Serie A Fixtures: Juventus Need to Come Out Firing

The Serie A schedule was released on Wednesday July 27 and Juventus will want to hit a winning stride right away. The season opener finds Juventus on the road against Udinese. Even though Udinese finished last year in fourth, I don't see them nearly as competitive this year unless they bring in some talent quickly. I fully expect the home opener against Parma to be all Juve. The atmosphere will be absolutely electrifying and expect the players to want to impress for what is sure to be a packed crowd. After Parma, the next two opponents are Siena and Bologna. Nothing is guaranteed with Juventus, especially after last year, but winning should come easy against these two opponents which could leave Juventus 4-0 before the tougher opponents. Obviously winning every game is the goal but more realistically Juve need to win those four games to make some insurance for potential slides (look ahead to November). The next four games will see a mix of opponents with an always difficult away match in Catania, last years champs Milan, Chievo, and Genoa. After that will be, what is most likely, the toughest part of the season.
The next month of games will be against Fiorentina, Inter, Napoli, Palermo, and Lazio. The only reassuring aspect of this stretch is the possible effect that The Champions League and The Europa League will take on these opponents. The first two days of November belong to Champions League, leaving the possibility that Inter may want to rest some players on October 30 and leave Napoli fatigued on November 6. The final six games play out nicely for La Vecchia Signora with Roma being the only team that finished higher than them last year. In those final six games, Juventus will play two recently promoted teams in Novara and Atalanta, and a few of last year's bottom dwellers in the form of Cagliari, Cesena, and Lecce.
The way that this schedule plays out, Juventus needs to come out and win right away to get ready for the tough stretch in November. They cannot be complacent with draws. The absence of European football may give them a slight advantage over the top teams. The end of the schedule couldn't have been better for Juve. With weaker opponents, the end will be key for regaining any ground if necessary. As always, no game is guaranteed and especially in Italy, where competition is aplenty. This year should be an absolute war and, with only three champions league spots on the line, every game matters that much more. Forza Juve!

Yard Sale: Udinese set to be the next Sampdoria

Udinese capped off another great season by finishing fourth in Italy and earning a chance to qualify for the Champions League. This will be the last time the fourth place Italian team will have a chance to qualify as the coefficient has shifted giving Germany a fourth spot. Following the 2009/2010 Serie A season, 4th place Sampdoria played Werder Bremen to qualify for a spot in the 2010/2011 Champions League. Here was another opportunity for a Serie A team to help out its country by defeating a German team. After being only seconds away from the win, Werder Bremen scored a goal in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, forcing extra time which eventually led to Werder Bremen moving on. Midway through the following season Sampdoria sold off star strikers Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini and ended the season relegated.
Looking ahead to this year's fourth place finisher, Udinese seem set to follow suit. It is unlikely that they will perform as poorly as Sampdoria, however Udinese are trying the best they can to make winning hard this season. During this transfer window Udinese have already sold three of their best players. Early on in the summer, Zapata was sent to Villareal while Inler will be playing in Napoli next season. Thursday marked the end of the Sanchez saga, seeing his move to Barcelona completed. So far Udinese have sold their second leading goal scorer, one of their top assist men, and one of their top defenders. All three were in the top ten for games played. The loss of these players is going make qualifying for Champions League impossible. Udinese have always struggled in Europe and this year they will be relying on a weaker team to bring success. Unlike Napoli, who have made several purchases to prepare for the Champions League, Udinese have been selling like crazy. If Serie A wants to regain its fourth position, teams like Udinese have to show a desire to perform both domestically and internationally. I predict Udinese are set to have a tough year. Di Natale has never proven himself on the big stage and I don't see this year being any different. If they do hope to win a spot in the Champions League then the front office needs to bring in some quality talent and quickly.

S.O.S: The New England Revolution

Once again stepping away from my normal routine of writing about Italian football, I wanted to give my brief opinion on the status of my MLS team, The New England Revolution. Currently sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with only 19 points, it seems like decades ago when the Rev competed in three straight MLS championships. The biggest problem facing the revolution is goal scoring. New England have a goal differential of -11, worst in the league. The defense, although not great, is not that bad. Allowing 27 goals puts them 3 goals back on the league average of 24. Offensively, the Rev are the worst team in the MLS. They have scored a total of 16 times in 19 games, failing to score in almost half of them. The only word to sum that up is pathetic. The club is in a sad state, which makes a move closer to Boston that much more necessary.
I can't stress the importance of fan involvement in relation to the overall performance of the team. Watch any of the teams from the Northwest and you can't help but feel the atmosphere. The Sounders are an absolute inspiration to all MLS teams. Not only does the team sit in second place, but they are getting over 35,000 people a game, that's over 14,000 more than the Juventus average (that will surely change with the new stadium). Portland may be second to last in the Western Conference, but the atmosphere at any given home game is simply electric. Speaking on their record, they are only one win out of 6th place with two games in hand on current sixth place Chivas (a conference worst 31 goals against also doesn't help). The Revolution have the fan base. In 2008, they average over 17,000 a game and still have two very solid support groups, The Midnight Riders and The Rebellion. By building a small stadium, maybe 25,000 seats, accessible by the T, you can create the same atmosphere that comes from the support group section at Gillette, throughout the stadium. Ask any player and they'll tell you that having solid support makes you that much more determined to win. I guarantee moving the Rev to a soccer specific stadium near Boston will bring about better results.

USA: What Needs to Be Done

Looking back on the wonderful performance by the US woman's team during this past World Cup, I couldn't help but think about the current status of the men's team. I have never previously written about the US Men's team. Even though I am absolutely obsessed with Juventus and Italy, it does not mean I don't have a passion for my homeland. Over the past decade there has been a lot of talk about soccer in the United States and the "progress" of the men's team. However looking back I see this progress being blown way out of proportion.
Lets start back at 2002. What can probably best be described as a run of luck before it ran out. USA beat Portugal and, thanks to South Korea, moved on, even after losing to Poland. That infamous quarterfinal loss to Germany, with the non-call of a handball, eliminated the USA but gave them something to hang their heads on. 2006 was a completely different story. After a successful Gold Cup in 2005, the USA went to Germany with such hope and expectations. They ended up crashing out by recording one tie and only two goals. With such a poor performance, a change needed to be made, thus enter Bob Bradley.
Leading up to 2010, there had never been more hype about a USA team. The success at the Confederations Cup had people thinking that the USA could make a run deep into the tournament. Realistically they should have. After the group stage, USA wouldn't have had to face a top ten team until the semi finals. Many people like to say that the USA was unlucky, they just couldn't find the back of the net against Ghana and that the World Cup was somewhat a success. I don't see it like that.
I don't want to take anything away from the performance of many of the players and I'm not saying it wasn't amazing when Landon Donovan scored in the final minutes to put the team through but that cup was nowhere near a success. The US was extremely lucky to pull off a tie against England, no denying that. However, regardless of the bad offsides calls, there is no reason the USA does not easily roll over Algeria and Slovenia. Looking at the quality of players between the three teams. USA has more players playing in top leagues than the other two. There is no excuse then for the USA to not win. People should not be quick to remember the 2010 World Cup for only Landon Donovan's goal and the horrible calls by the referees but also include the fact that the USA scrapped by the group stage by the skin of their teeth.
So here we sit, still hurting from that 4-2 loss in the Gold Cup final with many questions needing answers. First of, Bob Bradley needs to go. He will be remembered for that Confederations Cup second place finish but his time is over. For years, the US have turned to their own for coaching. This is not the answer. American coaches' experience ranges from NCAA to MLS. That level of football does nothing to prepare a coach for the big stages. American coaches need to start getting jobs abroad. Go to Europe start as an assistant coach in a big league or a head coach in a lesser league and work your way up before looking to coach the national team. Meanwhile USMT can bring in a foreigner to coach the team. Look at what Guus Hiddink was capable of doing for Russia and South Korea.
Next, keep improving on the youth programs. Every MLS team should have youth programs and if a prodigy comes around, let him play on the senior squad (Wayne Rooney scored against Arsenal when he was 16).  As un-american as it may be, forget about NCAA. The top players should be going straight to the pros and not wasting their time in college.
The USA Men's team has a lot of work to do if they are to be ready for Brazil 2014. There is enough talent on the team to compete in the World Cup with more talented players on the way. In the mean time, get a new coach, preferably one whose coached a top club or a big country.

The Never-Ending Drama: The Transfer Window

The transfer window provides football fans endless excitement even though there are no games being played. Any given transfer period has every European club linked to many players, most of whom have no chance of being signed. Juventus have had a histoy of bad signings while missing out on their true transfer goals. Looking back over the last few years, the list of potential and actual transfers is quite large. There have been well-established players that never ended up in black and white (Alonso, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, etc...) as well as numerous signings that ended up a little bit better than useless (Poulsen, Martinez, Caceres, etc..). Some transfers have proven to be successful (Krasic, Quaglierella, Matri) This season is proving to be much of the same with links to Rossi, Aguero, Benzema, Honda, as well as others. As frustrating as it is to see Juventus pursue these players and then fail to sign them, the pursuit keeps me excited. As it it likely that Rossi will sign this week, I am constantly vigilant. When the news breaks all that built up stress will be relieved and I can become excited at the potential of a new signing. There is truly no offseason for the football fan. Thanks to the transfer window, we always have something to talk about.