The Weekly Serie A Espresso: Italian Soccer Round-up

Serie A, like many European professional leagues, is off this week during FIFA World Cup soccer qualifying. As such and as Italy, the defending World Cup Champions have locked it’s place in next year’s soccer exchavaganza, this is a great week for the first edition of the Weekly Espresso.

The article will take a quick look at Serie A and Italian soccer in the time it takes to sip on an espresso or drink a shot of Bosco or smoke a cigarette…all great Italian past-times.

So pull up to the bar, order your drink and let’s get loud.

The FIFA break allows us to review the standings.

Inter
16
Sampdoria
16
Juventus
14
Fiorentina
14
Genoa
13
Chievo
11
Udinese
11
Roma
11
Parma
11
Palermo
9
Lazio
9
Milan
9
Bari
8
Cagliari
7
Napoli
7
Bologna
6
Siena
5
Catania
4
Atalanta
3
Livorno
3



At the top and not too surprising are the positions of defending champion’s Inter, the reconstructed Juventus and the ever-motivated and well-coached Fiorentina. What is surprising is the resurgence of Sampdoria.

Although we could mention the tireless legs of defensive midfielder Angelo Palombo, the great wing play of Padalino or the great finishing of Fiorentina arrival Pazzini but it would give you the wrong impression. Although there is no doubt that the performances along with others (Daniele Mannini surprising play) have been important factors in Sampdoria’s great season (so far), the two most important factors are above and beyond the keys to Sampdoria’s play and will be going forward. Those factors are Antonio Cassano’s right and left boots.

Cassano could very well be the best Italian in the Serie A this season and as proved to be a more mature player than ever. Always known for his great offensive talents, this year he has been the consummate playmaker, displaying world-class vision and creativity and even more surprising has been his off field growth.

Often criticized as being much too interested in hookers, alcholol, vacations, cars, clubs and running his mouth (remember the hilarious shot at Azzurri player Simone Pepe?), Talantonio has shown some maturity. Involved in a serious relationship seemed to have helped, having some teammates with leadership has as well, but what is with the turnaround? Despite being constantly over-looked by Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi (an obvious personality clash with Lippi who believes in the importance of team chemistry) although displaying impossible-to-ignore performances, Cassano has not attacked the National coach or shown his disapproval in public. All the while receiving massive praise from the media and even an old coach in the form of current England coach Fabio Capello.

If Cassano continues his form, Sampdoria will be in contention for a Champion’s League spot come spring…the real question will be will Lippi be able to continue to plead ignorance…

Another surprise at the top, at least for some, is the absence of Milan. What I don’t get is how could a team who was too old last year, make only one defensive change of importance, zero midfield changes and gambling on an largely unproven striker (Huntelaar) even think about winning the scudetto after loosing one of the top 3 players in the entire world (Kaka) and not making any important moves to get younger. This team is doomed to have a serious personality issue. When he wants (every 4th game or so) Ronaldinho can still play at an elite level however he is clearly a player you can not build a team of quality around and is not to be depending on. Despite this, team owner, madman and Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi has a deep infatuation with the partying brazilian. This man-crush will doom Milan and it’s fans to a 6th to 12th league finish. Milan seems to be content in letting Leonardo pretend that he has ultimate control of the team. This could spell a disaster to fans that have not much to cheer for since loosing Kaka. Hey, at least Silvio didn’t sell Milan’s only elite young talent Pato to ex-Milan coach and current Chelsea coach Carlo Ancellotti…well, at least not yet…

Good results so far have Genoa competing for a Champion’s League spot however this was largely expected despite loosing cult hero Milito and midfield runner Thiago Motta. Don’t let Chievo’s position fool you. They will drop faster than a cannonball off the tower of Pisa. They don’t have the talent and their schedule was relatively easy so far.

Meatball of the Week:

Roberto Dona-dummy. The Napoli coach was ripped on live TV by Napoli owner and the absolute best owner (for purely enternaining purposes only), Aurelio De Laurentiis, who just before fired their long time general manager who has an impecible resume. No matter what happens to Coach Donadoni, it is clear he needs to go back to what made him a good coach, go back to the lower leagues. Pay your dues and for the love of pizza, get some media-relation lessons!
The up coming week: How good do the Juventus-Fiorentina, Milan-Roma, Inter-Genoa match ups look like? Another game that might raise some eyebrows is the Napoli-Bolonga matchup. Napoli can blame their coach all they want but the bottom line is that the players have to perform. How about new coach Wlater Mazzarri telling his players that each player will have their performance rating on live TV by Mr. Hold-no punches De Laurentiis. Ouch. That would make even the laziest of players like Dimitar Berbatov break a sweat!