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.

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?

In their new list of the 50 Greatest Sporting Scandals, the London Times (you may recall earlier discussion of their Summer o' Lists) has the audacity to rank Calciopoli seventh, a slight which La Gazetta dello Sport does not take lying down. The headline of their article reads "The Times subs Moggiopoli," and the first paragraph angrily derides the placing of the scandal behind such minor events as Ben Johnson's Olympic doping and the madness at this year's Tour de France.

•The Cicinho saga is finally over, with Roma paying Real Madrid €9 million for his services. (Chris has all the details on this one, as well as lots and lots of video evidence of Cicinho's awesomeness.)

•Ronaldinho is getting his Spanish passport on Monday. This blessed event makes him fit precisely into Adriano Galliani's description of his mysterious Mr.

I'm sure Chris and Kevin will have detailed reports up later, but suffice to say, that was a fantastic match.

Roma were utter magic in the first half, moving and playing almost instinctively (sort of the opposite of Juve's weird domination yesterday), and just opening Palermo up at will. If they're looking this good in the first game, I really do fear for the rest of the league.

Fiorentina have been chasing Chievo's 20-year-old striker Victor Obinna for what feels like ages every other story on Viola fan sites is about him, though until recently they've been more speculation than anything else. Now, though, some more details are coming out, and the situation is starting to stink to high heaven. (Yes, I know welcome to Serie A.

(Yes, we have Google translate to thank for that headline. As if you had to ask.)

According to several different outlets in Italy, an agreement has been reached between Real Madrid and Sampdoria, and Antonio Cassano will be spending this season on loan with the Genoa club, who apparently have the option to buy at the loan's conclusion, assuming Cassano's not reduced the city to rubble by then.

You know that Champions League qualifying match Lazio had last night? Well, it didn't turn out quite as they'd hoped, and now they're heading into the away leg down an away goal, with two suspensions and a possible ban from Europe on the horizon. Other than that, things went great. (If Luciano Zauri was right and the whole season really is "tied to this game," they're in deep, deep trouble.

The press in Italy is currently exploding with stories about the health of Marco Materazzi, and they get worse with each passing hour. At first, he had simply "suffered a thigh problem and was replaced." It quickly got more serious, though, with stories of a deep bruise and "trauma" (physical, apparently, though it's strangely entertaining to imagine Matrix weeping over his lost childhood, or something) that left him vomiting on the sideline.

Though those of us outside of Romanian would probably have to be satisfied with just reading about it (and praying for YouTube clips), the press there are reporting that Adriano Mutu has been approached to star in a reality show of his very own, which would focus on him (shocking, that) and his family primarily, one imagines, his wife, who is apparently a folk singer, and something of a star of her own right in their native Romania.

It's a holiday in Italy, which seems to mean that everyone turns off their cell phones and goes to the beach, where they somehow manage to avoid talking about transfers or engaging in any sort of scandalous behavior. Which sounds nice and all, but it doesn't do us much good, does it?

•According to a girl who claims to have Sven Goran Eriksson's old cell phone number (I am not making this up), Inter recently offered him Cesar on loan.

In an interview so ill-advised you wonder if he's ever talked to a reporter before or knows about things like "the internet" and "international media," Patrick Vieira told a French television show over the weekend that he's not real fond of teammate Marco Materazzi. Well, that's not entirely true. What he said was "There are those who love him and those who hate him.

•In what is surely the biggest joke of the day, Roma's Simone Perrotta is being suspended for this weekend's season-opening match against Palermo. Why, you ask? Well, because he was sent off for saying something mean to the linesman in yesterday's Super Cup match, before even entering the pitch. Sigh.

•Cicinho may or may not be about to end the drama of his will-he-or-won't-he transfer saga and sign with Roma.

Remember when Napoli were shut out in the Birra Moretti Trophy, and promises of signing three new players were immediately issued by the club brass to placate angry supporters? Well, it looks like the loss to Roma in the Super Cup on Sunday is having a similar effect on at least one person at Inter.

Though I can't find the interviews in question, it's being widely reported that, after his team's disappointing performance against Roma, Roberto Mancini demanded that Massimo Moratti splash some proverbial cash on up to four additional players.

According to reports in Italy, the Napoli roster may have expanded by two by the end of the day, if sporting director Pierpaolo Marino's Milan meeting with Juve's Alessio Secco goes as hoped.

The two players in question are Marcelo Zalayeta and Manuele Blasi, and at the very least the deal for the former is expected to be concluded today: Napoli will pay about €3 million for Zalayeta, and reportedly already have a tentative agreement with the striker regarding contract terms.

As was speculated last week, Milan fans have been banned from their team's opening match at Genoa this weekend. There is a history of violence between the teams' supporters, and a Genoa fan was stabbed to deal during their last meeting, back in 1995.

Because Genoa were relegated at the end of that season and haven't been back in Serie A since, tensions between supporters have only increased, and graffiti urging revenge has recently appeared around the Genoa ground.

Lazio are having all sorts of trouble filling the goalkeeping gloves of the retired Angelo Peruzzi. They thought everything had been solved by the arrival of Juan Pablo Carrizo, but he's suddenly run into passport problems and may not be available to the club until January, which leaves them with a rather substantial hole in their goal. And, since current first-choice Marco Ballotta is actually six years OLDER than Peruzzi (whose backup he was last season), a certain retiree is probably looking better and better to the Lazio brass.

Now that he seems relegated to fourth-choice in the Inter striker corp, the press are busy trying to find Adriano another place to play, even if it's not entirely clear his agent is taking any such action.

The latest rumors have him returning on loan to Parma, the team with which he earned his (severely waning) reputation as a dominant striker.

You may not have heard, but Serie A kicks off at long last this weekend. (And there was much rejoicing.)

Juve, Napoli and Genoa are all making their triumphant returns to the league, Inter are trying to cope without Materazzi against a team they were unable to beat last season, Milan are playing without supporters or many strikers and, if we're lucky, Pocket Rockets (thank you or that mental imagine, Chris) Fabrizio Miccoli and Ludovic Giuly will face off in Rome on Sunday afternoon, in what is likely to be the best match of the weekend.

These days, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Pippo Inzaghi has a little (and when I say little, I mean he's a child of 31) brother named Simone who "plays" for Lazio. Just a few years ago, though, Simone was flying high, scoring nine goals in 11 Champions League games (including four in a single match), earning a few Azzurri call-ups, and winning the Scudetto with Lazio in 2000.

Direct from the Milan website:

ALEXANDRE PATO TO MILAN!
8/2/2007

MILANO - The great talent Alexandre Pato will train with Milan and will be able to play the friendly matches starting from the 3rd of September 2007. From the 3rd of January 2008 onwards he will also be able to play in the official games.

There's almost nothing significant going on in the Serie A universe today. I'm thinking it's gotten really hot in Italy, and everyone has headed out for a long weekend at a posh, Mediterranian resort. Either that or there's another newspaper strike and there's TONS going on but no one to tell us about it.

•The moment Milan landed Pato, the press starting banging on Massimo Moratti's door, asking him when he was going to land a teenage superstar.

In what is among the most shocking stories of the past two weeks, it's being reported that Juve's Giorgio Chiellini will not be moving to Manchester City the summer. I know the temptation is to assume this is a desperate lie cooked up by the FIGC to fight the impression that all of Serie A has been caught in Thaksin Shinawatra's tractor beam of cash, but it actually seems to be true: Despite the major problems Chiellini got himself into with the gaffer earlier this summer, Claudio Ranieri says the defender is staying, and insists he knew it would turn out this way all along.

•Less than ten minutes into his first match with Fiorentina, Christian Vieri scored. As if he'd do anything else.

•Despite coach Walter Mazzari's denials yesterday, the Sampdoria brass are still talking about the possible arrival of Antonio Cassano, praising the striker and trying to use public pressure to convince Real Madrid to assume an even greater percentage of his burdensome salary in order to make the move possible.

In yesterday's Birra Moretti tournament, Napoli failed to score, losing to both Juve and Inter and officially panicking supporters to such a degree that their chairman immediately promised to buy three more players (one of them, if his agent is to be believed, from Roma). Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of insane overreaction that's right, people: Serie A is back!

The headlines of all the major sports papers in Italy today are shouting the news of Emerson's arrival in Milan, on loan with an option to buy from Real Madrid. Which would be just fine, were it not for a little statement on the Milan website that says "AC Milan denies the purchase of Emerson. It was not possible to find an economic agreement between the two clubs.

Yes, that's right: Another player has apparently been sold to two different teams and this time there's no way anyone can blame Massimo Moratti for the problems. The player in question is Christian Riganò, a striker whom Spanish side Levante today revealed would be joining them from Messina, and was prepared to sign a two-year deal. This news, however, came as a bit of a shock to Livorno, who thought they had reached an agreement to buy Riganò, and were very much expecting him to replace the firepower they lost with the sale of Cristiano Lucarelli.

Roberto Donadoni today announced his call-ups for Wednesday's friendly against Hungary, a match that everyone with two brain cells to rub together is seeing as a crucial warm-up for the France war on September 8 and the subsequent game in Ukraine.

Most of the usual suspects are in place: The regular backs are all there, and the strikers including the suddenly indispensable Fabio Quagliarella are as you would expect, up to and including the infuriating Pippo Inzaghi, who sealed his spot with the brace he scored last night before the Don's watchful eyes.

•Despite having weeks more time on training than one of the players chosen over him, Adriano was left out of Roberto Mancini's squad for tomorrow's Super Cup. Go ahead and laugh, you know you want to.

•Emerson really, really wants to join Milan, because he doesn't like living under the microscope in Madrid. Aw. Well now I feel bad for the guy.

Though he insists he's not yet operating at full "Yeah!" strength, Amauri is feeling well enough to score a second-half hat trick in Palermo's final pre-season match yesterday, a 4-2 victory over Real Zaragoza.* Damn.

Granted, Zaragoza were down to 10 men when Amauri went on his rampage (and actually only had nine for his final goal), but still they're at the same fitness level as Palermo and clearly were considered a stout test going into the match.

In good news, Marco Materazzi has left the hospital. Woo hoo! Of course, he's out for anywhere from two to four months, so leaving the hospital doesn't do much for Inter or the Azzurri. And, to make things worse, Fabio Cannavaro picked up an ankle injury in this weekend's Real Madrid match and, while he's expected to be fit to play next weekend, any added vulnerability on his part is a very bad thing indeed.

•We've suspected it was coming since May, and Alessandro Nesta officially ended his international career yesterday. Now that he's an old man of 31, he's unable to continue performing at a high level without more rest, and since missing Milan games isn't really an option, the Azzurri were bound to lose out. Though Nesta missed the World Cup through injury and the team have obviously been successful without him, it's still sad to see another mainstay moving on (and also to think of something who's 31 as "old").

In the hours between today's first post and this one, Sven Goran Eriksson has set his Tractor Beam of Cash on yet another Serie A player. This time, the man is his sights is his first Aussie: Palermo's Mark Bresciano, who manager Stefano Colantuono suggests hasn't bought into his plan for the team, and is already on his way out of the club. Said Colantuono, "His sale is almost certain, but I am not worried.

•The latest on poor, unloved Antonio Cassano is that he's either going to Inter this winter (in exchange for Adriano, of course even Inter can only handle one out-of-form headcase at a time), or will end up in England, with Bolton or, if god has a sense of humor, West Ham, where he would form a dream tantrum team with the one and only Craig Bellamy.

As RomaChris has been discussing for ages, Roma really, really want to keep Mancini, so much so that they're willing to bust their pretty strict salary cap for him. In fact, word a week ago was that they had successfully worked out an extension to keep the Brazilian in the capital through 2012. Oddly enough, though, Mancini's agent Gilmar Veloz says they're still waiting to hammer out a deal with the club.

Apart from that wishful thinking about a partnership with Craig Bellamy at West Ham, things have been fairly quiet on the Antonio Cassano front for the past couple of weeks one imagines the boy stomping around a side pitch at the Real Madrid training ground, kick balls in anger while he looks around, desperately hoping someone is watching him pout (no one is).

After already giving in to the demands of David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi this summer, Juventus are suddenly pretending to be all tough and firm in contract negotiations, this time at the expense of a minor, not-at-all-iconic figure by the name of Alessandro Del Piero, whose current agreement expires at the end of the season.

As was the case with the Nedved negotiations, Juve are eagerly alienating one of their most important players by reportedly asking him to take a pay cut in exchange for an extension.

Despite the fact that it consists of three 45-minute matches with unlimited substitutions, it's almost impossible not to get excited about today's Birra Moretti Trophy, if only because it marks the first time Serie A clubs will kick a ball in anger against one another this summer. Which, in turn, means that the season really is about to start. And, seeing as how over 40,000 tickets have been sold for the event, we're probably not the only ones who are excited.