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The Downside to Friendlies: Injuries. Also, Some Serie A Predictions

August 18th, 2008 | By: Julian | 19 Comments »

-Giorgio Chiellini was injured last night during the Trofeo Berlusconi in a collision with Milan’s Alberto Paloschi. There were initial fears that he could be out for as many as 6 months, but today Juve’s medical staff predicts he should be back by the end of September. The long lay off was due to fears that he had torn a cruciate ligament in his knee, but the injury is actually much less severe than what was first thought.

Here’s a picture of Chiellini, injured last night. Thanks to alessio over at the Juve Offside for the pic.

-So who’s replacing GC in the lineup for the Azzurri’s next friendly (against Austria) on Weds? Believe it or not, it’s Nicola Legrottaglie. He’s been out of the national team for 4(!) years but finally got his call up, albeit only because Chiellini got injured. It’s up to him now to prove his worth. Personally, I’ve never seen him as a great defender- he’s great when partnered with GC, but I’ve never been convinced of his individual abilities. Maybe he can prove me wrong come Weds.

We’re less than 2 weeks away from the start of the Serie A. Most teams have strengthened considerably- purchases/transfers like Julio Baptista (Roma), Ronaldinho (Milan), Amauri (Juve), Gila (Fior), and Mourinho (Yeah, he’s not a player, but as far as managers go, he’s top. He’s a winner, end of) immediately spring to mind. This could turn out to be one of, if not the, most exciting Serie A seasons in history. Other league like the English Premier League have already started, and there’s been some shockers- Who knew that Chelsea could actually play beautiful football? But for my money, Serie A is the league to watch this season. There’s probably 5 teams that can push for the Scudetto, and with Juve and Fior in Europe, the Champions League might find it’s way back to Italy. And since Milan is in the UEFA Cup, I fully expect to see that in Italy as well.

That being said, here’s a couple random predictions/guesses/hunches about this year from me. Feel free to make your own. Award names are basde on last year’s performances (Ie, the ADP award is named that because Del P finished last year as top scorer):

The Del Piero Award for Top Goalscorer: Ibracadabra (If he can stay fit)
Best Partnership Up Front: Mutu and Gila
The Roma Award for Most Attractive Play by a Team: Roma
The Maggio Award for being a Breakout right/leftback: John Arne Riise
The Udinese Award for Being the Only Team to Not Lose to Inter at All: Udinese
AC Milan’s Award for Failing to Win at Home till January: Atalanta

More predictions to come as the season draws nearer.

Tags: Giorgio Chiellini, Group E, Italy, Nicola Legrottaglie, Serie A

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Comments

By alessio | August 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

How can Riise “break out” when he’s been in 2 CL finals already…

Posted from United States

By Julian | August 18th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Because the awards are for the Serie A and not for the Champions League. I may be wrong but this is his first year playing for Roma, no?

By alessio | August 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

I suppose, but I figured “break out” meant more an unknown emerging as a great player, like Maggio or Giovinco of last year.

Posted from United States

By calisi | August 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Why can’t Juve have the previous not to lose to Inter award, as they tied once and beat Inter.. while Udinese just tied both games

Posted from United States

By KJ | August 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Heres a prediction…Palermo takes points of Roma in Week 2

By Marco Pantanella | August 18th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

Yeah… Riise “breaking out”? Not much of a fan either. I give that award to Stevan Jovetic.

Posted from France

By Julian | August 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

By “break out” I mean “Guy who’s gonna do awesome on the wing that wasn’t there[in serie A] last year”. I could see Riise taking Serie A by storm with his left foot

By Bashar | August 18th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Udinese haven’t lost to Inter in 2 years no?

I know Santacroce did really well last season but maybe he can be the breakout fullback?

Posted from United States

By calisi | August 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

That’s possible but it is based on last year’s performance

By alessio | August 18th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

Juventus hasn’t lost to Inter in 2 years either… but I guess if we said that we could include every C1 team too.

Posted from United States

By gianfranco | August 18th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

Riise really, you do realize that this is the same guy that barely sniffed the first team at Pool last season for long spells. The same guy who fell in out of favor with Benitez, who pulls his lineups out of hat, the same guy that opened the door for Chelsea to the final. If I was a Roma, thank god I was not given that harsh fate, I would hope this guy was on the bench…

Posted from United States

By vin | August 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Well, gianfranco, sometimes a change of scenery does good things for certain players, and they experience a Renaissance of sorts. So maybe that’ll happen with Riise. As long as his leg still works, anything can happen. Speaking of players experiencing a Renaissance due to change in scenery, Gila’s going to be one of them, I think.

Posted from United States

By Mostafa | August 19th, 2008 at 3:54 am

All I hope is that Totti stays “uninjured” through out the season, and Riise plays well, and Baptista finds form, and Roma get the Scudetto pretty simple! Forza Roma… R.I.P Presedinte!

By t | August 19th, 2008 at 10:32 am

Belgium lost to Nigeria hahaha almost makes me forget about Italia

Posted from Canada

By Bobo | August 19th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

It’s obvious that the wrong team went through to the semifinals.

Although they might not have been absolutely brilliant against Belgium, Italy deserved to advance ahead of a dirty side that should rightly have conceded about 4 penalties throughout the course of the game.

I doubt Nigeria would have dominated Italy.

By Johonna | August 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Inter did beat Juve in a Coppa Italia game. Of course, we didnt play Udinese last year in Coppa Italia so who knows how that would have gone.

Posted from United States

By alessio | August 19th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

The what game?

Posted from United States

By Johonna | August 19th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

Oh Alessio, dont be coy. You know you would have loved it if Juve won the coppa italia last year.

And a win is a win, even if it comes during a meaningless cup tournament.

Posted from United States

By alessio | August 19th, 2008 at 11:48 pm

I would have loved it only because we would have been able to put a silver star on our jerseys. (10 wins, baby) Maybe we can do it this season, it’d be very nice to add a gold and silver star at the end, no?

Posted from United States

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