Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid):Canna named Gay Icon!!

[Jager]

Cannavaro wins it for me, hands down if I have to choose between Gigi and him.

Buffon missed most of last season.

[azzurri]

He missed around 40% of last season, far from "the majority".

I still remember that save he made on Recoba's free kick to hold Juve's 2-1 lead. Just getting his finger tips on it. Magical.

Cannavaro's level at the world cup and his level with Juve werent the same. Unlike Buffon.

[LAF]

I don't remember Buffon making 1 mistake in the WC. Canna on the other hand was at fault for the penalty, in the final. If Juve were still in Serie A Gigi would win.

Both deserve it though. It just shows how outstanding these two players are as Henry or other attacking players are considered 3rd choice. Very strange for this to happen.

[Jager]

Buffon faced very little action at the world cup, yes he did make some incredible saves, and he did save a goal in the extra time, but I feel Canna was a tad better, and his game in, and game out performance was just top notch.

40 percent is a lot in my opinion.

[Pennywise]

Canna was great in WC. Buffon played great to but Cannavaro was outstanding.

Unfortunately, he has been unstable in La Liga/CL this season, watched with Madrid eyes.

[D-Kin]

Michel Platini and Marco Tardelli are among the leading football figures to have crowned Juventus goalkeeper Gigi Buffon as Europe’s best player of 2006. If the world’s most expensive shot-stopper does receive the Golden Ball – which would, incidentally, be the first time that a custodian has won it since the great Lev Yashin in 1963 – it would be a travesty.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a pretty impressive year for the man with the safest hands in world football. Having conceded just 12 goals in 18 Serie A appearances in 2006 after recovering from a dislocated shoulder, he then went on to star in Italy’s World Cup triumph, proving particularly decisive in the quarter-final clash against the Ukraine.

However, I find it hard to believe that he can be considered to be the best player in Europe when he wasn’t even Italy or Juve’s leading light in the corresponding period. That man, just as he had been for the 18 months leading up to the Mondiale triumph, was Fabio Cannavaro. Widely regarded as the key to the Bianconeri’s success in Fabio Capello’s two-year spell at the club, he is now helping Real Madrid return to the top of Spanish football.

But rather than wish for success over his old mate Gigi, the Azzurri skipper has come up with an idea which would satisfy both men. “I would give two Golden Balls, one for me and one for Buffon – is that possible?” he joked.

“Between myself and Gigi there’s respect and friendship, but in any case I hope that an Italian wins it because it would be a positive sign for our footballing movement. I’m already satisfied with what happened this past summer, but the Golden Ball would be an additional sign of respect towards me.”

The Neapolitan has been a model of consistency since putting his Inter nightmare behind him, and not many people in the world – apart from a few disgruntled Frenchmen – would argue that he didn’t deserve to thrust the famous gold trophy high into the Berlin night sky on the day that he won his 100th cap for the Azzurri.

But it would seem that most – Platini and Tardelli included – have quite a short memory. Having received plaudits throughout the tournament as Italy’s top player, and rightly so, the man now dubbed ‘The Berlin Wall’ seems to have become football’s forgotten man. Given that he stands a mere 1.76m tall [to put that in perspective, Diego Maradona is 1.65m], it’s hardly surprising. But that makes him all the more remarkable.

How often have you read about a youngster being turned down by a club for being too small? Usually that applies to strikers and midfielders, let alone defenders, but such is Fabio’s incredible spring and ferocious tenacity, his height doesn’t even become an issue. Despite facing off against some of the world’s top headers of the ball in Mark Viduka, Brian McBride and Miroslav Klose, Cannavaro always came out on top – Italy conceded just one goal in open play during the tournament, and even that was a freak own goal by Cristian Zaccardo.

And not only is he a fiercely competitive player, but he also manages to do so whilst being fair. Not once was he cautioned at Germany ’06, and even in times of adversity he was able to crack a smile. When Marco Materazzi was sent off in the second round against Australia, young Andrea Barzagli was thrown on alongside Canna. Rather than panic, the experienced centre-back just smiled at his partner and told him: “Let’s have some fun!”

The Real Madrid man has already missed out on winning the Golden Ball awarded to the best player at the World Cup, thanks largely to the fact that the votes were accumulated before eventual winner Zinedine Zidane’s savage head-butt on Materazzi. It truly would be a sad day in football if he were to miss out again in the Ballon d’Or voting – although I’m sure he would just smile and get on with his usual day-to-day business. And that’s why the plucky native of Naples deserves to be crowned as Europe’s top player.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/nov21e.html

[D-Kin]

Is it true that Cannavaro has been confirmed the winner?

[D-Kin]

Apparently it's true, the presentation is tonight.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/nov27g.html

[Oliver_Kahn]

I would like to see Buffon winning it, but Cannavaro deserves it.

[D-Kin]

Yeah it would be nice to see a goalkeeper win it but you can't argue with Cannavaro, he truely deserves it.

[D-Kin]

[Magical20]

waahah finally found it.. im glad he won he deserves it!

[Jager]

Canna’s agent: No move Tuesday 21 August, 2007

Fabio Cannavaro’s agent has called for an end to rumours linking the Azzurri captain with a Juventus return.

The 33-year-old left Turin for Real Madrid last summer and has spent a mixed spell at the Bernabeu despite lifting the La Liga trophy last term.

The Merengues suffered the worst possible start to the new campaign when they were crushed 5-3 by Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup.

Cannavaro, like the rest of the champions’ back line, came in for some heavy criticism in the Press after the defeat, adding intensity to rumours that he may be ready to return to Italy.

However, the Neapolitan stopper’s representative has once again rubbished any talk of his client wearing the Juve jersey.

“There is no truth in rumours linking Fabio to Juventus,” Enrico Fedele told Radio Punto Zero. “There was interest at one time, but nothing concrete.”

The interviewer also asked Fedele his opinion on why many players are choosing to move to La Liga rather than Serie A.

“For many of them it is for economic reasons,” he replied. “There are different laws over there so £1m earned in Italy translates to around £1.2m in Spain. It makes a big difference.

“Antonio Cassano has moved the other way and I think that he could prove to be a bargain if he uses his head as well as his feet.

channel4.com - Football Italia

[Jager]

Canna blasts Lega decision Thursday 23 August, 2007

Real Madrid stopper Fabio Cannavaro has angrily attacked the Lega Calcio after the Azzurri’s 3-1 defeat in Hungary.

A sluggish Italy side fell to a shock defeat in Budapest and looked worryingly short of the fitness required for international football.

With crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against France and Ukraine in September, a number of players had asked the Lega Calcio to move the start of the Serie A season forward to aid preparations, but the request was refused.

Although Cannavaro plys his trade in Spain, where the season also kicks off this weekend, he is livid at the fact that his teammates’ appeals were ignored.

“We asked to play on August 19, but we count for nothing,” the ex-Juventus defender raged. “It’s no good looking for excuses, but we did ask to start earlier so that we would be ready.”

Although Coach Robert Donadoni admitted that the performance was inexcusable, the former Livorno tactician reiterated Cannavaro’s point in his post-match Press conference.

“We wanted to start a week earlier and now it is clear to see that we had good reasons to do so,” he stated ruefully.

[D-Kin]

We've got a Cannavaro thread here mate:
http://www.talksoccer.net/forum/ital...al-madrid.html