SOCCER SERIE A ARTICLES

Two teams desperately trying to avoid relegation will square off in ESPN’s nationally televised Serie A Game of the Week when Frosinone hosts Empoli. This is Frosinone’s second season ever in Serie A and they are trying to avoid the immediate relegation that befell them the first time around. Empoli have spent more time in Serie A over their history than Frosinone, but both clubs only won promotion back to Italy’s top league last year. ... 

We’re only eight games into the Serie A campaign, but many are already awarding Juventus their eighth straight league championship. Juventus have once again appeared to be head and shoulders better than any other team in Italy, and they are already six points clear of the field. They have a head-to-head win over their biggest competitor in Napoli, so it will be hard for anyone to catch them if they don’t take their foot off the gas pedal. Every team other than Napoli is a heavy underdog to rally to win the league. ... 

Both Parma and Genoa are off to great starts this season. Not much was expected from either club at the beginning of the year. Parma was in Serie D just three years ago, but they won promotion in three successive seasons to make it back to Serie A after financial problems had submarined the team. They are currently in 10th place and doing much better than anyone believed they would. ... 

Chievo Verona have been one of the success stories in Italian soccer. For most of their history, the club was playing at a regional level rather than a national one, but they have had a meteoric rise up the tier system over the last three decades. They went from playing regional soccer in the mid-1980s to playing in Serie A in the early 2000s, and they have spent all but one season at the highest level of Italian soccer since breaking through. ... 

It looks like an eighth straight Serie A title for Juventus is academic at this point. The Turin-based club is already three points up on SPAL and Napoli and five points up on every other team in Italy after the first month of the season. It hasn’t been as easy as you might think though. Three of Juventus’ four games were decided by just one goal, and that has led to them failing to cover on the Serie A goal line on three separate occasions. They are once again favored by multiple goals against this week’s opponent, Frosinone, despite the trend. ... 

Sassuolo are off to a great start this season. They are currently sitting in second place in the Serie A standings through the first three weeks of the year. Sassuolo are continuing to prove that they belong in the top tier of Italian soccer after first earning promotion six years ago, and their fans are hopeful they can qualify for European play for just the second time. ... 

Teams in southern Italy don’t traditionally have success in Serie A. The league has been dominated by the more prosperous north since the league’s inception, with southern Italy’s lone source of pride typically being Napoli. Napoli has won two Serie A titles in their history, and they are looking to win a third this season. Juventus may be the heavy favorites, but Napoli finished in second place last season and were just four points behind them at the end of the year. ... 

It was nearly a dreadful start to the Serie A season for Juventus. Juventus are looking to win their eighth straight Italian championship, yet they nearly suffered a defeat in their first match of the year. Chievo gave the defending champions all they could handle for most of the match, before eventually falling to Juventus late. It was certainly a wake-up call for Juventus, who will now look for a much better performance at home against Lazio on Saturday. ...