RAI International is showing 5 Serie B games this week (all taped, of course). And there are some of the big teams at last and two very interesting southern derbies. All of these are shown around 5 am EST on weekday mornings. Monday - Catania-Palermo Tuesday - Ternana-Fiorentina Wednesday - Como-Cagliari Thursday - Venezia-Torino Friday - Napoli-Salernitana
14^ Giornata Atalanta-Como 2-1 Avellino-Albinoleffe 0-3 Cagliari-Venezia 2-2 Fiorentina-Genoa 2-2 Livorno-Treviso 2-0 Messina-Verona 1-0 Palermo-Napoli 4-0 Pescara-Piacenza 1-0 Salernitana-Bari 2-0 Ternana-Ascoli 1-1 Torino-Catania 1-0 Triestina-Vicenza 0-1 Classifica: Atalanta 30 Palermo 29 Ternana 27 Livorno 26 Torino 23 Cagliari 22 Catania 21 Messina 21 Treviso 20 Piacenza 20 Albinoleffe 19 Fiorentina 18 Pescara 18 Salernitana 17 Ascoli 17 Vicenza 16 Venezia 16 Triestina 16 Verona 15 Genoa 14 Napoli 13 Bari 10 Avellino 8 Como 8
Mid-week games last night (15a giornata) AlbinoLeffe 0 Cagliari 0 Bari 2 Pescara 2 Catania 1 Atalanta 1 Como 1 Salernitana 0 Fiorentina 3 Avellino 1 Genoa 2 Triestina 2 Napoli 2 Ternana 1 Piacenza 1 Ascoli 1 Treviso 1 Palermo 1 Venezia 2 Messina 0 Verona 1 Livorno 1 Vicenza 2 Torino 2 Lots of ties so not a lot of table movement. The exceptions: Como 1 Salernitana 0 Big win for Como keeps Eugenio Fascetti's job safe for the moment and lifts them out of the bottom spot. Fiorentina 3 Avellino 1 With one win - albeit over lowly Avellino - Viola jump from 12th to 8th. Napoli 2 Ternana 1 Napoli celebrates its first game back at San Paolo after their 5-game penalty and moves out of the relegation zone. Venezia 2 Messina 0 Believe it or not Messina had not lost in 8 games, a streak which saw them move from the bottom spot to 7th in the table. Current promotion zone: Atalanta 31 Palermo 30 Livorno 27 Ternana 27 Torino 24 Cagliari 23 And relegation: Genoa 15 Bari 11 Como 9 Avellino 8 Top scorers: Ferrante (Torino) 10 (2 pens) Spinesi (Bari) 10 (2) Moscardelli (Triestina) 9 Oliveira (Catania) 8 (3) Budan (Atalanta) 7 Lucarelli (Livorno) 7 Rigano' (Fiorentina) 7 (1) Protti (Livorno) 7 (3) Corini (Palermo) 7 (6)
no surprise there, with the 5 promotion spots available this season teams will be pulling out all the stops, making many (desperate) changes.. Palermo on top of B now after Napoli draws Atalanta. Recaps: http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/breports16.html promotion zone: Palermo 33 Atalanta 32 Ternana 30 Livorno 28 Torino 27 Messina and Piacenza tied on 24 pts for the playoff spot.
Sorry I've been outa the loop for a while. If 6 teams are being promoted, does that mean 6 will be going down from A? Or will A be expanding by 2 teams next season??? (Like I say, I missed all the reasons behind this, but it does seem pretty astounding...) --Thanks.
yeah, 5 are going straight up and 3 are coming down from A as Serie A adds 2 clubs. Also I believe the fourth from bottom A team will face the sixth place B side in a promotion/relegation playoff.
is it true that (( Palermo )) haven't been in seria A since the 70's ?????? i thought they one of the power houses in the italian calcio
Right, they haven't been in Serie A since 1972. This year they have their best chance in years at promotion to the top flight. If so, it'll be great for the league as the Palermo fans are among the most passionate in the country. Not sure about them being one of the "power houses" though, as they have never won the Scudetto nor the Coppa Italia. Just glancing at their "storia" page on their official website, where it says something like the club's history has mostly been about "suffering and disappointment". I think they wear that like a badge of honor.
Haven't been following Serie B closely this year. Just taking a look at the current standings, after 28 weeks: Atalanta 52 Ternana 48 Cagliari 45 Palermo 45 Piacenza 45 Messina 42 Livorno 41 Torino 40 Catania 39 Triestina 38 Salernitana 38 Fiorentina 37 Treviso 36 Verona 35 Ascoli 34 Napoli 34 Pescara 34 Vicenza 33 Albinoleffe 32 Venezia 30 Bari 27 Como 27 Genoa 27 Avellino 18 Cagliari seems to be doing well since their coaching change. A check of the leading goal scorers shows Gianfranco Zola has 9 (3 on pks). Hope he leads Cagliari to Serie A next season. Fiorentina's Rigano' leads the chart with 15 goals (5 on pk). Looks like Bari fired Marco Tardelli a while ago, but Eugenio Fascetti is still hanging in at Como, Luigi De Canio at Genoa, and Zdenak Zeman is still at lowly Avellino. Napoli, under Gigi Simoni, looks to be in good shape to avoid the drop.
Yes the new coach added a more pragmatic attitude. The Zola effect can be seen in the overall scoring. Cagliari has the better record in goals done (46). Suazo 10, Esposito 10, Zola 9. Let's hope. The chances are there.
Serie b 29a giornata http://www.raisport.rai.it/pub/static/42800/29020490MinutoSerieB_1.ram Albinoleffe - Bari 3 - 1 Ascoli - Napoli 1 - 1 Avellino - Venezia 1 - 0 Cagliari - Atalanta 5 - 1 Como - Treviso 2 - 1 Genoa - Ternana 4 - 1 Messina - Catania 3 - 0 Palermo - Torino 2 - 1 Piacenza - Fiorentina 2 - 0 Salernitana - Livorno 0 - 2 Triestina - Pescara 2 - 1 Verona - Vicenza 2 - 3 ATALANTA 52 13 13 3 39 23 CAGLIARI 48 13 9 7 51 32 PALERMO 48 12 12 5 40 26 TERNANA 48 13 9 7 41 31 PIACENZA 48 13 9 7 31 24 MESSINA 45 11 12 6 39 29 LIVORNO 44 10 14 5 36 27 TRIESTINA 41 10 11 8 39 38 TORINO 40 10 10 9 39 33 CATANIA 39 10 9 10 35 31 SALERNITANA 38 10 8 11 26 30 FIORENTINA 37 8 13 8 32 37 VICENZA 36 8 12 9 30 30 TREVISO 36 8 12 9 29 30 ASCOLI 35 8 11 10 34 36 VERONA 35 8 11 10 37 39 NAPOLI 35 6 17 6 22 28 ALBINOLEFFE 35 9 8 12 27 38 PESCARA 34 8 10 11 24 34 VENEZIA 30 6 12 11 23 31 GENOA 30 6 12 11 27 37 COMO 30 7 9 13 23 34 BARI 27 6 9 14 30 41 AVELLINO 21 3 12 14 25 40 15 Riganò (Fiorentina) 14 Protti (Livorno) Moscardelli (Triestina) Toni (Palermo) 12 Spinesi (Bari) Ferrante (Torino) Zampagna (Ternana) Myrtaj (Verona) 11 Oliveira (Catania) Suazo (Cagliari) Calaiò (Pescara) Zola (Cagliari) 10 Budan (Atalanta) Lucarelli (Livorno) Tiribocchi (Torino) Esposito (Cagliari) Pià (Ascoli)
Sardinia (or anybody), what do you know about the Serie A/Serie B playoff that (I think) is slated to happen after this season. I believe it will be the 15th-finishing team in Serie A against the 6th-finishing team in Serie B. If I look at the standings right now (obviously, lots of time left in the season), I see Reggina in 15th place in Serie A and Messina in 6th place in Serie B. Argh! Would that be a death match or what??? Honestly, I would NOT want to be taking a ferry ride between Sicily and the mainland anywhere near then if that happens. Also, since Serie B finishes several weeks after Serie A, I assume this means the unlucky Serie A team will have to stay in camp for all those weeks, preparing for the playoff. Of course, it could give time for injuries to heal, etc.
sue, I believe this is correct. I do hope poor Reggina can avoid another playoff. I also had hoped that adding 5 or even 6 teams would see a return of the "fallen giants" from Serie B...but it doesnt appear that Napoli, Fiorentina or even Torino are going to come back...
I don't know if it will be a death match or an away/home 2 matches playoff. I guess a death match. AFAIK the rest shoud be as you said. And I would prefer reggina avoiding relegation or that playoff. Better some northern team instead.
Well, i meant "match" as in two match playoff, rather than indicating one single match. And I, of course, hope Reggina can avoid it as well, but on current form, I'm not too hopeful.
Another midweek round for Serie B: Atalanta 0 Verona 2 (2nd straight loss for the Serie B leaders) Bari 1 Genoa 0 (critical win for Bari vs fellow relegation battlers) Cagliari 1 Messina 1 (home team saves a point after playing the last hour with 10 men) Catania 1 Treviso 0 (Catania keeps its promotion hopes alive) Fiorentina 1 Salernitana 0 (Rigano gets another goal to keep his nose in front of the goalscoring race) Livorno 1 Ascoli 0 (Livorno moves into the playoff spot) Napoli 0 Triestina 0 (zzzz) Pescara 0 Palermo 2 (the Sicilians within a point of first place) Piacenza 1 Como 1 (disappointing result for the home team) Torino 2 Ternana 1 (7 games without a win for promotion hopefuls Ternana) Venezia 2 Albinoleffe 1 (win keeps Lagooners out of the relegation zone) Vicenza 2 Avellino 2 (relegation certainty Avellino loses the lead twice) The table: Atalanta 52 Palermo 51 Cagliari 49 Piacenza 49 Ternana 48 ---------- Livorno 47 ---------- Messina 46 Torino 43 Catania 42 Triestina 42 Fiorentina 40 Verona 38 Salernitana 38 Vicenza 37 Treviso 36 Napoli 36 Ascoli 35 Albinoleffe 35 Pescara 34 Venezia 33 ----------- Como 31 Bari 30 Genoa 30 Avellino 22
What a season! Palermo go top of Serie B in early December. They celebrate by winning once in their next 11 matches. After winning three matches in a week the Rossaneri go back on top. The pack has reeled in the top teams, though. Livorno has had a nice run lately as well. As for "suffering and disappointment", this is the lot of poor Sicily.
I see that Fiorentina beat Palermo today 2-1 and thereby hopped over Catania into 10th place. That's 11 points in 6 games since Cavasin was fired. Until I see evidence to the contrary, I am going to assume it's the only the standard step-it-up-for-the-new-boss effect, but survival seems fairly likely.
Excited to see the Palermo has managed to keep winning now that they reached the top of Serie B. Four weeks left. They've got five points between them and the second place team (Messina!?!); and the top five teams could be promoted. Next week the BIG one: at Atalanta! ------ With Reggina putting some wins together, and (maybe) Palermo AND Messina going up it will nice to see some teams from the mezzogiorno at the top! That would make for really exciting derbies next year. Anyone know what year had the most southern Italian teams playing in Serie A? This isn't a quiz. I'd like to know.
The 10 second highlights blurb on Novantesima Minuto covering Fiorentina's 3-1 win over Bari actually included a mention of the promotion race. It might still be premature, but they are only 4 points out of the 4th spot and 12 or 13 from the relegation zone with 12 left to play.
Re: Anyone know what year had the most southern Italian teams playing in Serie A? Think I have some answers. This is all pretty recent stuff. If there were greater numbers way back when I don't know. 1991-92 ------- Foggia Napoli Bari Cagliari 1993-94 ------ Cagliari Foggia Lecce Napoli Reggina Calcio 1994-95 ----- Bari Cagliari Foggia Napoli Reggina Calcio Right now this looks like a possibility next year, though both Lecce and Reggina are near the drop/playoff zone: 2004-05 (possibly) ------- Lecce Reggina Calcio Palermo Messina