There was a joke doing the rounds of the Italy camp yesterday morning to the effect that The Netherlands had lodged an objection against Italy's semi-final win in Amsterdam on Thursday night. The Dutch, it was said, were claiming Italy fielded an extra-terrestrial rather than a footballer in the number-five shirt.
Twenty-six-year-old, 40-times-capped Fabio Cannavaro is the man in question and while his almost perfect performance on Thursday night may have come as a surprise to those not intimately familiar with Italian soccer, it represents only par for the course for the Parma player. Not for nothing, Naples-born and ex-Napoli player Cannavaro has long been considered one of the best defenders in Serie A.
The international stage has always come easily to the talented Cannavaro. He was just 23-years-old and was winning only his second cap when he gave one of his best performances for Italy, largely marking England striker Alan Shearer out of that February 1997 World Cup qualifier at Wembley which Italy won 1-0.
That Wembley baptism of fire had come about under the aegis of a new Italian coach, Cesare Maldini, father of current captain Paolo. Maldini senior knew all he needed to know about Cannavaro, having handled him in an Italian under-21 European championship winning side. In his first game in charge of the senior team, a 2-0 friendly win against Northern Ireland in January 1997, Cesare Maldini brought in Cannavaro for his first cap.
A former Napoli ballboy who grew up watching Argentine genius Diego Armando Maradona ply his trade, Cannavaro came straight out of that tough Italian defensive tradition that allies steel to skill and Mediterranean flair to Latin cynicism. Not that Cannavaro had much to be cynical about on Thursday night in a game when he systematically shot out Boudewijn Zenden, Peter van Vossen and whoever else came down the Dutch left.
Throughout this year's tournament, Cannavaro has reflected much of the confident mood in the Italian camp. Speaking after Italy's quarter-final win against Romania, he confessed it had all been easy, almost too easy. Speaking after Thursday's win, however, even Cannavaro could not claim that it was easy.
"We couldn't have been happier. We had to play against a good Dutch side, against terrific Dutch home support and against the referee and we had to do it all while down to 10 men . . . in the circumstances I think you can say that we pulled off a big one."
Accustomed to the fickle nature of Italian sports' critics, Cannavaro has been quietly reminding people in recent days of how throughout this past winter of widespread discontent about Dino Zoff's team, he was one of those to repeatedly suggest that Italy would give a good account of itself at Euro 2000.
If he refused to accept too much negative criticism of Italy before the tournament, he is likewise keen to play down too much enthusiastic praise now. When asked on Thursday night if the Italian defence might now be considered the strongest in the world, he replied : "The best in the world? Let's wait for Sunday and we'll see about that."
