It marked the first time the winner and runner-up from the previous World Cup had both failed to reach the second round and stunned four times winners Italy who looked shameful and shell-shocked after their miserable tournament.
Both European giants finished bottom in their groups.
"We played with our hearts and that's what decided the match today," Vittek said. "We couldn't have dreamt about this."
LIPPI'S FAREWELL
The defeat brought a sad end to Marcello Lippi's time as Italy coach and the international careers of captain Fabio Cannavaro and gritty midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.
"If a team turns up at such an important game like tonight with terror in their heart and their legs and is unable to express its ability, it's because the coach didn't train the team as he should," the ashen-faced coach said.
Gattuso joined the self-condemnation. "When we won the World Cup we all got given national medals of honour. Now they'll give us medals of shame, which is right," he told reporters.
"A lot of people thought we shouldn't be here and that we had amateurs who were not up to it," said coach Ricki Herbert. "But I think that's dead and buried now."
Italy's failure, including two draws prior to Thursday's loss, follows the spectacular flop of 2006 runners-up France.
France's team arrived home on Thursday with a heavy police guard to national disgust at both their miserable performance and an unseemly players' revolt.
