Congratulations to Cagliari for a well-deserved win and congrats to Roma in achieving exactly what they set out to achieve. Though I was only able to catch the final 30 minutes, Roma looked to have a post-Coppa Italia hangover; this was not the same team that demolished Inter a couple weeks ago.
Mr. Totti: Pure class. The Capocannoniere is his; Lucarelli and Bianchi are six goals back with one fixture remaining. It was hard to imagine he wouldn't net at least one but a cheeky play from Ricardo Faty put him within two of the European Golden Boot lead*. The PK was what you would expect(Imagine if he hadn't missed 4 this year......). Il Gladiatore missed a perfect chance to bag number two in the 78th minute on a cross from Tavano(who, according to the commentators, "is decidedly average." Thanks for coming out, Francesco) but didn't get enough of his left foot on it and knocked it weakly to Antonio Chimenti(He impresses me every time I watch Cagliari. Even more impressive, he may have done this while being deceased. He looks to be roughly 108 years old.). In the 85th, he put one past Chimenti on a near replica of the chance he missed 7 minutes earlier, only this time coming from Faty on the right.
This sets up a perfect situation next weekend. Roma will be up against Messina, a Serie B bound team with a goal differential of -31, better than only Ascoli. If there was any team for Totti to finish out his Golden Boot run against it is Messina, who sent their starting keeper to Milan in January.
Match highlights:
As for the rest of the game, there were a few things that stood out:
1. David Suazo is phenomenal; he truly is a one man machine. Suazo is able to get past multiple defenders on any occasion and he's kinda a little bit fast. I am very very terrified that he may join Inter. In fact, I'm thinking about starting up a collection at the offside to convince him to join Roma.
2. We finally know Max Tonetto's position: Left side of the pitch. Seriously, he's everywhere.
3. Even if he can come for free, Wilhelmsson can go back to Ligue 2 for all I care. He makes Taddei look like Luis Figo circa 2001. But we'll keep Oksana.
4. In a half hour I went from thinking, "I guess Faty is the next Patrick Vieira. As in the Vieira who gets beaucoup red cards for idiotic fouls." To, "Hey, maybe this Faty kid can become an elite box-to-box midfielder like Patrick Vieira." Which means....I have no clue.
And can we clear something up? If you are a tall, defensive midfielder of African heritage, then you must automatically be dubbed "The Next Vieira." This is non-negotiable. I think Sepp Blatter is putting that into FIFA's rules this summer.
5. Fun fact: According to mass media outlets, there are currently 739 "Next Vieiras" playing in Europe.
6. Ferrari is more like a Fiat.
Daniele De Rossi picked up a foot injury and was taken off in the 34th. I'm contemplating flying to Rome and holding a candlelight vigil for his foot at the Olimpico. I haven't been able to find much information on it, but we'll pray for the best.
* - European Golden Boot standings:
Alves (Heerenveen) - 34 goals, 0 games left: 51 pts
Totti (AS Roma) - 24 goals, 1 game left: 48 pts
v. Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) - 22 goals, 3 games left: 44 pts
Shevchenko (CSKA London) - 4 goals, 0 games left: 8 pts