Planet Soccer

AC Milan star Kaka was crowned FIFA's world player of the year on Monday, beating out FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo for the honour.

I've long been a critic of the voting system for the award, as all too often voters cast their ballots based on a player's popularity or celebrity, and not their skill or accomplishments.

A perfect example of this came in 2003 when the Czech Republic's Pavel Nedved, a gritty midfielder who's not incredibly flashy, won the Ballon d'Or as the European player of the year but, inexplicably, he wasn't even a finalist for the FIFA world player award (Zinedine Zidane beat out Thierry Henry and Ronaldo, three players who delight fans with their flashy play).

A lot of great goals were scored this past weekend - Sulley Muntari's thunderbolt for Portsmouth and Fabrizio Miccoli's chip shot effort for Palermo spring to mind - with the Real Zaragoza-Espanyol contest in Spain producing six highlight reel goals in a 3-3 thriller.

Whenever a fantastic goal is scored it inevitably leads to passionate discussion as to which is the greatest goal of all time. I realize most fans and critics consider Maradona's second goal against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup to be the greatest ever scored, but for me, Marco van Basten's wonder-strike for the Netherlands in the finals of Euro '88 beats El Diego's effort hands down.

Message to the English Football Association - give Fabio Capello a call.

The English national team has been in a state of chaos following its 3-2 loss to Croatia last Wednesday, a result that eliminated the Three Lions from contention for Euro 2008.

Steve McClaren was fired the next day, leaving England without a manager and looking to rebuild.

So, who will replace McClaren?

The FA hasn't said, but they should run - not walk - to Capello's front door, get out its chequebook and tell the Italian to name his price.

CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome.

Italy is in a national state of mourning today over the shockingly senseless death of Gabriele Sandri.

Sandri, a DJ and a Lazio fan from Rome, was killed Sunday morning after a police officer shot him while attempting to break up a scuffle between groups of fighting fans at a highway rest stop in Tuscany.

Sandri, who was on his way to Milan to watch his team play Inter Milan, died almost instantly. He was 26.

Pizza Rustica is a hole in the wall and it doesn't look like much from the outside, but the quaint little place is easily the best pizzeria in San Lorenzo, the neighbourhood I'm staying in while in Rome.

There are no less than three pizzerias around the corner from my apartment, but I walk the extra two blocks to Pizza Rustica because the selection is the best (my three favourites are porcini mushrooms with chilli peppers, buffalo mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and grilled eggplant and artichokes with basil).

CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome for a month. While there he plans on eating a pile of prosciutto, soaking up the warm Italian sun and watching a lot of soccer.

One of my dreams was fulfilled Wednesday night when I personally witnessed one of the greatest rivalries in all of soccer: Italian giants AS Roma versus Lazio in the legendary "Il Derby della Capitale" (the Derby of the Capital).

Roma posted a thrilling 3-2 victory over their city rivals Lazio in a game that had everything a soccer fan could possibly want: beautiful goals, imaginative play, tension and drama, and tremendous atmosphere.

And let me tell you this: nothing I have seen in my 30-plus years of watching sports can compare to the Roma-Lazio derby. Nothing.

It's a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon in Rome, and my cousin Gabriele and I find ourselves, once again, sitting in Stadio Olimpico, awaiting the kickoff of a key Serie A game between hometown club Lazio and Udinese.

The conditions are perfect for soccer. The grass field is in immaculate condition, a slight breeze is keeping us cool as we soak up the warm autumn sun and there's a buzz in the crowd, as the fans expect Lazio to end their current losing slide and put the boots to their opponents.

Instead, Lazio looks lackadaisical, barely managing to register a shot on net and suffers a 1-0 loss at the hands of their opponents from the north of Italy.

After eight long days, I finally got my fix of live soccer Tuesday night.

Before leaving Toronto, I purchased a pair of tickets to seven games, but things didn't get off to a good start: for security reasons, the local authorities decided that only season ticket holders (abbonati) could attend this past Saturday's game between AS Roma and Napoli, the heated Derby del Sole (Derby of the Sun), thus leaving me out in the cold.

Things got back on track, though, Tuesday night as I was securely in my seat in the Tribuna Tevere Centrale section of Stadio Olimpico for the AS Roma-Sporting Lisbon match in the Champions League.

Of course, getting to the stadium in the first place was quite an ordeal...

CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome for a month. While there he plans on eating a pile of prosciutto, soaking up the warm Italian sun and watching a lot of soccer.

An amusing incident occurred last night that reminded me of home.

Back in Toronto, I have a bad habit of screaming at the television whenever I'm watching a soccer game. If Alessandro Del Piero botches an easy scoring chance for Juventus, I hurl a slew of obscenities. If the Italian national team is getting outplayed by a lesser opponent, I stomp my feet and bang on my coffee table.

My tantrums are so loud that on more than one occasion the folks who live above me come running down the stairs to knock on my door to see if I'm okay. Something similar happened last night here in Rome.

CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome for a month. While there he plans on eating a pile of prosciutto, soaking up the warm Italian sun and watching a lot of soccer.

This is one crazy town.

This is my third trip to Rome, the Eternal City, but I still get thrown for a loop by the culture shock.

The frenetic pace of this city makes you dizzy. The traffic is nuts. You can hear televisions blaring from apartments from street level. Instead of sitting in a Starbucks and nursing a coffee for an hour, Romans steal away from the office and go to the corner cafe where they take a quick swig of espresso before scampering back to work.

And they love their soccer, or calcio, as the Italians call it.