Italian Serie A 2007-2008 Preview
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by KingPenguin
The Serie A for 2007-08 promises to be an exciting season, with three greats being promoted (Juventus, Genoa, and Napoli) and the previous season having had its honors split more or less evenly. The first match of the official regular season will be August 26, the match between Lazio and Torino. Here's a more or less club-by-club summary in no particular order of the top squads and of what to expect for the next season of the Italian Serie A.
Juventus: The recently promoted team is boasting rather early of their chances to win the Serie A title straight off. In my opinion, that is stinking of bull excrement, but they should certainly do better than basically any other team coming straight out of the Serie B has ever done. None of their summer transfers seem to be team-changing, but the introduction of Vincenzo Iaquinta, Almiron, Tiago, and Olivera should boost the team slightly. Juventus still have the best goalkeeper in the world, Gianluigi Buffon, as well a strong attacking force. I'm willing to guess on a fourth or fifth place finish for Juventus, getting them into European competition next year.
A.S. Roma: The current owner of the Golden Boot and therefore Serie A capocannoniere, Francesco Totti, has quit the Azzurri and is therefore going to hopefully be even more focused for A.S. Roma and drive them as he has for such a long time. Il Capitano will continue to be Roma's key player after yet another disappointing transfer period for Roma, but a few promising players have been picked up to strengthen the Giallorossi. Probably the biggest name added to the squad is Ludovic Giuly from Barcelona, yet another midfielder to add to the Roma squad. However, in the realm of promising but relatively unheard of stars, there are Ahmed Barusso, the strong Ghanaian defensive midfielder, Adrian Pit, Juan, and Mauro Esposito to finally add a forward to Roma. Christian Chivu finally left Roma for Inter Milan, so Roma is currently at a loss for defenders. However, Totti will still likely be the lone striker (though a possibility of two strikers has been mentioned) and the midfield will be amazingly strong and likely deeper than usual this year. I happen to be rather biased towards the team, but I still feel certain that they will be in the top four no matter what happens.
A.C. Milan: The current champions of Europe will be a great factor in the upcoming season, but will still have to battle with the other half of Milan and Roma for the top three spots. Kaka should still likely make himself heard next year, and Milan will likely do well in Europe as they always seem to do. Milan had a lot of trouble with Roma last year, and just barely lost the Milan derbies, and they'll still have to just win those big games to get domestic victory. Milan's trouble last year was how many close losses they had against the big teams.
Inter Milan: With the scudetto remaining on their jerseys, Inter Milan are the currently dominant team in Serie A. They can legitimately hope for another Serie A win, but have to deal with many more games with competitive teams this season. David Suazo and Christian Chivu are the two big (and controversial) signings of the summer, and add even more to the endless depth of Inter Milan. Inter's true strength is their depth, with unbelievable stars having to wait on the bench no matter what. Inter had little competition last year, but again, the scandal-hit teams of last year have recovered and are ready to get back at the Serie A champions, themselves riddled with scandal but never quite punished.
More clubs may yet be added, but I thought it was about time that the Serie A got another big story written, as it has been almost exactly a year since the last one that made the "top stuff" list. If anyone else wants to add more clubs or refine the previews of the big ones already listed, please feel free to help.
