Francesco Totti: Mr. Indecision

Francesco Totti does his best to endear himself to the Italian people yet again:

I tifosi vogliono sapere quando tornerò in azzurro, ma prima bisogna vedere se.... Tra me e Donadoni non c'è stato niente di particolare, ma non so ancora se tornerò in Nazionale. La finale di Berlino potrebbe essere stata la mia ultima partita con l'Italia.

"The fans want to know when I will return to the national team, but first I need to see.... Between me and Donadoni there are no specifics, but I don't know whether I will return again to the national team. The [world cup] final in Berlin could have been my last match with Italy."

Enough with this. Play or don't. If I were in Donadoni's postion, I would call him up for the next Euro 2008 qualifiers, and if he doesn't show, that's the end for him. All of the other stars, not only in Italy but throughout Europe and the world, perform their duty to their national teams with pride and without complaint. Only the most extenuating (and therefore temporary) circumstances earn players reprieve from NT duty. Of course, all players have the right to retire from their respective national teams. But when you're done, you're done. Totti had better be done.

Romanisti di merda attack Olimpiacos fans

From Gazzetta.it:

Un gruppo composto di dieci persone, a quanto si è appreso tifosi romanisti, con i volti coperti, sono entrati la notte scorsa intorno all'1.45 in un albergo di via Gregorio XI dove alloggiavano supporter dell'Olympiakos. Una volta nella hall dell'hotel ci sono stati momenti di tensione: un tifoso greco, che era con altri connazionali, è stato ferito con 5 tagli alla coscia destra. Il tifoso, di 32 anni, è stato soccorso e trasportato all'Aurelia Hospital. Danneggiati anche alcuni arredi e suppellettili della hall dell'albergo e infranta una vetrata esterna. Sono intervenuti i carabinieri.

"A group made up of ten people, who were discovered to be Romanisti, with covered faces, entered a hotel on Via Gregorio XI last night at 1:45 where supporters of Olimpiacos were lodged. At one point in the hall of the hotel there was a moment of tension: a Greek fan, who was with other compatriots, was wounded with five cuts on his right leg. The fan, 32 years old, was treated and transported to Aurelia Hospital. Also some furniture of the hotel hall was damaged and an external window was broken. The carabinieri intervened."

Truly deplorable behavior from the Romanisti. While Lazio has its own problems with the arrests of IRR leaders, they have not been implicated in something as awful as deliberately seeking out opponents' supporters and attacking them.

Oh, and they almost lost their match to the Greeks anyway.

Oddo bashes Totti

Ah, one of our favorite Laziali does what we love to do best: bash Roma, and especially F***ing Totti. His statement made to the media today:

Io stimo moltissimo i giocatori che sono sempre disponibili con la Nazionale, la maglia azzurra secondo me è la massima aspirazione per un giocatore. Se uno dice non torno più in Nazionale, nessuno può permettersi di dire qualcosa. Dire invece 'Per adesso non torno, poi vediamo', per me è una mancanza di rispetto per la Nazionale. Se Totti ha deciso di non vestire la maglia azzurra, lo sa lui e avrà i suoi motivi. Ma dovrebbe prendere una decisione.

"I think very much that the players should always be available for the national team. According to me the azzuro jersey is the highest aspiration for a player. If someone says that he will no longer return to the national team, nobody can say anything about it. Instead to say 'For now I'm not coming back, we'll see later,' to me that is a lack of respect for the national team. If Totti has decided not to wear the azzurro jersey, he knows himself and has his own reasons. But he needs to make a decision."

Amen, Massimo! You've just gained back many points of Lazialità. Forza Oddo, Forza Lazio a domenica contro il Milan!!!

Roma forgets to play second half; gets angry, gives up game winner and man advantage in extra time

Apparently our good friends AS Roma decided that after opening up a 3-0 lead in just over a half hour and going into halftime at 3-1 in the Supercoppa Italia, the proper locker room adjustment was to crack open una birra and sing "We Are the Champions" despite the fact that they don't know the words. Oh, and this other little fact that there was still 45 minutes of calcio to be played.

Inter decided to come back out and actually try, and in 20 minutes ex-Laziale Hernan Crespo had found the header off of a Stankovic cross through a lolligagging Roma defense. Only three minutes later, the gazzetta.it cronaca had this wonderfully pithy summary of how Roma was (not) playing:

23' Roma molto stanca, gara apertissima.

"Roma is very tired, the game is wide open." And despite a persisting one goal deficit, it was indeed wide open. Roma for some reason thought they were still coasting, pulling two of their starters (Taddei out at 21', F***ing Totti out at 27') and oops...with 16 minutes left suddenly it's tied 3-3. Had they got the wakeup call yet? Apparently not, as Gazzetta's Riccardo Pratesi notes:

32' Roma sulle gambe, l'Inter continua ad attaccare.

"Roma is on their knees, Inter continues to attack." Well, it took the remaining 16 minutes (including the 3 of recupero) for the Romanisti to get the message. Now it's time for "Roma angry, Roma smash!" Instead of directing this frustration over how miserably they played the second half towards an effort at scoring in extra time, they instead use it to foul Inter at the top of the box. Figo converts the resulting free kick and suddenly--where did this come from?--Roma is losing! Now you've really crossed them. Smart man Chivu decides to mock the official, because this will solve the whole problem. He sees red and Inter coasts 25 minutes to a 4-3 win, having scored 4 unanswered goals. Bravo Inter, stupida Roma.