One of the most intriguing elements of Italy’s World Cup defense, in both senses of the word, will be the form and influence of Fabio Cannavaro.
The 36-year-old Juventus defender lifted the trophy four years ago as Italy captain in a dream season in which he was later named World Player of the Year and also moved to Real Madrid.
Cannavaro, then 32, was on top of the world and was showered with plaudits from all quarters.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Four years is a very long time in soccer, however, and now both Italy and Cannavaro find themselves in a precarious situation.
Having been an automatic first choice in the team for many years now, Cannavaro’s position has become something of an conundrum.
He has become what Francesco Totti is to AS Roma or what Paul Gascoigne became toward the end of his England career — a problem.
Behind the Juve star there are very few Italian centerbacks presenting an unequivocal case for inclusion alongside Georgio Chiellini, Cannavaro’s centerhalf partner for club and country.
It means that no one has yet convinced coach Marcello Lippi that the veteran’s time is up, so the wily coach remains faithful to his captain, but the general feeling in Italy is that Cannavaro has lost it.
Soccer, and indeed picking teams, is obviously an inexact science, but one thing that cannot be denied is that Cannavaro is not what he was.
He has just been a part of a Juventus team that lost a club record 15 league matches and conceded a club record 56 goals in a season. That despite playing alongside Chiellini, who was probably Juve’s only bright spark all season, and with Italy No. 1 Gianluigi Buffon behind them.
Cannavaro was frequently found wanting at crucial moments and was dragged embarrassingly out of position all too frequently for comfort.
Crucially, it was in the biggest games that he and his teammates failed in the most spectacular manner.
They twice lost 3-0 to AC Milan last season and were thumped 4-1 at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stages to be dumped out of the competition.
When Juve needed their Italy captain the most, he was powerless to plug the holes in their defense.
In the last game of the season, at the San Siro against Milan, Cannavaro was at fault for the first goal as he charged out of position to close down Milan leftback Luca Antonini, only to then be beaten for pace by the same player, who ran into a gaping hole to go on and score past Buffon. Cannavaro was also out of position on Milan’s second goal and missing when Ronaldinho wrapped up the victory in the second half.
Such generally poor defending was anathema to Cannavaro four years ago and it is worrying for Italy that they have put their faith in a player who is creaking so obviously.
What’s more, Italy will be relying on their traditional defensive strengths in South Africa as their forward line offers very little to strike fear into their opponents, but their defense just isn’t that good any more.
This month risks presenting Cannavaro with a very inglorious exit and not one becoming of a former world player of the year.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
RSS