aussies put so much pressure and their defense was impressive, to say the least I can't believe that game was resolved by a bloody penalty kick. As for the Final, France had a much more difficult route knocking out three tough competitors in Spain, Brazil, and Portugal and played better in the final then Italy, no question in my mind that if they abandoned the Penalty shoot out solution and continued playing until one team score, France would have won.
As for the 78 cup, I had heard about that controversy only recently and was intrigued, though Argentina needed four goals (not six as you mentioned). It's intersting to note that Brazil finished third place without having lost a single match. So the Brazilians were robbed. I think the Peruvian team that lost 6-0 was fairly susceptible to crowd violence if they had put forth a stronger effort, I suppose that's the advantage of home field.
