2011/12 Season Review: Italy

June 20, 2012

Serie A

Palermo rode the best defense in Serie A all the way to the championship, finishing three points ahead of Genoa—a result that must be seen as harsh on I Rossoblu, who were probably the better overall side on the season. Those two will be joined by Juventus and Roma in the Champions League with Inter, Fiorentina and Napoli playing in the EURO Cup.

Livorno’s existence in Serie A will last at least another season but both Cesena and Brescia will return to Serie B next season, joined by Siena.

The shock of the year in Italy is the continued fall of AC Milan: seventh last year, Marco van Basten’s team fell all the way to thirteenth this season, bringing fans back to the misery of the mid-nineties.

Top Goalscorer: 28, Robert Acquafresca (Genoa)
Top Rated Player: 7.96, Juan Manuel Vargas (Fiorentina)

Mirko Vucinic—the top scorer in the league the past two seasons—moved from Roma to Juventus and put in a fine, if injury limited, season. Vargas had a great season, providing quality on Fiorentina’s left wing that managed to displace the incomparable Giorgio Chiellini as the league’s top-rated player.

Lazio’s Argentine playmaker, Mauro Zárate, was selected the Player of the Year, the Fans Player of the Year, and the Foreign Player of the Year—a deserved medal haul for a fantastic season. Most of the rest of the medals went to Juventus: Amauri was the Italian Player of the Year, Gianluigi Buffon was the Goalkeeper of the Year, and Ciro Ferrara was named Manager of the Year.

Elsewhere, Catania’s young Japanese striker Takayuki Morimoto was the Young Player of the Year, Napoli’s Simon Kjær was named Defender of the Year, and Nicola Rizzoli was the top referee in Italy.

Serie B

Regular season champions Atalanta will be joined by Regina and Ascoli in Serie A, while Rimini, Taranto, Gallipoli, and Lumezzane are all headed down a division.

Top Goalscorer: 25, Francesco Pittaresi (Padova)
Top Rated Player: 7.96, Federico Rizzi (Mantova)

Evidently the key to promotion in Serie B is to employ Milan Djuric: the young Italian was the best player in the league last season in helping Cesena to promotion; this year, he changed teams twice, ending the season by playing a key role for Reggina’s successful end of season charge.

Serie C1/A and C1/B

Frosinone, Modena, Valle del Giovenco, and Verona all gained promotion while Cittadella, Prato, Juve Stabia, Paganese, Portosummaga, and Viareggio are headed down.

Top Goalscorer: 25, Diogo Tavares (Frosinone); 19, Gionatha Spinesi (Pescina Valle del Giovenco)
Top Rated Player: 7.67, Giovanni Marchese (Modena); 7.62, Fabio Lauria (Crotone)

Tavares helped Frosinone not miss a beat from last season, even with top-rated Younès Belhanda being recalled to AS Roma from his successful loan last season.

Serie C2/A, C2/B, and C2/C

Reggiana, Rodengo (yes, Terry Langford’s old club), Foligno, Lucchese, Spezia, and Nocerina all escape from Italy’s third division while Carpenedolo, Itala, Rovigo, Sangiustese, Avellino, Nuovo Campobasso, Olbia, Cuneo, and Domegliara fall out and will vie in lower competitions like the Ethio-Italian Friendship Cup in 2012/13.

Top Goalscorer: 23, Mirko Gasparetto (Rodengo); 18, Federico Turienzo (Sporting Lucchese) & Luis Arcamone (Melfi); 23, Roberto Palumbo (Nocerina)
Top Rated Player: 7.63, Andrea Ardito (Como); 7.86, Andrea Milani (Foligno); 7.71, Francesco Stanzione (Nocerina)

Anderson, who dominated this level for two years, did well before blowing out his knee midway through ProVercelli’s run in Serie C1 last season. Nocerina’s Palumbo is a repeat performer on this list.

2011 European Champion’s League Draw

August 25, 2011

It’s that time of the year again, as the 32 teams involved in the Champion’s League are selected for group play.

A: Liverpool, Juventus, Stuttgart, Lech.

The financial crisis has Liverpool needing to stay alive as long as possible in the Champion’s League, with each game worth potentially millions of dollars. Look for them to rise to the occasion, while a dogfight breaks out for the second spot, with it most likely going to Juventus, who have added Mirko Vucinic up front to go along with the defense anchored by Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Buffon.

B: Olympique de Marseilles, Genoa, Fenerbahçe, Moscow.

A tight group, but Olympique de Marseilles and Genoa should have enough quality to proceed. Marseille could be a dark horse to make some noise in the tournament: much depends on how teenage Czech starlet Vaclav Kadlec works up front with veteran Nicolas Anelka.

C: Atletico Madrid, HSV, Metalist, Litex.

With Angel Di María and Michael Carrick supporting the attack of Giuseppe Rossi, Falcao, and Diego Forlán, the Spanish side should have a walk. HSV can consider themselves fortunate with the draw, as in several other groups they would be hard-pressed to progress; here, however, they should find themselves up to the challenge. Expectations are especially high for their Peruvian phenom Gary Martinez’ debut in the spotlight of European football.

D. Real Madrid, Everton, Rosenborg, Unirea Urziceni.

Unless Everton collapse entirely, look for them to move ahead along with Real Madrid in what is easily the weakest of the groups. Both teams have too much quality to stumble with Madrid, as usual, struggling to find enough playing time to go around for their squad.

E. Barcelona, Celtic, Paris Saint-Germain, Besiktas.

Barcelona has to be considered one of the favorites to win it all and, despite a spirited go from Celtic, Paris Saint-Germain should advance as well.

F: FC Bayern, Panathinaikos, Manchester City, FC Salzburg.

Manchester City should be able to turn their talent into results here, but the second spot is wide open. It should be Bayern’s to lose, but the German side has been decidedly unimpressive to date.

G: Chelsea, Fiorentina, Anderlecht, AS Nancy Lorraine.

Chelsea should top the group, but none of these teams are pushovers. Still, Anderlecht has to be seen as the weakest of the four, while the race between Fiorentina and ASNL may come down to the final matches.

H: Inter, Ajax, Braga, Rubin.

A fascinating group: Inter look vulnerable for the first time in years, Ajax is struggling to replace the scoring acumen of Luis Suárez (although two youngsters, the Brazilian Guilherme and the Serbian Miralem Sulejmani, are emerging as viable options), while both Braga and Rubin have enough talent to cause an upset. I expect Inter and Braga to move on, but it really could be any two of these clubs.

2010/11 Season Review: Italy

Serie A

A fantastic campaign from Juventus saw them finish at the top of Serie A in Italy, nine points clear of second place Fiorentina. Only eleven points separated Inter in third place from AS Roma in 8^th, but while the standings were bunched, neither Leonardo at AC Milan (7^th) nor Claudio Ranieri at Roma can be very comfortable with their seasons. A bright spot for Ranieri would be the play of Mirko Vucinic, who led the scoring table for the second consecutive year, and picked up player of the year honors as well.

Only Torino survived their first year in the top league, with Atalanta joining Mantova and Ascoli in returning to Serie B.

Top Goalscorer: 19. Mirko Vucinic (Roma)
Top Rated Player: 8.02. Giorgio Chiellini (Genoa)

Chiellini’s teammate, Domenico Criscito, had a solid year following his top rated season last year.

Serie B

Livorno handled relegation with grace and power, finishing as champions of Serie B and returning to the top flight of Italian football. They are joined by Brescia and Cesena, led by the brilliance of young Milan Djuric; leaving Bari and Chievo to spend another year in the second division. Only Lumezzane—who finished in the top half of the table—will remain of the four clubs promoted to Serie B last season: Modena join Foggia, Novara, and Valle del Giovenco in being dispersed into the third level of play.

Top Goalscorer: 31. Milan Djuric (Cesena)
Top Rated Player: 7.71. Milan Djuric (Cesena)

Last year’s leading scorer, Edgar Çani, returned to Palermo from his season on loan, but was unable to see more than a handful of games in Serie A while AlbinoLeffe’s Simon Laner, the top ranked player last year, was solid again in midfield.

Serie C1/A and C1/B

Ravenna, Piacenza, Rimini, and Taranto move up while Spezia, Giulianova, Reggiana, Lecco, Foligno, and Gubbio are relegated. This means that none of the top scorers and none of the top rated players in either division were able to move their teams forward, with Perugia and Frosinone both losing in the promotion playoffs.

Top Goalscorer: 20. Felice Evacuo (Benevento) & Paolo Rossi (Cosenza); 21. Jefferson (Frosinone)
Top Rated Player: 7.85. Andrea Rossi (Perugia); 7.63. Younès Belhanda (Frosinone)

Arezzo’s Mohmed Fofana contributed 14 goals during the season after leading Serie C1/A last season while C1/B’s defending leading goalscorer, Federico Piovaccari, added 17 for Ravenna. Benevento’s Argentine veteran, Maximiliano Cejas (last year’s best player in Serie C1/A) missed half the season with a torn calf muscle while Rimini’s Pierre Giorgio Regonesi was barely edged out by Belhanda in his effort to repeat as the best in C1/B.

Serie C2/A, C2/B and C2/C

After the profound disappointment of last season, Pro Vercelli made no mistakes this year finishing well clear in Serie C2/A and earning promotion along with Portosummaga, Cavase, Cisco, Igea Virtus, and San Marino. At the other end, the storybook return of Venezia to league play lasted only a year as they join Pro Belvedere, Casale, Pisa, Montevarchi, Viterbese, Colligiana, Angri, and Messina in relegation.

Top Goalscorers: 33. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 20. Daniel Ciofani (Cisco); 19. Roberto Palumbo (Nocerina)
Top Rated Player: 7.80. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 7.63. Fabio Tinazzi (Andria); 7.59 Gianluca Vasile (Alghero)

Once again, Anderson proved himself to be the class of his league: the question is can the 27 year old Brazilian continue his success at higher levels? If Melfi’s Luis Arcamone is an example, he will struggle a bit: Arcamone was the best player in Serie C2/C last season, but while Melfi managed to finish mid-table after promotion, Arcamone saw his performance drop. Serie C2/B’s best players were both there on loan, and both Pescara’s Daniele Fruci and Parma’s Stefano Crisci found success—and playing time—to be elusive upon returning to their parent clubs.

2010/11 UEFA Cup Group Draw

August 26, 2010

With the qualifying games coming to a close, the draw for the UEFA Cup was finalized earlier today in a ceremony filled with all the pomp and circumstance it deserved. And then some. The sequins are being swept up, the balloons popped, and all that is left is for the pundits to pontificate.

Here are the groups:

Group A: Arsenal, AS Roma, Olympiakos SF Piraeus, Rubin Kazan

Group B: AFC Ajax, FC Internazionale, FK Partizan Beograd, Tottenham Hotspur

Group C: FC Barcelona, Hamburger SV, RSC Anderlecht, BSC Young Boys

Group D: Olympique Lyonnais, Futebol Clube do Porto-SAD, Athletic Club, Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group E: Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain, Genoa

Group F: Sporting CP, PSV, Chelsea, Spartak Moscow

Group G: Werder Bremen, Juventus, Rangers, FC Universitatea Craiova

Group H: Shakhtar, Olympique Marseilles, Everton, Sparta Prague

This competition looks ripe for upsets, with only one group—Barcelona’s Group C—looking like a cakewalk for the favorites. If there is a group of death, it is most likely Group F, where Chelsea has the edge, but none of the other three teams are pushovers.

2009/10 Season Review: Italy

Serie A

Other than the mid-table finish from AC Milan, it was business as usual in Serie A with Genoa edging Juventus at the top of the table, just ahead of Roma and Inter Milan. Those four qualify for the EURO Champions League, while Lazio, Sampdoria, and Fiorentina will play in the EURO Cup—that’s right, AC Milan is out of the European game next season, which has to put some pressure on manager Leonardo. Livorno, Chievo, and Bari were relegated from the top rank of Italian football.

Turkish striker Mehmet Yildiz won Player of the Year for Genoa, while Sampdoria’s Antonio Cassano was selected Italian Player of the Year

Top Goalscorer: 23. Mirko Vucinic (Roma)
Top Rated Player: 7.83 Domenico Criscito (Genoa)

Serie B

Ascoli, Mantova, and Torino won promotion from Serie B, while four clubs—Crotone, Forsinone, Piacenza, and Cittadella all will find themselves battling it out in Serie C1/A and C1/B.

Top Goalscorer: 20. Edgar Çani (Padova)
Top Rated Player: 7.57 Simon Laner (AlbinoLeffe)

Serie C1/A and C1/B

The surprise of the third division was Valle del Giovenco, who, along with  Novara, Lumezzane, and Foggia obtained promotion. At the other end, Como, Figline, Varese, Caves, Andria, and Portosummaga are all looking the fourth division squarely in the face.

Top Goalscorers: 20. Mohamed Fofana (Arezzo); 18 Federico Piovaccari (Ravenna)
Top Rated Players: 7.87. Maximiliano Cejas (Benevento); 7.73 Pierre Giorgio Regonesi (Rimini)

Serie C2/A, C2/B, C2/C

Spezia, Alto Adige, Prato, Gubbio, Juve Stabia, and Catanzaro all earned promotion this year, while Villacidrese, Mezzocorona, Noceto, Bellaria, Sangiustese, Sacilese, Isola Liri, Siracusa, and Scafatese all played themselves out of the division. The surprise of the year was probably Pro Vercilli’s not earning promotion, despite their division’s best player and highest goalscorer, Brazilian import Anderson. Similarly, Argentine veteran Luis Arcamone’s 24 goals were not enough to move Melfi up to the next division of Italian football.

Top Goalscorers: 23. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 15. Stefano Crisci (Bellaria); 24. Luis Arcamone (Melfi).
Top Rated Players: 7.54. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 7.64. Daniele Fruci (Celano); 7.48. Luis Arcamone (Melfi).