Lega Calcio schedule release

The Serie A & Serie B schedules were released on July 31. After initially indicating the calendar for the 2007-08 campaign would be delivered on July 19, Lega Calcio chose to wait two weeks while they uh… well, we never did get an explanation as to why the date was moved back.

You’d think drawing up the schedule would be a piece of cake. 20 teams, everyone plays each other once on the road and once at home. 38 fixtures. No sweat. Well, this is Italy, my friend. Where there is no drama or tension, the Italians go and create it. As George
Orwell wrote in Animal Farm:  All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

There is a seeding system which protects the rich snobby powerful cheating  top finishers in Serie A from playing one another in the first or last round (Inter, Milan, Lazio, Roma and Juventus). Hmmmm…I thought Juventus didn’t play in Serie A last year? It turns out, either because it was requested by “smaller” teams or fellow “big” teams, Juventus would also have this advantage. There is also a new stipulation this year that the first few and last matches will be scheduled without the big derby matchups.

I think the entire seeding system is a joke and the draws should be completely random. However, that just isn’t the way it’s done over at the Lega Calcio offices. So while I don’t think there’s any advantage to be gained here, someone thinks there is. And yet
again, Juventus get the benefit of the doubt. We’ll see how the refeering assignments and decisions come out this year and Collina’s impact to determine if things really have changed in Italy.

The schedule itself is broken into two “girones” or rounds. The first 19 fixtures are the called the andata and the next 19 fixtures are the ritorno. The divider between the two occurs two matches after the winter break. Clear as mud? Ok, moving on.

Here is Napoli’s fixture schedule (bold dates indicate home match, first date is andata and then the ritorno date):

Cagliari Aug. 26 | Jan. 27
Udinese Sep. 2 | Feb. 3
Sampdoria Sep. 16 | Feb. 10
Empoli Sep. 23 | Feb. 17
Livorno Sep. 26 | Feb. 24
Genoa Sep. 30 | Feb. 27
Inter Oct. 7 | Mar. 2
Roma Oct.21 | Mar. 9
Juventus Oct. 28 | Mar. 16
Fiorentina Oct. 31 | Mar. 19
Reggina Nov. 4 | Mar. 22
Palermo Nov. 11 | Mar. 30
Catania Nov. 25 | Apr. 6
Atalanta Dec. 2 | Apr. 13
Parma Dec. 9 | Apr. 20
Siena Dec. 16 | Apr. 27
Torino Dec. 23| May 4
Milan Jan. 13 | May 11
Lazio Jan. 20 | May 18

Since every team plays each other twice on the road and at home there is no real advantage no matter how the schedule plays out. However, at the very least, one look at the stretch beginning in late September will tell you Napoli came out on the losing end of the schedule. In the span of 32 days (girone andata) and 22 days (girone ritorno), Napoli play five teams that have combined to win 56 scudetti. Yes, I know Genoa hasn’t won the title since before the Azzurri lifted their first World Cup trophy. And yes I know Juve fans will say that they’ve actually won 29 and Inter will… oh what’s the point? Anyone who saw Genoa last year knows they are a dynamic attacking side capable of beating anyone in Serie A. For as much I like to slag off Juventus, even I can’t deny they have a quality, quality side and it’ll be an upset if they don’t wind up in the top 4.

The first match against Cagliari should be festive and glorious event at San Paolo. Let’s hope Napoli fares better than in their last three initial Serie A matches. Napoli were defeated by Juventus, Lazio and Parma and outscored 7 to 1. Ouch.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Uniform numbers were released
1 Iezzo, 2 Grava, 3 Rullo, 4 Montervino, 5 Gatti, 6 Maldonado, 7 Lavezzi, 8 Pià, 9 Sosa, 11 Calaiò, 12 Del Giudice, 14 Garics, 16 Cupi, 17 Hamsik, 18 Bogliacino, 19 Savini, 20 De Zerbi, 21 Domizzi, 22 Gianello, 23 Gargano, 24 Dalla Bona, 27 Capparella, 28 Cannavaro, 29 Bucchi, 55 Romito, 82 Grieco.
It really kills me that guys like Grava and Montervino are still with the club. Until they show some quality on the pitch, I’m going to continue pointing out that these two are rubbish and need to go play with Hellas Verona down in Serie C1.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I’ll be vacationing today and, by design, will be nowhere near a computer. Talk to you all again before the Birra Moretti tournament. Napoli, Inter Milan and Juventus at the San Paolo? Wow, good times.

Category: Team News

Tags: schedule, Team News

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share