It All Begins At Friuli.
By: vin | August 14th, 2008
I’m not just talking about Udinese’s campaign here, ladies and gents; on Saturday, August 30 at 5 p.m. local time, the Zebrette and the Rosanero will kick off the entire 2008-2009 Serie A season, hopefully in front of an energetic home crowd. It should be an interesting match too, as both squads saw their fair share of players bolt for the door during this mercato, and I’m sure that supporters from both sides will be anxious to see how well their teams have filled in the gaps.
Now… as for the list of fixtures post-August, I’ve posted it below. Additionally, I’ve added my own color-coding scheme, which can be interpreted as follows:
Red: These squads are almost a guaranteed pain in the ass for Udine. Sorry, but they are. Don’t get mad at me if your squad doesn’t appear in red, OK? It doesn’t mean they’re not good, and besides… it’s not like I know what I’m talking about anyway.
Orange: Think of orange as Red Jr. These are the squads that can take points from the top-tier any day of the week, and as a result, they can do the same to the Zebrette. (Yeah, yeah… you could argue that any team fits that description, but I’m talking about the ones that have the best chance of doing so, OK?) For the record, this is how I’d categorize Udinese if Udinese played themselves… but if that was the case, there would be two Quagliarellas on the pitch at the same time, and I’m pretty sure that such an excess of firepower would destroy the stadium, so it’s not worth considering. Wait… I just did consider it, didn’t I?
Green: Sleepers. No, not sleepers as in boring… sleepers as in squads that will bite you in the ass if you underestimate them. Some are more obvious than others, and in fairness, some of these could end up at the bottom of the table for all I know… but I doubt it. Any of these can give the Zebrette a run for their money.
Blue: Udine shouldn’t underestimate these squads either, but only because no team in Serie A should ever be underestimated. That said, on paper, these don’t quite pack the punch of the others. Then again, bear in mind that these may also be the squads that are fighting to keep their heads above the relegation zone at the end of the season, and that could make them just as dangerous as the squads marked in red come spring.
Purple: I have no f***ing clue how to categorize these, mainly because I know next to nothing about them. Sorry! Point being, I can’t really speculate as to how Udine will handle them.
August
Sat. 30
H Palermo Friuli September Sun. 14
A Juventus Olimpico di Torino Sun. 21 H Napoli Friuli Wed. 24
A Bologna Renato Dall’Ara Sun. 28
H Siena Friuli October Sun. 5
H Torino Friuli Sun. 19
A Lecce Via del Mare Sun. 26
H Roma Friuli Wed. 29 A Catania Angelo Massimino November Sun. 2
H Genoa Friuli Sun. 9
A Inter Milan Giuseppe Sinigaglia Sun. 16
H Reggina Friuli Sun. 23
A Fiorentina Artemio Franchi Sun. 30
H Chievo Friuli December Sun. 7 A Atalanta A. Azzuri d’Italia Sun. 14
H Lazio Friuli Sun. 21
A AC Milan San Siro January Sun. 11
H Sampdoria Friuli Sun. 18
A Cagliari Sant’Elia Sun. 25
A Palermo Renzo Barbera Wed. 28
H Juventus Friuli February Sun. 1
A Napoli San Paolo Sun. 8
H Bologna Friuli Sun. 15
A Siena Artemio Franchi (S) Sun. 22
A Torino Olimpico di Torino March Sun. 1
H Lecce Friuli Sun. 8
A Roma Olimpico Sun. 15 H Catania Friuli Sun. 22
A Genoa Luigi Ferraris April Sun. 5
H Inter Milan Friuli Sat. 11
A Reggina Oreste Granillo Sun. 19
H Fiorentina Friuli Sun. 26
A Chievo M. Bentegodi May Sun. 3 H Atalanta Friuli Sun. 10
A Lazio Olimpico Sun. 17
H AC Milan Friuli Sun. 24 A Sampdoria Luigi Ferraris Sun. 31
H Cagliari Friuli
Alright, there you have it. Cue the “OMG! How dare u make my team _____! We should totally be _____, you _____ _____!” comments. Just try to keep in mind that the colors are based on how well I think Udinese will do against them. I’m not trying to rank the squads outright or start any wars here. OK?
Now for the (somewhat) good news… given the fixtures list, I don’t see any months that need to be dreaded to any extreme degree. I mean… granted, some are more difficult (September, April, May) than others, but I don’t see any stints with Inter-Juve-Milan (or a similar combination) in rapid succession, so that’s promising. Also, it’s nice to both start and finish the season at home, I think.
One more thing: Before this whole thing starts, Udine still have two more pre-season matches which will allow them to run some diagnostics. Specifically, the Zebrette are visiting Villarreal on August 21, and Espanyol on August 24. Both should be pretty good tests, but I’m too busy staring at August 30 to care.
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Category: Udinese Team News
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Comments
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I may bleed red and yellow but I hope the zebrette have a good season, I’m a big fan of their attack and look forwards to watching Quagliarella scoring goals of the season. Any word on whether or not he might still head to Roma?
Posted from
Belgium
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If it’s in the works, mkm, it’s being kept under wraps. I haven’t read anything since that piece on Goal.com (or was it Channel 4?) a week ago.
Posted from
United States -
Quagliarella is going nowhere, I don’t think…least not this year. He needs to take another step forward or he’s looking at scrub time at any of the big squads. I don’t think getting 5 or 10 minutes match time per week is in his best interest right now anyway.
Hopefully he steps it up in the UEFA Cup and Udinese don’t do what every other Italian club seems to do in the UEFA Cup (play scrubs, get booted out so they “concentrate on the league”).
Posted from
United States
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