Supercoppa
It's a misleading name, the Supercoppa. It is not, in fact, super, though the mere presence of AS Roma does certainly help. It's something of a cup, sure, but trophies handed out while the summer window is still open have a vague feeling of the Parisian Tournament about it - what a lovely preparation for Inter that was. The game itself doesn't hold a tremendous amount of value for most, nor does it merit consideration when forecasting the season - last year's winner speaks volumes in that respect. It's something a little bit beyond the regular weekend, but not quite a Big One.
What it does offer is 90 minutes of AS Roma, and that is simply glorious any way you shake it.
The problem is, of course, we're subjected to 90 minutes of Inter's interpretations of football, which isn't quite as good - one might even say it's the polar opposite. And even though some of their most detestable figures are gone, nothing's changed. At least not for the better. There's even every chance things might've changed for the worse; a change which may be paired with a matching scar on the other side of Chivu's head from DDR's boot for politely asking the fans to suck it at the Olimpico in May. We still have our absolutes - Marco Materazzi will have me thinking the fourth star should be scratched off, for example, and I'm joking far, far less than I should be, which is quite sad - and we still have the potential for fireworks the moment they step on the pitch.
A derby in miniature, a nice immersion into fire to prime us for a year of Italian shenanigans, but it's better described as Roma. Simply Roma.
It's been far too long.
Squads
Inter
Portieri: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi, Paolo Orlandoni.
Difensori: Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Marco Materazzi, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Mauro Bergonzi.
Centrocampisti: Dejan Stankovic, Wesley Sneijder, McDonald Mariga, Esteban Cambiasso, Joel Obi, Coutinho.
Attaccanti: Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, Ludovic Biabiany.
Roma
1 LOBONT Bogdan Iounut
3 ANDREOLLI Marco
4 JUAN SILVEIRA DOS SANTOS Juan
5 MEXES Philippe
7 PIZARRO CORTEZ David Marcelo
8 ADRIANO Leite Ribeiro
9 VUCINIC Mirko
10 TOTTI Francesco
11 TADDEI FERRANTE Rodrigo
16 DE ROSSI Daniele
17 RIISE John Arne
20 PERROTTA Simone
25 BURDISSO Guillermo
30 SIMPLICIO Fabio Henrique
32 DONI MARANGON Donieber Alexandre
33 BRIGHI Matteo
40 PENA Alex Daniel
77 CASSETTI Marco
87 ROSI Aleandro
89 OKAKA Chuka Stefano
94 MENEZ Jéremy
Time: 2045CET
Streams: MyP2P.eu
Liveblog up well in advance.