It’s a good thing I’m a Roma fan, otherwise I’d call Il Capitano overconfident for making a claim like this.  Since I am a Roma fan, however, I’ll call him ballsy and quietly hope that Inter don’t use his words as motivation.  Here’s my best translation of Er Pupone’s words, taken from here:

Interviewer: “You win playing beautiful football, but Inter runs…”

Totti: “I believe that for the Scudetto, there’s now an Inter-Roma dual, with all respect to the others…”

Interviewer: “Totti, but who will win the tri-color?”

Totti: “Of course, Roma. Inter will only be second.” 

Il Capitano also answered a bizarre question about the Pope, of whom he apparently has a very high opinion, as well as one about fan violence, which he (of course) condemned.  The latter question was a follow-on to incidents taking place at Sunday’s Roma-Catania match in which three Catania supporters were stabbed. (None of the wounds were serious, thankfully.  Actually, if I had to guess, I’d wager to say that they were stabs to the ass.  Yes, I’m serious.  Maybe somebody in the know can back me up on that.)

Alright.  That’s all for today.  (Life outside serieAmerica calls.) Remember though, tomorrow Coppa Italia continues, and of course, if you’re on this side of the pond you may find yourself scrambling for an alternate means of viewing the matches.  That said, ESPN360 claims to cover Coppa Italia, although I haven’t tried to use it yet.  If anybody tries it, post a comment!

I’m referring to the World Cup 2010 qualification fixtures, of course! They were announced today, but in my opinion, it’s really too early to discuss a set of matches beginning in September when there’s the little matter of the Euro 2008 tournament between now and then. (By the way, Euro 2008 is just 143 days away, in case you’re wondering. Yes, I agree that it sure as $*!# is soon.) Since it is too friggin’ early to really get into it, I’ll just list the fixtures. If you really want to go nuts analyzing, you can refer back to my post-draw… um… post.

September 6, 2008 – Cyprus (Away)
September 10, 2008 – Georgia (Home)
October 11, 2008 – Bulgaria (Away)
October 15, 2008 – Montenegro (Home)
March 28, 2009 – Montenegro (Away)
April 1, 2009 – Republic of Ireland (Home)
September 5, 2009 – Georgia (Away)
September 9, 2009 – Bulgaria (Home)
October 10, 2009 – Republic of Ireland (Away)
October 14, 2009 – Cyprus (Home)

OK. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the events that are a bit more current.

First of all, Maniche is now at Inter, and Lucarelli is finally at Parma. Done. Finito. I’m not discussing it anymore until they play.

Other than that, it’s all about Coppa Italia, as we’ve started the second leg of the Round of 16. Here are the standings (leaders in green):

Udinese – Palermo and Fiorentina – Ascoli are pretty straightforward. Win the second leg, and you’re through.

Udine probably has a tougher test than Fiorentina though, as Palermo are probably still licking their wounds from this past weekend’s Sampdoria match, and will therefore be extra motivated. Compare that to Fiorentina, who face a side currently sitting in 11th place… in Serie B. Um… yeah.

As for Milan – Catania, I see Milan pulling through. Ancelotti says he’s playing resting some of his 37 Brazilians, which means that Gilardino has a chance to show that he can hang.

Reggina – Inter. [sarcasm]Gosh. I wonder![/sarcasm] To be honest, Inter got lucky this weekend, and it’s possible that they might eek through on good fortune again, but even if Reggina manage to upset Inter in this leg, it’s not like they’ll upset them by a four-goal margin. If they do, I promise a nice, big Reggina tribute post.

Looking at Torino – Roma… man, what a cr@p situation for Roma! Torino will be looking to get their act together after this weekend’s loss to Livorno, and they hold the advantage. Not that Spalletti ever rotates the squad anyway, but I don’t think Roma will rest anybody; I’m expecting Totti-Perrotta-Aquilani-De Rossi to light it up in front of a home crowd.

As for Cagliari – Sampdoria, who the hell knows? On one side, you have a head case who storms off the pitch while cursing out his teammates and balling his eyes out, and on the other side, you have a guy that rolls with chair-throwing henchmen. Damnit, I love calcio.

Lazio – Napoli. This is the official Battle of the Troubled Teams, I think. Lazio just can’t seem to get anything right this season, while Napoli have had to endure piles of trash and Samba-dancing trident attacks. I wouldn’t touch this one with a 10-foot pole. (Hey UK readers – Do you guys use that expression?)

Of course, Empoli – Juventus is over, and Juve came away with the victory (though Raineri is understandably not a happy camper), which means they’ll probably end up facing Inter next round.

Call the neighbors! Wake the family! Empoli, who are currently hanging out at the very bottom of the Serie A table with a goal differential of -13 (as in negative 13), have defeated Juventus in a Coppa Italia match!

To be fair to Juventus, I should note that A) the Bianconeri were without Buffon, Camoranesi, Trezuguet, Nedved, Chiellini, and Zanetti (although Del Piero and Palladino were started), and B) Empoli will probably receive a beat down like no other when the two teams face eachother in the January 16 return leg in Turin.

Nonetheless, congratulations to Empoli, who will henceforth be taken a little more seriously.

Capello to England?

Those visiting serieAmerica from the UK (and yes, there are some who do so regularly) probably know more about this next gem than do I.

I thought that after their last non-English coach, the FA had learned its lesson, but apparently, they’re still courting a non-Englishman for the vacant spot at the helm of the English National Team.

Anyway, I am surprised to see that Capello is still in the running for the job; I expected the English to pick one of their own for the post this time around.

What’s the deal, my English friends? Do you seriously want Capello?  While he’s a good coach, I didn’t think he was your type, especially after Sven!