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If you thought the end of the EPL season was crazy, get a load of Serie A

Fiorentina_celebrates_ap

If you thought today’s amazing results in the English Premier League provided an unforgettable finish to the EPL season, get a load of what happened in Serie A in its next to last weekend (results coming for those of you who try to avoid such things).

The race between Inter Milan and Roma at the top of Serie A tightened up even more as Siena held Inter to a 2-2 tie while AS Roma posted a 2-1 win against Atalanta to pull within a point of Inter for the Scudetto.

This sets up an unbelievable final week where the two title hopefuls happen to be facing off against the two teams fighting to escape relegation. Catania, currently two points clear of the relegation zone, will play Roma, currently one point behind Inter while Inter faces Parma, which is the team trying to catch Catania.

That’s four teams desperate for wins facing off in the final week of the season.

But wait, it doesn’t end there.

Fiorentina also moved past AC Milan for the final Champions League place, sliding two points ahead of Milan with a game to play. Fiorentina has a seemingly harmless match against Torino while Milan must beat a Udinese team in its own fight for Europe.

Yes, there’s more. (okay so maybe not)

Udinese fell two points behind Sampdoria for the final UEFA Cup place and needs a win against Milan coupled with a Sampdoria loss to Juventus to earn that UEFA Cup berth. My Serie A experts tell me Udinese has already secured a UEFA Cup place by other means.

Talk about drama.

So yes, if you are an EPL fan worried about withdrawal following the end of the season, you can find plenty of drama in the final round of Serie A matches. They will definitely be worth watching.

Comments

  1. Chris you hit the nail on the head I agree depth was a big problem especially with Sunday,Thursday,Sunday games.Either way here’s hoping we don’t get raided on the transfer market.I would like to see us pick-up a forward with some speed and strength (here’s a dream how about Jozy) and a midfield bulldog.

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  2. I’m still bummed about the loss to Rangers as well. We did sort of run out of gas at the end of the season. Not enough depth (though, great as Prandelli has been as coach for us, I wonder why he didn’t give more playing time to some of our players so we’d be fresher here at the end of the season). We’ve had a number of very poor performances in these past few weeks when we were competing on multiple fronts, but this past weekend, when we were able to get a break between matches, we seemed to play well. Hopefully we’ll have a good showing next week and seal the deal for the CL spot for the Viola, but if we don’t make it then it would probably be for the best that we spend another year in the UEFA cup instead so we can get better at playing in multiple competitions.

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  3. Why are you guys talking about the USMNT when this article is about Serie A?

    —–
    Inter should still win the league despite recent mistakes.

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  4. Wow my grammer was CRAP meant to say:Chris,being a Fiorentina fan as well I agree 100% if we can’t beat Torino we don’t deserve it. I’m still bummed over the loss to Rangers,hope our luck changes

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  5. Chris,being a Fiorentina fan as well I agree 100% if we can’t beat Torino we don’t it. I’m still bummed over the loss to Rangers,hope our lick changes

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  6. How dare you say another league might be as exciting as the Premiership!!! Blasphemy!!!

    Just kidding, it looks like there is alot to play for and alot on the line. Should be exciting!

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  7. Udinese weren’t granted a uefa license, so i don’t think they’ll be allowed in any uefa competition next year.

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  8. Ives might be right about Udinese already qualifying for UEFA (and for that matter, Samp may have also). Italy gets 3 spots I believe – 2 determined by league table and one for the winner of the Coppa Italia. However the Coppa Italia final will be between Inter and Roma – two teams that have already qualified for CL. If the winner is in the CL then the runner up team would take the remaining UEFA cup spot, but since both teams in the final already have CL, neither will go for UEFA and that third spot may (and this is the part I’m not sure of, but …) go back to being determined by league standings and fall to the team in 7th place. I hope I’m wrong on this as I would love for Udinese to go into their match against Milan with something to fight for (as I’m a Fiorentina supporter and would love to see my team go through to the CL, but truth be told if we can’t beat a Torino team with nothing to play for next week then we don’t deserve it and are probably not ready for it anyway)

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  9. how did this turn into a mnt debate?? o well, nothing wrong with that…

    Ives, i think u were right with the original Udinese chance at Uefa cup… right now they are in 7th place, and 5th-6th place gets Uefa cup…

    Milan are assured at least a uefa cup spot but can get to CL if la viola loses and milan wins

    sampdoria (after another great showing by Cassano) are playing for uefa cup as a win cannot get them CL, but a loss and an Udinese win gets them out of europe completely…

    i like both samp and udinese so i guess as long as milan pulls a bayern, im happy.

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  10. No, he won’t be too old. He’s 29 now. And alot of those names you mention will need a bit of development before they’ll be contributors in 2010. Might want to see who does and who doesn’t before you start calling for them to be included in a callup. I.E. You’ll see Bob call a 2-3 new guys in per camp as their form and his needs dictate.

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  11. Cherundolo may be helpful during qualifying, but won’t he be to old by 2010?

    I think a couple of things — obviously all of these are just one fan’s opinion. I’d be curious for Ives to do a breakdown of where he sees the position depth and what he views as the top challenges.

    1) We need a real centerforward target. A Brian McBride type. I am not convinced Jozy is that guy to play with his back to goal. I think the options are like a Brian Ching or maybe even an Eddie Johnson? Chris Rolfe? Of the group Kenny Cooper is the most intriguing choice.

    2) In an ideal world we would be able to get Donovan, Adu, and Jozy on the pitch behind the aforementioned centerforward. With that as your offense, I think Dempsey can be a bit of an odd man out. Believe me I think Dempsey is great, just throwing it out there.

    3) Having Donovan, Adu, and Jozy places a premium on having holding midfielders– Michael Bradley has had such a stellar year, Ricardo Clark? Is Benny Felihaber going to change clubs now? Neither Donovan or Adu really defend much. Dempsey in particular is pretty lax defensively.

    4) It also relies on wingers– I think Sal Zizzo should get a look on the right. Don’t know much about Spector on the left (inclusion by default). Maybe Eddie Gaven? Including Spector made me want to include Convey as a left midfielder. So there it is. Obviously I considered– and think highly of Beasley– but gave the nod to Convey based on gut.

    5) I think it’s pretty clear that Howard, Bocanegra, and Onyewu should be the bedrock of the defense. So clear in fact, I wouldn’t know who else should be considered for a look at centerback.

    6) I also think quite highly of Hunter Freeman– and Marvell Wynne for that matter.

    7) I think if you want to see the 2010 World Cup team start looking at least year’s under-20 team and this year’s Olympic team. I mean a guy like Taylor Twellman etc could be helpful in the short-run, but I think Bradley should (and will) build toward 2010 as much as grind out results in the short-run.

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  12. Today’s Inter-Siena game was such a great game! It was back and forth action throughout. I went from cursing at the TV when Inter was awarded a PK in the 79th minute for a Rigano’ shirt tug on Materazzi, to jumping out of my seat and cheering when Manninger saved the Materazzi PK!!!

    Oh, I really hope that Roma wins the title next week!!!

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  13. Dolo is Steve Cherundolo, Sal Zizzo’s team mate and Hannover 96’s vice captain. IMO, clearly the USMNT 1st choice right back.

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  14. Sorry, but who is Dolo? Is it some nickname i haven’t heard before?

    I really like Florigan’s lineup. Zizzo would be better fit as a wing back, because of his lack of speed, but great technical ability.

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  15. Howard, Dolo, Gooch, Boca, Spector, Beasley, Bradley, Benny, Landy, Deuce, and Jozy.

    But that’s just me.

    Any chance of Gabriel Ferrari getting playing time?

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  16. Two things:

    (1) With Reading going down and Watford staying down any chance guys like Convey jump to a new club?

    (2) There’s a little over a month until World Cup Qualifying starts for the USA.

    What will the team look like? Who is going to make the roster in South Africa?

    It’s always fun to project into the future so I’ll start: here’s the team that takes the field for the first match of group play in South Africa:

    GK: Howard

    LB: Spector

    RB: Zizzo

    CB: Bocanegra, Onyewu

    CM: Bradley

    CM: Convey

    AM: Adu

    AM: Donovan

    ST: Altidore

    CF: Cooper

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