Are you ready yet? The 2014-2014 Serie A season begins on Saturday, August 30. Much will be familiar: Roughly 22 men will kick a ball around for roughly 90 minutes. Curvas will be closed to punish the unacceptable behavior of the ultras. Managers will be sacked after just a few weeks. Juventus will take it for granted that the title is theirs. Outsiders will bandy about references to "boring, boring Serie A," even as forty goals are scored in a weekend.
2014-2015 Serie A preview: Will Juventus be dethroned?
Valerio Pennicino
And through it all, fans of calcio will continue to rejoice, because finally, finally, finally the league has returned. For all the frustrations that come along with being a fan of Italian football, there are certain rewards, most of them revolving around the intensity, the drama, the passion and the unpredictability that come along with following football on the peninsula.
With any luck, the drama will only increase this season. Juventus took the scudetto fairly easily last season, but Antonio Conte, who led them to three titles in a row, left a month ago. Now they're in the hands of Massimiliano Allegri, whose time at Milan left him looking rather like a failure. Roma, on the other hand -- Juve's closest challengers last season -- remain under Rudi Garcia, and have managed, thus far, to hold on to their best players. Their challenge will be replicating last season's league form while adding midweek fixtures to the mix.
Napoli, too, will hope to make a real run at the top of the table this season, although that may depend on whether they qualify for the Champions League. Inter Milan have quietly strengthened, and could well be back to fighting for a top-three spot. Fiorentina are, surprisingly, yet to lose Juan Cuadrado, and now have Mario Gómez and Giuseppe Rossi (mostly) healthy. Come the end of May and someone is going to be rather disappointed.
Then there's the bottom of the table. Catania, Livorno and Bologna were all relegated, with Palermo, Empoli and Cesena taking their places. The last two are expected to fall right back down again, but Palermo have a good chance to remain in the top flight. Who will slip, then, is anyone's guess. Chievo Verona have made some surprisingly good moves over the summer, Cagliari have Zdeněk Zeman at the helm, and after Sassuolo's surge at the end of last season, no one is counting them out. Lots of fingernails are bound to be bitten over the final few weeks.
As the week goes on, we will be adding individual team previews to this StoryStream. Check back each day for an in-depth look at every Serie A club.
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