Will Milan secure another trophy in its case?

We’ve finally arrived.

After missing the opening weekend due to a strike between the 20 Serie A clubs and the players’ association, a new contract was agreed to on Monday allowing Serie A to begin this weekend. The curtain-raising match sees defending champions AC Milan host Lazio at the San Siro. The new agreement, which expires in June 2012, does not address the main sticking points between the two sides. The players’ union remains unhappy with the fact that clubs are able to force players into transfers in their contract’s final year, thus not allowing them to move for free once their contract expires. The players are also unhappy with the practice of coaches forcing unwanted players to train away from the first team. On the other side, clubs want players to pay the new solidarity tax imposed by the Italian government on high earners. The players, obviously, are not too keen on this idea.

But all of that, now, is neither here nor there and this isn’t about the strike.

This is about the passion, the flair, the stereotypical defensive struggles and the well-documented histrionics. The Italian top flight is full of history and tradition and the 2011-12 season, by all indications, will be more of the same.

It has been a long summer so I’m here to catch you up on the latest from the peninsula and give you a little preview on what to look for this campaign.

Summer Storylines

Doni, mug shot

• Another scandal? What else is new?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. On June 16 current and former players were arrested for alleged match fixing across all three professional leagues in Italy. Overall, 18 matches were under investigation – including the Serie A match between Inter and Lecce (which Inter won 1-0) and a number of matches involving newly promoted Atalanta. A number of clubs, mostly in the lower leagues, received point deductions and fines to begin the new season. Atalanta was perhaps the hardest hit receiving a six-point deduction and their captain, Cristiano Doni, has been suspended from all soccer activities for 3.5 years for his role in the scandal. What was already going to be a difficult road to remain in the top flight just became an almost impossible task.

• Loss of Champions League Spot

The loss of Italy’s fourth Champions League spot to the Bundesliga means that now only the top three will qualify for the competition and the fourth and fifth place clubs will qualify for the Europa League. In a league where the top seven or eight clubs are all strong sides capable qualifying and doing well in Europe, the fact that a club like Inter, Napoli, Juventus, or Roma will miss out on Europe all together is troubling. Expect the battles for spots 3-5 to be more competitive than the race for the scudetto.

• Americans Abroad

As has already been discussed here at length, a new ownership group headed by Bostonian Thomas Di Benedetto officially took charge of Roma in the middle of August and has followed through on his promises to revamp the club. After appointing an entire new front office staff and a new manager, he has done something that the previous regime couldn’t (or wouldn’t). He spent money on transfers. With an estimated €78M spent, expectations are high in the capital.

Another American has made his way to Italy. Michael Bradley is the new man in Verona as he left his German nightmare and headed south to Chievo to try to get his career back on track. Here’s to hoping he finds his footing, and minutes, in Italy.

• The Old Lady Awakens

Elia, Juvenated....

After two disappointing seasons for Juventus and with the opening of the first privately owned stadium in Italy, something needed to change in Turin. The best way to do this was to spend and spend a ton. The most supported club in Italy responded and spent approximately €87M on players in an attempt to revamp the lineup. Longtime Milan playmaker Andrea Pirlo joins big money acquisitions Arturo Vidal, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Eljero Elia, and Mirko Vučinić. Much like in Rome, expectations in Turin will be high and the club cannot afford to miss out on Europe again.

• The City of Milan Remains Relatively Quiet

There wasn’t much activity in Milan over the summer. For the Rossoneri, the summer was surprisingly quiet. There were no big money splashes that we are used to seeing. Instead, quality was brought in to cover areas of weakness. Defenders Philippe Mexés and Taye Taiwo were brought in on free transfers to help shore up an aging and often injured backline. Alberto Aquilani was loaned to Milan from Liverpool to provide some creativity to a midfield with an abundance of grit. The potentially key signing for the club is Stephan El-Shaarawy. He arrives to Milan on a co-ownership deal from Genoa after spending last season on loan to Padova in Serie B – where he almost single-handedly carried the club to promotion. The buzz around El-Shaarawy is eerily similar to that of Adel Taarabt at Queens Park Rangers and he will be one to keep an eye on.

Inter Milan were also quiet, however for different reasons. While AC Milan stood pat due mainly to the strength of their squad, it appears Inter were quiet for financial reasons. With Samuel Eto’o’s sale to Russian club Anzhi, Inter was able to come closer to meeting the new UEFA financial fair play rules, when/if those go into effect. With the new requirements limiting annual losses for clubs, the massive transfer fee ($40M) and saving about $75M in wages through 2014 will help meet these requirements. Inter wasn’t all quiet and did find a suitable replacement in Diego Forlán for a fraction of the price of Eto’o.

Hamsik, still jiving in Napoli

What to watch for

While I’ll be looking to see how Milan handles being the defending champion with everyone gunning for them, especially their cross-town neighbors, another team worth keeping an eye on will be Napoli. With their unusual 3-4-3 lineup, with the outside midfielders covering a lot of space, Napoli finished in a somewhat surprising third place last season and are looking to build on that. New additions Inler and Goran Pandev (on loan from Inter) added to their talented attacking trident of Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Levezzi, and Marek Hamšík, so expect free-flowing soccer in Naples. The biggest question for them will be how they handle their difficult Champions League responsibilities in addition to maintaining their league form.

Preseason Predictions

Standings/European Places/Relegation

Still creative...

1 AC Milan

2 Napoli

3 Inter Milan

4 Juventus

5 Roma

———-

18 Lecce

19 Novara

20 Atalanta

With the loss of the fourth Champions League spot, the competition for the top three spots will be tight. I think Milan is talented enough and has enough depth up and down their roster and will successfully defend their title. The experience that Napoli gained during last season, and their moves made this summer, will pay off this season as they finish ahead of Inter. Inter has a great deal riding on Forlán and the young Argentine Ricardo Álvarez – neither of which has any Serie A experience. The money that Juventus spent will help them barely finish ahead of Roma, who I think are a year away from fully buying into the Luis Enrique experiment.

Looking at the bottom of the table, although Lecce was able to survive and remain in Serie A last season, I think they drop down to Serie B for 2012-2013. History shows that at least one club that makes the jump usually takes the immediate plunge back down and this year I think we’ll have two. Novara and Atlanta, who won’t be able to overcome starting in negative points, will join Lecce in Serie B for next season.

Six years later, Bradley attempts to break into Serie A, not MLS...

“It’s fine.”

That was my initial reaction to reading that Michael Bradley was joining Chievo Verona in Italy in an undisclosed move that was announced today. (The deal is rumored to be for two years).

Not the place I was predicting when hearing that Bradley was angling for a move to England with, preferably, the chance to play on those European nights that everyone dreams of. Instead, what he got is neither and I’m left scratching my head.

Bradley has his cake and can eat some too. Chievo, owned by the Paluani Cake Co.

The move makes a great deal of sense for the Chievo. For the relatively low price of 2m Euros, they get a young, internationally-experienced midfielder that can slot in almost immediately and play loads of minutes – especially with midfield stalwart Kévin Constant and his 32 appearances last season moving on to Genoa.

In Bradley, Chievo also gets a player that won’t necessarily need a long time to fit into their style of play. Chievo, under manager Domenico Di Carlo, tend to line up in a 4-4-2 formation with a midfield diamond. With the departures of Constant and Gelson Fernandes (to Leicester City) there are minutes that need to be filled and Bradley can do that either from the defense midfield position or the trequarista - a role similar to the one he played during his time in Holland.

I see it more being the former because he doesn’t fit the role as used in Italy (think Totti, del Piero, etc. someone who can create on their own) and it has been so long since he’s played it consistently that he’d be better used in a more familiar deep-lying, holding position.

On the other hand, this is a lateral move, if that, for Bradley. He moves to a provincial club in the north of Italy in a suburb of Verona with a population of about 4,500. I only mention this as a positive for him.

Had he moved to Napoli as was rumored at the beginning of summer, he’d be in a city with close to one million residents, a large percentage of them argent supporters. He would also be dealing with a club with Scudetto aspirations as well as participation in Champions League. While I have no doubt that is exactly what he wants, I think it just isn’t in the cards for him yet as he hasn’t been exposed to that sort of scrutiny in either of his previous stops.

In Chievo, things will be less pressurized for his first stop in Serie A.

The 11^th place finish that the club had last season is about what supporters expect. Anything higher is considered great. Anything lower…well, just don’t make it too low.

Tactically, Bradley’s positioning and awareness should also benefit from playing in Italy as Chievo will be underdogs in a good number of their matches which will put added emphasis on staying in position and being sound defensively – both items that will translate well to the national team.

Professionally, I can’t see him getting much from this move. He will not be battling for a European spot and, to be honest, will be closer to the relegation zone. Playing against Milan or Inter at the San Siro in the Sunday night fixture with the eyes of the nation, and world, on you is what makes playing in Serie A special. Playing a Saturday noontime fixture on a mud-covered pitch in Lecce in January isn’t. The only question I have remaining is what the other clubs from Germany, England, Spain, Russia, Belgium, and Greece that were interested in Bradley, according to his agent.

…and archrivals Genoa decide to hold a funeral to mourn celebrate their relegation

Welcome Back, Coppa Italia. We’ve Missed You

A strange thing happened this year in soccer – the domestic cups actually carried importance. From England to Spain to Italy, these cups, which were usually marginalized by the major clubs as an inconvenience, became key fixtures on a congested club calendar.

One team's Italian dreams will be realized May 29th at the Olimpico

In England, the Carling Cup saw more regular first team players than I can recall – especially from Arsenal. Having Arsenal trot out youngsters to gain experience was the norm until the cries for silverware grew too loud for manager Arsène Wenger to ignore and the Gunners first team squad was seen more in the cup fixtures. Ultimately, Arsenal lost in the final to Birmingham on a late winner from Obefemi Martins, which has Arsenal still in search for silverware.

A rebirth of the domestic cup also occurred in Spain where the Copa del Rey received a shot in the arm with these words from The Special One:  “I think the Copa del Rey is an important competition. I know that many people don’t value domestic cup tournaments, but I do value them.” Mourinho kept his word, took each round seriously, and fielded a strong lineup (Cristiano Ronaldo played in eight of Madrid’s nine cup matches after having played in zero the previous year) all the way to defeating Barcelona in the final – Madrid’s first Copa title in 17 years.

Our cup renaissance tour concludes in Italy with the Coppa Italia. The Coppa, the last of these newly “important” competitions to crown a winner, is currently midway through its semifinal stage with four clubs in the top eight of the league vying to meet on May 29 at the Stadio Olimipco in Rome to hoist the trophy. Inter and Roma are meeting in one semifinal while Milan and Palermo are in the second. After the first leg, Inter holds a 1-0 away advantage over Roma and Milan and Palermo are tied 2-2. The second legs are being played in Milan and Sicily, respectively.

(Very Brief) Coppa Background

The prize...

Although the Coppa Italia has been around since 1922 (with the second tournament being held in 1935), it has only been continuously played each year since 1958. Prior to the invasion of Italy in 1943 during World War II, the Coppa had been played from 1935-1943; however, it wasn’t until 1958 that the tournament was around to stay. Juventus and Roma are tied with the most Coppa titles with nine. There has been a recent dominance over the past six tournaments of Roma and Inter. These two clubs have met in five of the past six finals – including last year’s 1-0 Inter victory. Inter leads the head-to-head 3-2 in these recent finals.

Over the past few decades, with the rise of larger European competitions, the Coppa has been in decline in popularity. One reason for this is the lack of emphasis that the clubs themselves put on the competition. When the clubs do not put a premium on the matches, why should the supporters? Compared to other domestic cups, England in particular, the financial reward for doing well in the Coppa Italia is not there. The money made from television rights, or from sponsorship or FIGC, was not seen as incentive enough for clubs to risk their players in these midweek matches. The lack of money available domestically, coupled with the exponential rise in money available in European Cup matches, led Italy’s big clubs to put an emphasis on qualifying for Europe and, once there, doing well.

Why 2010-2011?

Something changed in this season’s Coppa. The big clubs began taking the competition seriously and, although maybe not to the same degree as Serie A and European matches, managers and players were fully engaged in the Coppa.

Rossoneri head honcho Massimiliano Allegri...

Prior to the first leg against Palermo, Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri came out and said how important the cup was to him and his squad. “We want to honor this cup. We have the chance to try and win the Scudetto and at least make the Coppa Italia final…It’s a very important semi-final for us and we want to try and reach the final…There is enthusiasm and it’s important we use it to get to an important objective like the cup final.” While this may very well have been “coach speak,” I think Allegri actually means what he said, and his cross town rivals are playing a major role in this.

Inter’s recent league and, to a lesser extent, cup domination has irritated many around the peninsula. By winning the past five Scudettos and three of the past seven Coppa Italias, other clubs, understandably, are fed up with Inter’s winning ways in Italy. While their run of league championships is about to end, they are favorites to advance to their sixth final in the past seven years. Conversely, Milan has not won any domestic silverware since 2004 and the chance to take two titles away from Inter this year is just too sweet to pass up.

The remaining three clubs in the semifinals have their own incentives for winning the cup. Inter and Roma both suffered slow starts to the league campaign which put a damper on the title aspirations both sides had heading into this season after only being separated by two points in the table last year. That, coupled with Champions League knockouts, has the Coppa Italia as the only piece of silverware that can be won by either of these clubs. While the trophy was not at the top of either’s list heading into the season, winning will be a cause for optimism heading into the summer. Palermo, similarly, has been disappointing this season. There is only so much that TSG favorite Javier Pastore can do and the Sicilian side currently sits in eighth place with no shot at qualifying for the Champions League. With only the slimmest of chances for Europa League, based on their final standings in Serie A, a Coppa Italia victory is their ticket to European soccer and the expense of the sixth place finisher in the league.

Adding to the excitement of this year’s cup has been the matchups from the Round of 16 on.
Great matches including Roma defeating Lazio in the Round of 16, Inter defeating Napoli on penalties in the quarterfinals, and Roma defeating Juventus in the quarterfinals were the highlights. With these fixtures, neither team wanted to lose to a rival which led to great, exciting soccer. These fixtures, and the new mentalities by the clubs regarding the cup, brought the fans back. In the 17 matches from the Round of 16 through the final in the 2009-2010 Coppa Italia, the average attendance was 15,543. For comparison, the average attendance for 2009-2010 league matches was 24,603. This year’s Coppa Italia, through the first leg of the semifinals, has an average attendance of 19,413 (league average is 23,916). With the second semifinal leg and the final, I would expect the Coppa attendance to be over 20,000 – which would be approximately a 25% increase from just last season. 

Semifinal Recap

The first semifinal match pitted the defending champions Inter against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in a rematch of last year’s heated final (which saw Francesco Totti try to inflict serious harm on Mario Balotelli). The match itself was a rather lackluster affair which more closely resembled a war of attrition rather than a soccer match. Although soccer is a 90 minute match, it sometimes ultimately comes down to one or two plays that determine how a match swings. The first was a missed (and I mean missed – at the 0:40 mark) opportunity for Roma early in the match and the other was a stroke of pure brilliance from Inter. Not surprisingly the match ended 1-0 heading to the second leg in Milan. You might think I’m shortchanging this recap, but trust me, I’m not.

The real fireworks occurred the next day in Milan as Milan and Palermo battled to a 2-2 draw. Zlatan Ibrahimović, amazingly, was able to stay on the pitch long enough and not be sent off to put Milan up 1-0 in just the fourth minute. Palermo, to their credit, battled back and took a 2-1 just after halftime through goals from the two biggest summer transfer targets in Italy: Javier Pastore and Abel Hernández. Milan answered just 15 minutes from time with a goal from one of their January signings Urby Emanuelson and the match ended 2-2 with Palermo scoring two giant away goals. Highlights here (and what a strike from Hernández, you deserve that dance Abel).

2^nd Leg Preview

Inter v Roma

Although, technically, Roma is still in the tie, I do not see things falling right for i Lupi and Inter should progress to the final solely based on the fact that Totti is still out through suspension. As you may remember, Totti was handed a four match ban for the aforementioned kick on Balotelli in last year’s final. While the club was able to advance past Lazio and Juventus without Totti, Inter is in a different league than those two clubs and the suspension has finally caught up with the capital club. With the form of Totti since the calendar turned to 2011, one wouldn’t be able to count out Roma in the second leg if available, but that’s not the case this year.  The Inter machine, on the other hand, is continuing to move along. While this has been by all accounts a disappointing season for Inter, they still sit in second in the league and know what it takes to be champions and how to grind out results when needed. I think that is what will happen when these two meet on May 11^th. That being said, it won’t be easy. Familiarity has bred contempt between the two squads. Between their two league fixtures that are played yearly and their penchant for being drawn together in the Coppa, the knowledge, and dislike, between the two is there.

Palermo v Milan

In contrast to the other match, the underdogs from Sicily have the upper hand in the second leg. The two away goals scored at the San Siro will prove invaluable. On March 19, Palermo defeated Milan 1-0 at home, but read into that what you will. Palermo has been a rollercoaster all season with big wins and big losses.

Palermo should also look at this match as their first real chance to garner a big piece of silverware. For a club whose biggest recent trophy won was the Serie B championship in 2004, they should be up for this match with a chance to advance to the finals. Finally, Palermo’s roster has been subject to summer transfer rumors since the winter transfer window ended. It is likely that their entire roster will be dismantled and sold off to the highest bidder with many of the biggest clubs in the world tracking the transfer status of their players – specifically Pastore and Hernández. So realistically, this may be Palermo’s only real chance to win a competition in the near future. I think Milan’s mindset was decided over the weekend with their match with Roma. With a point, Milan clinched their first Scudetto since 2004 and the hangover, both literal and figurative, may still be with the club. With a league title, I would expect many of the Milan players to over look this match with Palermo. I think the two away goals will prove to be the decider and Palermo will advance to face Inter.

With the recent reemergence of the importance of cup soccer, the second legs of these Coppa Italia semifinals qualify as can’t miss matches – and the same goes for the final at the end of May. The varying storylines – the upstarts from Palermo, the trophy grabbers from Milan, and the season salvagers from both Roma and Inter – provide excitement and intrigue to the matches ahead. The final in Rome should come down to Inter v Palermo, but the beauty of cup soccer is you never know and that’s why I’ll be tuning in to watch every minute of the upcoming matches.

Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina between AC Milan and cross city rivals

Kevin Prince Boateng, celebrating earlier this year, would have cause again...

Internazionale was widely tipped to be the league title decider. The matchup featured the top two clubs in Italy with the red-and-black half of Milan holding a two point lead at the top of the table. With so much on the line it was expected that the two clubs would play a hard-fought, lively, and entertaining match. Both sides spent the week exchanging jabs at each other.

Kevin-Prince Boateng claimed that although Inter seems confident, “closed in the dressing room they’re scared.” Samuel Eto’o tried to put the pressure on Milan by claiming that Milan was the favorite as they were in first and as such had more to lose than his Inter team. He also went on to state that no matter the outcome of the match, the league title was still up for grabs. Unfortunately, Inter played as though the match was as unimportant as Eto’o made it seem. Conversely, Milan played with passion and desire and, not surprisingly, they walked away from the San Siro with a 3-0 victory that extended their lead to five points with only seven matches in the season left.

Both squads were missing key players for the match as Zlatan Ibrahimović served the second match of his two-match suspension for punching Bari defender Marco Rossi, and Lúcio missed the match for an accumulation of yellow cards. As the match went on, it was evident that the absence of Lúcio was more of a factor in the match than that of Ibrahimović. It fact, it almost looked as though the Milan offense was released from the burden that Ibrahimović sometimes imposes when he’s in the lineup. With him in the side, it is as if Milan tries too hard to feed him the ball as opposed to having him as just one piece of many in the offense. The same problem arose during his time in Barcelona.

With the international break last weekend, Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri was able to successfully institute the tactics necessary to attack the weakness of Inter’s defense – the center back pairing of Ranocchia and Chivu – while correcting mistakes from the defeat at the hands Palermo two weeks ago.

Speed up top...

Against Palermo, Allegri went with Antonio Cassano and Pato up front while leaving Robinho on the bench. With the strength of Inter’s defense found on the wings with Maicon and Zanetti, and the lack of the aerial presence that Ibrahimović provides, Allegri realized he was going to have to attack Milan through the center of the pitch. Neither of Inter’s center backs is going to win many foot races so Allegri went with the two speedy Brazilians, Pato and Robinho, up top with Kevin-Prince Boateng playing in the hole. This move paid immediate dividends as Pato was able to latch onto a rebound from a Robinho shot to score and put Milan up 1-0 in the first minute of the match.

One play in particular stood out and showed that Milan were taking the match much more seriously than Inter were and that, consequently, it was going to be a long night for Inter. Early in the first half, Clarence Seedorf played a ball up the line for Robinho that was heading out into touch. Maicon lazily ran over to the ball to usher it out while Robinho was in a dead sprint to try to keep it in play. As the ball finally crossed the line, Robinho made a clean challenge while going for the ball on his Brazilian compatriot which sent Maicon off the pitch and into the Inter bench and no foul was called. Normally, Robinho does not chase these balls down and definitely doesn’t go in on challenges, but in this instance he did. This resonated with the Milan players and told them that if Robinho was going all out for this match then they needed to match his intensity.  And they did.

After that opening goal, Milan stayed on the front foot throughout the match and Inter was never really able to get things going. Milan, through Van Bommel and Gattuso (and later Flamini after Gattuso went off with injury in the second half) exerted their will over Cambiasso and Thiago Motta which prevented the link-up from the midfield to Inter’s attackers. Sneijder, Eto’o, Pandev, and Pazzini were all nonfactors and were anonymous for long stretches of the match. Milan’s attack, on the other hand, applied constant pressure on Inter’s defense. Seedorf and Boateng were able to do whatever they wanted and wove passes through the midfield to Pato and Robinho. For all the service that Robinho was given he really should have done better with his finishing. The score could have easily been 4-0 if it hadn’t been for the combination of Robinho’s lack of finishing and some key Júlio César saves.

Even before Chivu was sent off in the 54^th minute, the match was well in hand for Milan. Pato grabbed his second shortly thereafter in the 62^nd minute, and afterwards Milan was content to play keep-away from Inter up two goals and one man. The only real fireworks came after the 80^th minute introduction of Cassano. He came on for Robinho and oddly took it upon himself to act as a cheerleader on the pitch instructing the Milan supporters to make noise. Cassano, in his 10 minutes of work, drew a penalty that he converted, received a yellow card in the celebration for removing his shirt, and received a second yellow card and dismissal for an unnecessary foul in the second minute of stoppage time.

It is easy to point to Pato as being the Man of the Match with his two goals, which he dedicated to his new girlfriend Barbara Berlusconi (always risky dating the boss’ daughter), but I think we need to look elsewhere.

Pato, back on form...

As much as I disapprove of Van Bommel’s style of play, he effectively negated Wesley Sneijder which is no easy task. Along with Gattuso and Flamini, he was able to step in and intercept passes, make tackles when needed, and overall provide a shield in front of the Milan backline which was rarely troubled throughout the match.

With seven matches remaining, Inter is not completely out of the title hunt, but their title aspirations are on thin ice. While the two clubs have a similar strength of schedule down the stretch, and both are in the semifinals of the Coppa Italia, Inter has Champions League fixtures to worry about and that might well be the difference.