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.

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.

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).

•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.

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.

*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?

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.

As opposed to Massimo Moratti, who doesn't have to be on the pitch and therefore is throwing all sorts of stones at the Juve camp, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who traveled with Juve's stolen Scudetto to Inter two summers ago, is saying nice things in the press about the Bianconeri ahead of Sunday's showdown. (More or less, at least.

According to the bookies, Jose Mourinho is the most likely man to take over the newly vacant England job (Nooooooooo!), but further down the list, at 14-1, is one Fabio Capello, a man who has actually said he's interested in the job.

In case you needed more evidence, here's the final proof that Capello is out of his damn mind is there a more thankless international coaching gig than England's?

[Gabriele Sandri]

I'm exhausted just from thinking about what happened yesterday, and am torn between not wanting to talk about anything else and desperately wanting a return to normalcy, so I can talk about Adriano's desperate desire to play for Mr. Burns at Manchester City.

But for better or for worse, as we saw yesterday, football does go on, so my plan is a quick roundup of new developments this morning then an attempt to get back to normal, if possible.

[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.]

•I'm not the only who thinks the new Azzurri kit is just foul, am I? Nice sheen there, Puma. What is this, 1977?

•Someone at Inter clearly reads this site because, check it out they're going to get Adriano help!

•Francesco Totti was back in full training for 15 minutes yesterday before getting hurt again. Needless to say, he's not going to Genoa. (RomaChris tells me Roma have four starters healthy for the match. Oh dear.)

•Could someone please tell Giorgio Chiellini to shut up?

God damn. Just when you start to turn your back on Maurizio Zamparini for his periodic semi-racist rants, he turns around and does something so spectacularly awesome you can hardly keep from hugging him. Today, happily, is one of the days for hugging.

Oddly silent since Juve's demolition of his club last night, the Palermo president finally spoke by pulling the trigger (as PalermoSteven had been hoping he would): Manager Stefano Colantuono has been sacked.

As all the other options run screaming in the other direction, the British press are increasingly behind the idea of Fabio Capello as England manager, so much so that they seem willing to overlook his most obvious drawback: He can't really speak English. Of course, the rumor that Gianfranco Zola would be his primary assistant should Capello get the job probably makes at least many in London so happy they don't care what language the gaffer speaks, as long as Zola comes back.

Today is Roberto Mancini's birthday, but Fenerbahçe's coach Zico doesn't care. In fact, he's got rather unpleasant intentions: "I'm hoping we poop his birthday party." Jeez, Zico, could we do without the scatological references, please? (Zico also wants to take a certainly lumpy countryman off Mancio's hands, but that's a story for another time.

•Gigi Cagni is shocked he was sacked. Aw. Poor guy he did take Empoli to their first-ever European place, so I suppose it wasn't unreasonable to expect a certain degree of loyalty.

•Brazil's Olympic team has been named, and a certain teenage Rossoneri is the only foreign-based players on the list.

Next time you see Francesco Totti on the pitch, he could well actually be hovering right above it: The crack (I might mean that literally, given how long it's taking their charges to recover from injuries the season) Roma medical stuff have built him a "special boot," one that will apparently render the captain impervious to both pain and injury.

•Because of their participation in the Club World Cup next month, Milan's Serie A matches against Reggina and Livorno have been postponed; the new dates have not yet been announced.

•Giorgio Chinaglia has been fined €4.2 million for market manipulation, related to his attempted takeover of Lazio in 2005.

Seven of this week's 10 matches ended in draws some of them incredibly exciting, despite the shared points including those featuring three of the top four teams. Roma dropped two points in Tuscany thanks to Empoli's amazing fightback, while Inter and Juve beat the hell out of one another in Turin and ended up with a point each, a result that, despite what everyone at Inter is say, was entirely just.

Guess what, kids! Adriano didn't turn up for training yesterday, which instantly send the rumor mill into a frenzy. He apparently called in to tell the club he was "feeling unwell," but got a bit elusive when asked for details and, given that it's Adriano, the obvious assumption is that "feeling unwell" actually means "so hung over I might die.

The Italian newspapers today are full of the news that Milan are considering a bid for Real Madrid's dreamy (so I hear, anyway) Sergio Ramos. Clearly this is untrue, since Ramos is only 21 and therefore far too young to even get a chance in the Rossoneri defense, but the rumor is out there, tenuous as it might be.

The story comes from Marca in Spain: The paper claims that Carlo Ancelotti has specifically asked ownership to buy Ramos as a way of shoring up the team's aging, unpredictable defense.

Breaking news: Adriano is still depressed. Such is the depth of his pain that he can't really train or play like he wants to which, one would think, explains he absence from the Inter team for much of this season. Of course, it would be a lot easier to buy the drama if he didn't bring it up only when he doesn't turn up for training, or is mildly called out by his gaffer for not training properly for more than a few days at a time.

[All post related to the death of Gabriele Sandri and its aftermath are collected here. The most recent is on top, and is updated throughout the day as news develops.]

He may be a mere child of 19, but Karim Benzema sure knows how to get attention. The Lyon starlet, who Inara would surely throw herself in front of a tank to keep from leaving the club, talked to L'Equipe yesterday about the clubs that "make [him] dream.

[All posts related to the death of Gabriele Sandri and its aftermath are collected here. The most recent is on top, and this one is being updated throughout the day as news develops.]

•Suddenly indispensable Juventus defender Nicola Legrottaglie's footballing would be nowhere near as good as it is now if he didn't belong to Jesus.

How quickly things change just a few days ago, the press (and the rest of us) were in a Euro 2008 frenzy, hanging on Roberto Donadoni's every wise word, closely analyzing his possible formations, and talking endlessly about the Scots and their frenzied supporters. Now, though, you have to dig to find out the Azzurri have a match today.

Serie A's resident crazy person, Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, is at it again, this time aiming the barrels of his madness at twin targets: Juventus and, of course, the French.

Ahead of Palermo's visit to Turin tomorrow, Zampa has been letting fly on the subject of the constant bitching and moaning about refereeing decisions that's coming out of the Juve camp.

•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?

Late last night, Empoli sacked coach Gigi Cagni.

Despite looking like an utter badass and leading the club to a seventh-place finish and its first-ever spot in Europe last season, the 57-year-old has had a terrible time during the first three months of the season, first crashing meekly out of the UEFA Cup, and then finding himself unable to raise Empoli out of the relegation zone, even with that unbelievable defeat of Milan and the miracle draw with Roma (imagine where they'd be without those four points).

Like Roma and Inter yesterday, Milan go into their match in Lisbon today knowing that three points will assure them a spot in the knockout round, no matter how the Celtic-Shakhtar match ends. Benfica, meanwhile, will be desperate for a win, knowing it's the only result that will definitely keep them alive in the group.

Fiorentina face AEK Athens today in great shape to move on the UEFA Cup, needing a win to go through to the next round with a match remaining. They're currently top of Group C but, since three of the five teams will move on, even an unimaginable collapse against tiny Mladá Boleslav (yes, I know, they did beat Palermo) on Matchday 5 probably wouldn't knock them out.

Just as they're starting to get defenders back to health and back from suspension, Inter's midfield is going all to hell. Already without Luis Jimenez (who recently suffered a mysterious injury in training), Patrick Vieira (Broken. Again.) and Dejan Stankovic (damaged ankle joint, not due back until December), they've now lost Luis Figo, possibly until January.