And it did.

Several hundred alleged fans of Napoli commandeered and subsequently vandalized a train taking them from Naples to Rome. The damage was estimated at $730,000 as the hooligans slashed seats, smashed windows and exploded firecrackers. Four railway workers were injured. Other troublemakers inflicted $88,000 worth of damage to buses in Rome, where police arrested five people before AS Roma's 1-1 tie with Napoli.

In the usual too-little-too-late apology that comes out of Italian soccer headquarters with increasing frequency these days, Giancarlo Abete, president of the soccer federation, appealed for a crackdown "against these delinquents who ruin the image of football on a national and international level," saying, "football is not represented by these people."

Oh, but it is. And unless Italian authorities do more than turn a blind eye to the hooliganism that has plagued the country and the sport for several seasons, Italian soccer will find itself increasingly the target of scorn and ridicule outside Italy.

Given the incidents on the opening weekend of the nine-month season, it might well be time for UEFA, soccer's European governing body, to consider banning Italian teams from European competition -- either on a case-by-case basis or in total -- just as it did when English fans were running riot years ago.

"We need to get this matter resolved before the transfer deadline," said Tottenham Coach Juande Ramos, who has been soured by the entire episode and now just wants to get rid of the player.

Berbatov was signed by the Spurs two seasons ago for just over $20 million, but the club has rejected a similar offer from Manchester United and has placed a $60-million price tag on the Bulgarian.

Two weeks into the Bundesliga season, previously unheard of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is on top of the league, having followed up on its season-opening shutout victory over Energie Cottbus with a shutout of Borussia Monchengladbach. The club is owned by 68-year-old computer software and pharmaceuticals billionaire Dietmar Hopp, who in his youth played for the then-amateur Hoffenheim village team. In 1990, he began investing in his old club and saw it gradually rise from the equivalent of the eighth division to gain a place in Germany's top flight.

Now, two games into the season, it leads the pack, ahead of such storied teams as Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Werder Bremen and all the rest.

"It's not really a huge surprise for me because we are just building on the success we had at the end of last season," when Hoffenheim was promoted from the second division, Coach Ralph Rangnick said. "Obviously, as a newly promoted side, anything more than just staying up this season would be good."