Serie A revival what revival. Serie A has been and is still the best league but has been in decline in the last few years. The italian league was better last year and even better the previous year. They may have done well in the CL this year and crapped last year but a league cannot and should not be judged by there achievements on the European scene. How many true top class serie A teams do we have now! a petty 4. There were 7 few years back. The following is a Serie preview for the 1999-2000 season. That was when we had just Lazio in the CL quarterfinals, and a Real-Valencia final. That was when Serie A was truly no:1 and NOT now!
"""""""Serie A kicks off this weekend. Every team thinks it has strengthened its squad, though only one will emerge. Read on to find out who it will be.
Fighting for the title
AC Milan is the defending champion, though it won the "scudetto" almost by inertia. Coach Alberto Zaccheroni's team ground out results with eerie efficiency and treated Serie A like a marathon, rather than a sprint. Milan left the front-running to Fiorentina, Parma and then Lazio, and when they all unraveled late in the season, the rossoneri came on and clinched the title.
Zaccheroni knows it won't be that simple this time around, so he strengthened the squad with some shrewd, if unspectacular moves. Striker Andryi Shevchenko was a relative bargain at US$22.7 million. He's 22 and he's just what the doctor ordered: one of the top 10 players in the world to complement the aging but still impressive Oliver Bierhoff and George Weah.
Quicksilver Brazilian Serginho was called in to man the left flank, and the midfield was further bolstered with promising youngsters such as Diego De Ascentis (from Bari) and Rino Gattuso (from Salernitana). The rest of the squad is filled with veterans who would be superstars elsewhere (Zvonimir Boban, Leonardo, Paolo Maldini), but they accept that Milan's squad system places the emphasis on the collective, rather than the individual.
Lazio made up for the loss of Christian Vieri by buying in bulk. With one bona fide superstar gone, it's betting on a promising youngster (Simone Inzaghi from Piacenza), a reliable workhorse (Kennet Anderson from Bologna) and a gifted, but oft-injured veteran (Alen Boksic, who missed almost all of last season). If one of those three can step it up and replace Vieri's presence and movement alongside Marcelo Salas, then Sven Goran Eriksson's men will be sitting pretty.
Club chairman Sergio Cragnotti has taken care of the rest of the team, which is bursting with talent at the back and in midfield. The defense consists of the magnificent Sinisa Mihalovic (he of the blistering free kicks) and three Italian internationals: Paolo Negro, Alessandro Nesta and Giuseppe Pancaro. Not content with one Argentine World Cup midfielder (Matias Almeyda), he added another three: Juan Veron (a US$31 million signing from Parma), Nestor Sensini (also from Parma) and Diego Simeone (who arrived in the Vieri deal). The only thing standing between them and their second-ever Serie A title is nerves, the same jitters which cost them last year's scudetto, which they lost by a single point.
Parma bought wisely in wingback Michele Serena and Brazilian forward Marcio Amoroso (last year's Serie A top scorer, a US$35.5 million signing from Udinese), less so in Ariel Ortega who will have to fill Veron's big shoes. Ortega is a supremely talented player, but he is also the quintessential individualistic basket case with megalomaniacal tendencies. He is a gigantic gamble and one which could prove to be costly.
Juventus' key acquisition is the return from injury of Alessandro Del Piero. Italy's Golden Boy is set to reform his successful partnership with Pippo Inzaghi, and Juventus has added strongman Darko Kovacevic (a rather pricey US$21 million signing from Real Sociedad) as extra cover up front.
Zinedine Zidane seems to have overcome his homesickness, and with the vicious Edgar Davids and the newly acquired Sunday Oliseh winning the ball for him, he probably won't miss his old buddy Didier Deschamps (who was sold to Chelsea). Two years ago Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar was one of the best in the world. Last season his form dipped severely, but Juve is betting heavily that he can recapture the old magic.
Fiorentina boss Giovanni Trapattoni has won more trophies than any active manager anywhere in the world, and last season he led the club to the Champions League. They are even better this year, having bolstered the front line with Yugoslav genius Predrag Mijatovic and the steady Enrico Chiesa. Pair them up with goal-scoring machine Gabriel Batistuta and midfield general Rui Costa, and you have one of the best front fours in the business. They'll score plenty of goals, though the defense, apart from goalkeeper Francesco Toldo, is a little suspect.
Challenging for Europe
Inter has once again provided a good example of how to spend gobs of money with little rhyme or reason. The US$50 million lavished on Vieri will be well spent if he and Ronaldo stay healthy. On paper, it's the best strike duo around, and the club still has the Roberto Baggio (or his alter ego, Uruguayan whiz kid Alvaro Recoba) dishing out the assists. But the rest of the lineup is in shambles, and despite spending more than US$120 million, chairman Massimo Moratti has failed to address the most pressing concerns. Newly acquired midfielder Vladimir Jugovic (from Atletico Madrid) is well past the sell-by date.
Last year's back line was woeful, and Inter's solution consists of importing Marseille's defensive pairing of Laurent Blanc (too slow, too old) and Cyril Domoraud (too inconsistent), as well as Panathinaikos' Giorgios Georgatos (too mediocre). And while new goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi is a solid performer, is he really that much of an improvement over Gianluca Pagliuca, who was unceremoniously offloaded to Bologna?
New manager Marcello Lippi has a lot of work to do if he wants to recreate the success he enjoyed at Juventus.
Roma has created an impressive front line by adding striker Vincenzo Montella (from Sampdoria) to the talented Francesco Totti and the hard-working Marco Delvecchio. Fabio Capello is a savvy manager, but he'll have his hands full dealing with a perennially underachieving club that always seems to crumble under the weight of Rome's bloodthirsty media.
"""""""""
"""""""Serie A kicks off this weekend. Every team thinks it has strengthened its squad, though only one will emerge. Read on to find out who it will be.
Fighting for the title
AC Milan is the defending champion, though it won the "scudetto" almost by inertia. Coach Alberto Zaccheroni's team ground out results with eerie efficiency and treated Serie A like a marathon, rather than a sprint. Milan left the front-running to Fiorentina, Parma and then Lazio, and when they all unraveled late in the season, the rossoneri came on and clinched the title.
Zaccheroni knows it won't be that simple this time around, so he strengthened the squad with some shrewd, if unspectacular moves. Striker Andryi Shevchenko was a relative bargain at US$22.7 million. He's 22 and he's just what the doctor ordered: one of the top 10 players in the world to complement the aging but still impressive Oliver Bierhoff and George Weah.
Quicksilver Brazilian Serginho was called in to man the left flank, and the midfield was further bolstered with promising youngsters such as Diego De Ascentis (from Bari) and Rino Gattuso (from Salernitana). The rest of the squad is filled with veterans who would be superstars elsewhere (Zvonimir Boban, Leonardo, Paolo Maldini), but they accept that Milan's squad system places the emphasis on the collective, rather than the individual.
Lazio made up for the loss of Christian Vieri by buying in bulk. With one bona fide superstar gone, it's betting on a promising youngster (Simone Inzaghi from Piacenza), a reliable workhorse (Kennet Anderson from Bologna) and a gifted, but oft-injured veteran (Alen Boksic, who missed almost all of last season). If one of those three can step it up and replace Vieri's presence and movement alongside Marcelo Salas, then Sven Goran Eriksson's men will be sitting pretty.
Club chairman Sergio Cragnotti has taken care of the rest of the team, which is bursting with talent at the back and in midfield. The defense consists of the magnificent Sinisa Mihalovic (he of the blistering free kicks) and three Italian internationals: Paolo Negro, Alessandro Nesta and Giuseppe Pancaro. Not content with one Argentine World Cup midfielder (Matias Almeyda), he added another three: Juan Veron (a US$31 million signing from Parma), Nestor Sensini (also from Parma) and Diego Simeone (who arrived in the Vieri deal). The only thing standing between them and their second-ever Serie A title is nerves, the same jitters which cost them last year's scudetto, which they lost by a single point.
Parma bought wisely in wingback Michele Serena and Brazilian forward Marcio Amoroso (last year's Serie A top scorer, a US$35.5 million signing from Udinese), less so in Ariel Ortega who will have to fill Veron's big shoes. Ortega is a supremely talented player, but he is also the quintessential individualistic basket case with megalomaniacal tendencies. He is a gigantic gamble and one which could prove to be costly.
Juventus' key acquisition is the return from injury of Alessandro Del Piero. Italy's Golden Boy is set to reform his successful partnership with Pippo Inzaghi, and Juventus has added strongman Darko Kovacevic (a rather pricey US$21 million signing from Real Sociedad) as extra cover up front.
Zinedine Zidane seems to have overcome his homesickness, and with the vicious Edgar Davids and the newly acquired Sunday Oliseh winning the ball for him, he probably won't miss his old buddy Didier Deschamps (who was sold to Chelsea). Two years ago Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar was one of the best in the world. Last season his form dipped severely, but Juve is betting heavily that he can recapture the old magic.
Fiorentina boss Giovanni Trapattoni has won more trophies than any active manager anywhere in the world, and last season he led the club to the Champions League. They are even better this year, having bolstered the front line with Yugoslav genius Predrag Mijatovic and the steady Enrico Chiesa. Pair them up with goal-scoring machine Gabriel Batistuta and midfield general Rui Costa, and you have one of the best front fours in the business. They'll score plenty of goals, though the defense, apart from goalkeeper Francesco Toldo, is a little suspect.
Challenging for Europe
Inter has once again provided a good example of how to spend gobs of money with little rhyme or reason. The US$50 million lavished on Vieri will be well spent if he and Ronaldo stay healthy. On paper, it's the best strike duo around, and the club still has the Roberto Baggio (or his alter ego, Uruguayan whiz kid Alvaro Recoba) dishing out the assists. But the rest of the lineup is in shambles, and despite spending more than US$120 million, chairman Massimo Moratti has failed to address the most pressing concerns. Newly acquired midfielder Vladimir Jugovic (from Atletico Madrid) is well past the sell-by date.
Last year's back line was woeful, and Inter's solution consists of importing Marseille's defensive pairing of Laurent Blanc (too slow, too old) and Cyril Domoraud (too inconsistent), as well as Panathinaikos' Giorgios Georgatos (too mediocre). And while new goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi is a solid performer, is he really that much of an improvement over Gianluca Pagliuca, who was unceremoniously offloaded to Bologna?
New manager Marcello Lippi has a lot of work to do if he wants to recreate the success he enjoyed at Juventus.
Roma has created an impressive front line by adding striker Vincenzo Montella (from Sampdoria) to the talented Francesco Totti and the hard-working Marco Delvecchio. Fabio Capello is a savvy manager, but he'll have his hands full dealing with a perennially underachieving club that always seems to crumble under the weight of Rome's bloodthirsty media.
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