•Despite the fact that virtually all the media outside of Italy are reporting Freddy Adu's on-again, off-again move to Benfica is so on-again that it's pretty much done, reports in Italy insist he's actually going to Parma with the help of Inter, who will buy the player if he puts in a good showing this season. Mmmmhmm.

•Cristiano Lucarelli made his Ukrainian debut yesterday, playing 45 minutes in Shakhtar Donetsk third match of the season.

Soccer365 is reporting interest from Sydney FC in our ex beer swilling party man, Clint Mathis.

"I heard that he is interested in playing in the A-League, so we followed it up," Coach Kosmina told the Daily Telegraph. "We've contacted Clint's agent, so we'll see how he goes on Tuesday."

They will be scouting him in their upcoming LA Galaxy friendly.

[Posts on the death of Gabriele Sandri and subsequent events are collected here; this post is being updated with today's news. It's reported that Luigi Spaccarotella the shooter will face murder charges.]

You know how Yoann Gourcuff sign a long-term extension with Milan over the summer, despite the fact that he never plays?

WHAT A WAY TO MAKE A FREE AGENT ENTRANCE!

AS.com, the Spanish News Daily, is reporting Real Madrids interest in Jozy Altidore.

And its front page news.

The Jozy Bandwagon starts off with interest from Real Madrid. Word is that Madrid has been scouting Jozy, and the news just never made it out. Amazing.

I was expecting some smaller club interest, due to what I believe is an American biased across the world, but man, was I proven wrong.

Thierry Henry, once again, has stated his desire to play in the United States.

In particular . . . . New York.

Big thanks to Ives, who is absolutely the most reliable source there is in the MLS. When is he ever wrong?! Especially when he gets it from the Times! Love ya.

This is not the first time Henry has expressed interest in our little team.

As you may have heard, the wildly elaborate World Cup Qualifying draw was held today. Italy (yes, you have to qualify even if you have the damn Cup at home) were one of nine top-seeded teams, so they avoided all the top nations by default, but England, Romania, and the dreaded Scotland were all in Pot B and therefore possible opponents.

This weekend, La Gazzetta dello Sport published the results of a poll (print-only, as far as I can tell) in which they ask Italians which football team they support.* The runaway winners, not surprisingly, were Juve, who were loved by over 17% of participants despite that humiliating stint in Serie B. Juve have long been the most popular team in Italy; frankly, I'm surprise the number isn't higher than that.

Gabriele Sandri, a Lazio supporter and semi-famous DJ in Roma was accidentally shot today in the wake of a battle between Lazio Ultras and a group of Juve supporters they attacked; the Lazio-Inter match has been called off, and all the other matches are delayed by 15 minutes as a sign of respect.

I have no idea what Juve supporters were doing in Milan today, but that's not really the point, is it?

[Posts on the death of Gabriele Sandri and subsequent events are collected here; this post is being updated with the latest news. It's been announced that Luigi Spaccarotella the shooter will face murder charges.]

First and probably most importantly, as long as you're not tender-shinned Scotland-killer Luca Toni, is the news that the FIGC have banned the supporters of 15 clubs across all divisions from traveling when play resumes, presumably after the international break.

The New York Times is reporting that the Red Bulls are looking to buy out Claudio Reynas million dollar contract, thus freeing up space for a second DP signing.

With rumors flying that all teams shall receive an extra DP, The RBNY Organization is staring at a situation where three world class players may be manning their starting 11 (4 if you count Jozy, who will most certainly NOT be a DP).

•Kaka is FIFA's World Player of the Year. Try to control your shock.

•Is Luciano Moggi's phone ever not being tapped these days? Another investigation has opened into his behavior because he continued to "influence" football after his banning. Well.

First off, look at that armband on Dema . . . looks great!

Ok folks, here are your updates on our injured Bulls, as we look ahead to Saturday and our encounter with the Fire, @ Chicago . . . .

HERE WE GO AGAIN

FSC: 7:30pm. YOU GOTTA GET IN THE GAME!

For the third time in five years, we face off, in the postseason, against another strong New England team.

For the fourth time this year, these two teams will collide. And the Revodouchers have the season advantage, with 2 wins and 1 tie.

•Manuela Prandelli, the wife of Fiorentina manager Cesare Prandelli, died this morning after a long illness. I'm trying to resist the old chestnut about it putting everything in perspective but it's sort of undeniable it's awfully hard to care about the table now, isn't it?

Watch out! Today at 3pm is the MLS waiver draft (how many drafts are there anyway?!?!)

We have the 7th pick.

Here are our picks, per team:

CHIVAS: David Arvizu, Desmond Brooks, Carlos Llamosa, Rodrigo Lopez, Laurent Merlin, Justin Myers, Ramon Nunez, Orlando Perez, Eder Robles, Erasmo Solorzano

COLORADO: Zach Thornton

COLUMBUS: Ben Hunter

DALLAS: Juan Botero

D.

Celtic Milan Dida VS sale gosse
Uploaded by Shooting-star

When Nelson Dida went down as if he'd been shot by the supporter who ran onto the Parkhead pitch last night, there were a lot of theories put forth about the reason for the four day delay between the contact and the falling down in agony. Me, I was thinking late-acting acid, while others suggested things like an eye-poke so dire it took several seconds to register, and the well-known Five-Point-Palm Exploding Heart Technique (thanks, for that Paolo).

Jose Mourinho (aka a big name foreign coach)

In a landslide, no questions about it win, the fan base has spoken up and have left no doubt - we arent interested in a local guy with strong grass roots connections - we want to keep up with the Lalas's.

With Gullit signing onto LA, the pressure is on Red Bull New York to produce a name the fans will be familiar and comfortable with.

Depending on how long you've been following Italian football, you may not be familiar with the great Giorgio Chinaglia. Suffice to say he was voted Lazio's best ever player during their centenary celebrations, and was also the highest ever scorer in the NASL, the short-living, wildly successful (for a while) American soccer league that his New York Cosmos utterly owned during the late 1970s.

An organization called Observatory on the Referee Mistakes in Football (That's the Milan website's translation of its name; I'm sure it sounds a lot better in Italian.), run by a couple of independent organizations, has published its first study of how human error has so far affected Serie A results this season, and there are a lot of surprises in their findings.

The Rematch of the Match of the Year.

Well, leading up to the season ender, I ask ya, what will happen tonite?

My prediction?

RBNY 2 - LA 1

I really dont think they have what it takes to beat us. Even if we play our reserves (and I dont feel that is pompous thinking considering the circumstances).

*Scroll down the bottom of the post for the latest, it was updated throughout the day*

Gabriele Sandri, a Lazio supporter and semi-famous DJ in Roma was accidentally shot today in the wake of a battle between Lazio Ultras and a group of Juve supporters they attacked in Badia al Pino, Arezzo; the Lazio-Inter match has been called off, and all the other matches are delayed by 15 minutes as a sign of respect.

Bruce Arena isnt the only "one and done" coach in our stable. We have had plenty. Just another notch in the belt of woe I suppose.

I mean, look at this list:

Eddie Firmani (1996)
Carlos Queiroz (1996)
Carlos Alberto Parreira (1997)
Alfonso Mondelo (1998)
Bora Milutinović (1998–1999)
Octavio Zambrano (2000–2002)
Bob Bradley (2003–2005)
Mo Johnston (2005–2006)
Richie Williams (2006; interim)
Bruce Arena (2006–2007)

Impressive or Depressing?

Unlike all the previous Luis Figo-to-MLS stories, this one comes from an actual, fairly reliable newspaper: Correio da Manha is one of the biggest dailies in Portugal and has a whole lot more credibility than your typical sports rag (even if the Portuguese ones seem to make things up slightly less often than those in Spain and Italy).

I've mentioned Mario Balotelli on this site only once, when he scored the winning goal for Inter's youth side in last season's Primavera title game. But, in the future, you'll probably be hearing more about him in the future: The kid is 16 years old, scored four goals for Inter's Primavera side, and is starting to get a lot of attention and not just in Italy.

Oh wait, it is. I suppose that explains the marked increase in frantic running around, and the associated upswing in articles detailing potential deals of varying degrees of plausibility.

Let's start with what is suddenly the most likely of them all: According to at least two different sources, agreement has been reached between Real Madrid and Milan, and Emerson will officially make the move back to Italy once Adriano Galliani gets off the plane in Madrid and signs some papers presumably later today.

Well, leave it up to me to leave during the most tumultuous week in the Red Bulls 2007 season!

Lets start from the start shall we ?

RED BULLS LOSE TO THE REVOLUTION

I missed the game. Ill admit to that. Disney doesnt have any interest in playing RBNY games I suppose.

But, from what Ive read from my favorite sources, we didnt look great or horrible out there.

[If you're looking for information on the death of Gabriele Sandri and subsequent events, go here; the most recent post is on top. Inter-Lazio and Roma-Cagliari will be played on December 5th.]

Manchester United fans are offering supporters who bought tickets to the club's upcoming Champions League match in Rome refunds, if them want them.

According to reports in the always reliable Italian media, Ricky Kaka has already been unofficially informed that the Golden Ball will be his. Apparently his margin of victory was so great that an unnamed jury member called the Brazilian up and told him, figuring there was no point in hiding the truth from a man who kicked Zlatan's and (The Pretty) Ronaldo's and Pirlo's and Riquelme's asses soon comprehensively.

Its been a month of extreme lows and equally exciting highs for our 18 year old wonderkind Jozy Altidore.

Petr Nowak has given our prized commodity, and our promising right back, Hunter Freeman, the opportunity to represent their countries with the under 23 squad, inviting them to the very first training camp, in preperation for the Beijing olympics.

We are 100% owners, the plans have changed, and the wheels are back in motion - Red Bull Park will once again be the center piece of the Harrison revitilization project (dont you have to be VITALIZED first in order to get REVITALIZED?!?!).

The original design called for 20,000 seats, and more luxury boxes.

After yesterday's home loss to Inter, every member of the Fiorentina team gathered by the entrance to the tunnel to shake hands with their opponents. Inter ended up joining in the scrum of congratulations; it was a fitting conclusion to a great match played in an impossibly emotional atmosphere.

•This time it's Olivier Dacourt. I don't want to talk about it.

•Francesco Totti is (probably) going to be back full force for the make-up match with Cargliari on Wedneday. No more of that bench-sitting shit, he and his bionic boot are (hopefully) ready to go.

•Roma's biggest Ultra groups have announced that they will not attend the team's home match with Caglari tomorrow. They won't come together elsewhere this time (as they did during the Udine match), but instead will just stay home.

•Antonio Cassano is jumping up and down outside Roberto Donadoni's back window, begging to be allowed to wear the blue shirt again.

I am going to preface this by telling you that a lot my information is coming from a combination of Google translate, wordreference.com, and an actual, paper dictionary. Point being, I could have it all mixed up and terribly, terribly wrong. Ok, that said, I think a jealousy-crazy ex assaulted Francesco Coco and his female companion last night. And when I say "assulted," I mean the woman went after them with a knife.

Antonio Cassano, your prototypical footballer with ability tragically unmatched by either brains or self-control, has reportedly turned down a chance to join Turkish champions Fenerbahce. Their £3 million bid was accepted by Real, but Cassano rejected the deal. Not for salary reasons, mind you, or because he's allergic to kebabs or doesn't like Istanbul (Seriously, who wouldn't want to get paid to live there for a while?

In an interview with France Football (the bulk of which is only available in the print edition), Brazilian legend Socrates pulled no punches, ripping the hell out of not only Italian football, but also the Brazilian national team and it's performance at the 2006 World Cup. The guy is so frank, honestly, that you'd almost think he was drunk and just sort of venting his spleen.

I know I will end up regretting writing this when the whole thing blows up in Roma's faces again, but media all over Italy (as well as his girlfriend) insist the deal that will, at long last, send Christian Chivu to Inter has been finalized and just needs everyone's signatures to become official.

Roma, you see, have been in a renewed rush to get rid of the Romanian/convince their fans he's a great guy because they don't want waves of boos to be part of their 80th birthday celebration tomorrow.

I never thought that the Minnesota Thunder would come up TWICE in a week on a Red Bulls blog . . . but here we are.

Arena and Company are looking into Mr. Francis Doe, formerly a player in Greece with extensive time in the USL, to fulfill our dire need for a forward. (thanks to IVES)

Wait . . . . what?

As you may have heard, AC Milan are in Moscow right now they're taking part in the rather flash Russian Railway Cup, along with PSV Eindhoven, Lokomotiv Moscow and a little club called Real Madrid. (Actually Milan's first game just ended; they lost to PSV 4-3 in PKs after a scoreless game. Which, since Milan have zero strikers at the tournament, isn't exactly surprising.

•FIFA's latest rankings came out today and the top five remain unchanged, with Italy third behind Brazil and Argentina and just ahead of fourth-place France and Germany, who remain fifth. The rest of the top ten are: Croatia (!), The Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic and Portugal.

•Kaka to Arsenal?!

•It's about time for some more Adriano-to-Real rumors, don't you think?