Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Cremonese

After over 50 days, Juventus are back.

Yes, it’s true. No more friendlies with over half the squad out because of the World Cup. (The ongoing injury issues are another matter.) No more matchday squads filled with players from the Juve Next Gen and/or primavera teams. None of that (and hopefully not until the summertime when the friendlies return).

The games mean something again. The World Cup break is over. Fifty-something days have come and gone and now Juventus can hopefully get back to what they did in its final six Serie A games before the World Cup break arrived.

Yes, that’s winning. Remember? I know it’s been a while ...

Juventus will put its six-game domestic winning streak on the line tonight when Max Allegri’s squad faces relegation battler Cremonese, a club that has not exactly had the best start to life in Serie A so far this season. It’s safe to say that Nicolo Fagioli’s current team is in better shape than Nicolo Fagioli’s former team at the moment (at least on the field), and that means that Juve has a very good chance of extending the six-game winning streak to seven straight games as long as they take care of business.

But as much as we know Juventus went into the World Cup break on a nice little winning streak against Serie A opposition, the simple fact that there hasn’t been any competitive action for over 50 days just has the first few games coming out of this midseason pause as complete unknowns.

How much will the near-two-month break impact Juve’s form?

What will this do in terms of match fitness knowing half of the roster was at the World Cup and the other half wasn’t and has mostly been training the last month?

Just how will these players respond to a busy schedule being thrust upon them right away?

There’s a whole lot to answer these first few weeks out of the World Cup break and things likely won’t be totally known after 90 minutes of action. One thing is 100 percent known, though: Juve’s back, and that can potentially be a good thing.

MATCH INFO

When: Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.

Where: Stadio Giovanni Zini, Cremona, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 5:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-1-1): Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Danilo; Soulé, Locatelli, Fagioli, McKennie, Kostic; Miretti; Milik.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Alex Sandro, Rugani, Barbieri, Rabiot, Paredes, Barrenechea, Chiesa, Kean, Iling-Junior.

Cremonese starting XI (4-3-3): Carnesecchi; Sernicola, Bianchetti, Ferrari, Valeri; Pickel, Castagnetti, Meite; Lochosvili, Okereke; Dessers.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: CBS Sports Network (United States); BT Sport 1 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); BT Sport app, BTSport.com (United Kingdom); DAZN, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.