England manager Fabio Capello breezed into the school of excellence at Coverciano on Monday with the air of authority that comes from having won everything there is in the club game. He was there to give an inspirational speech to the school's students who want to follow in his footsteps.

Instead, Capello launched an unexpected and scathing attack on the state of Italian football, telling the assembled audience that the game on the peninsula is now being held hostage by the Ultrás.

I knew it would be tough.But by age or by lack of fire in our belly or Lippi forgot how to coach, Italy have simply been awful in this Confederations cup. I doubt Lippi forgot how to coach.So lets not engage that confused thinking.Instead it could be as simple as lacking a fire combined with old age.

L'albero della Figgiccì

Sulla faccenda Moggi-Bologna, dice Giancarlo Abete: "Come presidente della Figc non posso che ricordare che tutti coloro che operano nel sistema sportivo si devono riconoscere in quelle che sono le decisioni degli organi di giustizia sportiva, che tracciano in qualche modo il confine tra le persone che possono svolgere ruoli all'interno del mondo del calcio e altri che sono inibiti e non lo possono svolgere.

Poor Amauri... at the rate things are going for RobinHood's long lost cousin, he'll never find a national team to call his own! Before you blame it on Little John, it's all because Dopey and Lippi can't make up their minds.

Big Story
Driving through the snow in Chicago this weekend, I was reminded of why Sepp Blatter is batshit crazy when he thinks we should be playing winter soccer here in the United States. As MLS Commissioner Don Garber pointedly told Sepp, Chicago is Moscow in December, and they're not playing much soccer in Russia right now either.