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Fabio Cannavaro: Italy's 'Berlin Wall'

 

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CNN's Human to Hero series celebrates inspiration and achievement in sport. Click here for times, videos and features

(CNN) -- "When you win the World Cup, you start to become a legend -- for the people around the world, you are different."

For Fabio Cannavaro, this legendary status was hard earned.

At just 5 foot 9 inches tall, he wasn't built to be the world's greatest center back. And he certainly never expected to be named the world's best player.

"I'm very proud because, all my life, I worked very hard to be a football player," Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning skipper tells CNN'sHuman to Hero series.

"I was not like Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi -- with a lot of qualities, with a lot of skills."

CNN的人，以英雄系列慶祝靈感和成就的運動。點擊此處時代，視頻和特點

（CNN） - “當你贏得世界杯，你開始成為傳奇-為世界各地的人們，你們是不同的。”

對於卡納瓦羅，這個傳奇的地位辛苦賺來的。

在只有5尺9寸高，他不建是世界上最偉大的中後衛。他肯定沒想到被評為世界上最好的球員。

“我很自豪，因為我所有的生活，我非常努力地成為一名足球運動員，”意大利2006年世界杯冠軍隊長告訴CNN的人，以英雄系列。

“我不喜歡克里斯蒂亞諾·羅納爾多，梅西 - 有很多素質，有很多的技巧。”

Taking over the national captaincy from Paolo Maldini in 2002, he was never supposed to outshine his illustrious predecessor, a man who had become the embodiment of defensive greatness.

As a Neapolitan -- considered a southern outsider by many in the industrial and footballing heartlands to the north -- Cannavaro was an unlikely hero to unite the country.

But the foundations had been laid in the streets of in Fuorigrotta, a working-class neighborhood on the western edge of Naples, where the young Cannavaro learned he'd need to play smart and hard -- developing his positioning, athleticism and an impressive leap -- to overcome bigger opponents.

He was the quintessential Scugnizzo: a smiling, cunning street urchin, spending his days playing football in the road, "between cars, everywhere."

"My parents every day said, 'Ah, it's better you go to school, it's very important for your future,' " the 40-year-old recalls. "But inside myself, I said: 'I think the good way is follow the football.' "

Holding high the World Cup trophy at Berlin's Olympiastadion eight years ago, his conviction had paid off.

接手國家隊長馬爾蒂尼在2002年，他從未應該勝過他的傑出的前任，一個人誰成為偉大防守的體現。

作為一個那不勒斯-考慮一個局外人南方許多工業和足球的中心地帶，北 -卡納瓦羅是一個不太可能的英雄團結的國家。

但基礎已經奠定在街頭Fuorigrotta，在那不勒斯，在那裡，年輕的卡納瓦羅得知他需要發揮智慧和辛勤的西部邊緣工人階級鄰里 - 開發自己的定位，運動能力和令人印象深刻的飛躍 - 克服更大的對手。

他是典型的SCUGNIZZO：一個微笑，狡猾的流浪兒，花費他的天踢足球的道路，“車之間，無處不在。”

“我的父母天天說，'啊，最好你去上學，這是非常重要的，你的未來”，“40歲的召回。“但是這裡面我自己，我說：”我覺得好辦法是按照足球。“ “

高舉世界杯冠軍獎杯在柏林的奧林匹克體育場，八年前，他的信念得到了回報。

 

SHAUN BOTTERILL/GETTY IMAGES/FILE

The Azzurri defense, marshaled by Cannavaro, yielded only two goals throughout the tournament -- equaling the record set in 1998 by that night's final opponent France -- and fought doggedly through a scrappy match that was tied at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

His impregnable performances earned him the nickname "Muro di Berlino" -- the Berlin Wall.

Sporting his then-trademark boyish buzz-cut and ear-to-ear smile, Cannavaro rarely looked like a man with the fate of an ever-expectant nation on his shoulders.

His cool demeanor is typical Neapolitan (when reporters asked what the secret to his robust performances was, he replied: "Eating well, getting plenty of sleep and having sex") and set him apart from his volatile France counterpart Zinedine Zidane -- who would depart the field in extra time after lashing out with an infamous headbutt.

And when captain Cannavaro was calm, his teammates were too: the job was "very easy," he says, because of the intelligence and professionalism of those around him.

At times -- including the bulk of the final -- they didn't make it look easy, as they toiled through regular game time, but professionalism was the word in the tiebreaker.

Italy had exited three of the previous four World Cups on lost penalty shootouts (losing to Brazil in 1994 in the tournament's only other final to be decided by penalties) but this time stepped up and slotted home all five chances from the spot.

It took a four-hour coach journey back to Rome's Circus Maximus stadium -- "a place where the old gladiators celebrate" -- for the realization to sink in that everything would now change.

The sight of over 150,000 ecstatic Italians in the arena -- and many more partying outside -- left no doubt.

"For us it was something unbelievable -- more than 2 million people on the streets," recalls Cannavaro, who as a child had watched Italy's previous World Cup triumph on television in 1982.

"We understood we did something -- 'Wow!' We understood we are world champs.

"Now we are not just normal players."

Trophies and tribulations

Five days after the celebrations, Juventus, Cannavaro's club at the time, was booted from the Italian top division for its role in Serie A'sCalciopoli match fixing scandal, and he was soon on his way out.

"My team was unbelievable. I remember I was with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alessandro del Piero, David Trezeguet, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon -- nine players we had for this team (played in) the World Cup final."

在藍衣軍團的防守，由卡納瓦羅封，取得了僅有的兩個在整個比賽的目標-相當於記錄了當晚的決賽對手法國在1998年創下-並通過一個鬥志旺盛的比賽是被捆綁在1-1在90月底頑強地戰鬥分鐘。

他堅不可摧的表演為他贏得了綽號“穆羅二Berlino的” - 柏林牆。

體育他當時的商標孩子氣的嗡嗡聲切和耳朵到耳朵的微笑，卡納瓦羅很少看上去像一個人，被不斷期待國家在肩上的命運。

他瀟灑的風度是典型的那不勒斯（當記者問什麼秘密，他的穩健表現是，他回答說：“吃得好，保持充足的睡眠和做愛”），並設置他除了他的揮發性法國外長齊達內-誰也抨擊與臭名昭著的用頭撞後離開在加時賽中的字段。

而當隊長卡納瓦羅很平靜，他的隊友們太：這份工作是因為他周圍的人的智慧和敬業精神“很容易，”他說。

有時-包括大量的決賽-他們並沒有使它看起來容易，因為他們通過定期的比賽時間勞苦功高，但敬業精神是在決勝局的單詞。

意大利已經失去了對點球大戰退出三前四次世界杯的（在本次比賽的唯一其他輸給了巴西在1994年最終通過點球來決定），但這個時候加強和開槽家離現場所有五個機會。

我花了四個小時的教練的旅程回到羅馬的大競技場體育場 - “一個地方的老角鬥士慶祝” - 為實現在一切下沉現在會改變。

和許多派對之外 - - 超過15萬意大利人欣喜若狂在競技場的視線離開毫無疑問的。

“對於我們來說，這是令人難以置信的 - 超過200萬人，在街道上，回憶說：”卡納瓦羅，誰小時候曾看過意大利以前在電視上世界杯的勝利在1982年。

“我們知道我們做了什麼 - '哇' 我們知道我們是世界冠軍。

“現在我們不只是正常的球員。”

獎杯和磨難

慶祝五天後，尤文圖斯，卡納瓦羅的俱樂部的時候，從意大利頂級聯賽啟動其在意甲聯賽中的角色電話門假球醜聞，而他很快就在他的出路。

“我的團隊是不可思議的，我記得我和伊布拉希莫維奇，皮耶羅，特雷澤蓋，圖拉姆，布馮 - 九名球員，我們不得不對這支球隊（出戰）世界杯決賽”

 

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"But Calciopoli destroyed everything."

"In the end... we decided to move. Some players decided to stay there but I went to Real Madrid with Fabio Capello, the coach."

It would be the beginning of a turbulent period for him, culminating in another World Cup -- Cannavaro's fourth -- this one, not so pleasant.

Aged 32, his record in club football to that point consisted of hailed performances but little to show for it. The twoScudetti he had won in the two previous seasons with Juventus had been stripped, and the only silverware that remained were UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia wins with Parma, coming between barren periods at Napoli and Inter Milan.

With Real, he won back-to-back La Liga titles in his first two years, taking over the No. 5 shirt formerly worn by Zidane.

Cannavaro started to pick up individual awards too. He became only the third defender to win the Ballon d'Or -- then Europe's top individual prize, usually taken by creative playmakers or lime-light stealing strikers -- by beating the likes of Zidane and Ronaldinho.

He says the new recognition of his talents was overwhelming:

"I remember every week, some guys called me and said: 'Ah you need to come to Paris, you need to come to Madrid, you need to receive the trophy...' "

When, the same year, he took home the FIFA World Player of the Year title, an emphatic haul was complete.

"When I won both, everybody was 'OK, he's the best!' so I was very happy for the second trophy," he laughs.

But things would not stay so golden. An unhappy return to Juventusfollowed a third season at Real, where fans in Turin refused forgive the earlier exit of a player they had adopted as one of their own. Afailed drug test in 2009 -- for which he was later cleared of any wrongdoing -- added to the tension and after two seasons with no titles, he was on his way out.

“但電話門毀了一切。”

“到底......我們決定搬家。有些球員決定呆在那裡，但我去了皇馬與卡佩羅，教練。“

這將是一個動盪的時期為他的開始，最終在另一個世界杯 - 卡納瓦羅第四 - 這一個，不是那麼愉快。

32歲，他在俱樂部足球那點記錄包括被譽為演出，但很少表現出來。這兩個Scudett 我他已經贏得了前兩個賽季與尤文圖斯已經被剝奪，而且是唯一的銀器是歐洲聯盟杯和意大利杯的勝利與帕爾馬，在那不勒斯和國際米蘭貧瘠期間的到來。

與皇馬，他奪回到後端西甲冠軍在他的前兩年，接管第5號球衣以前穿的齊達內。

卡納瓦羅開始回升，個人獎項了。他成為只有第三個後衛贏得了金球獎 -擊敗齊達內和羅納爾迪尼奧的喜歡-然後是歐洲的頂級個人獎項，通常採取創造性的組織核心或石灰光偷前鋒。

他說，新確認的他的才華是壓倒性的：

“我記得每個星期，有些人打電話給我說：'啊，你需要來到巴黎，你需要來馬德里，你需要獲得獎杯......”“

當，同年，他捧回了年度冠軍世界足球先生，一個有力的牽引完成。

“當我贏得了，大家都'好吧，他是最好的！” 所以我很高興為第二個獎杯，“他笑著說。

但事情不會留那麼黃金。一個不愉快的回歸尤文圖斯隨後在皇馬，其中在都靈的球迷不肯原諒他們已經通過了自己的一個播放器的早期出口第三季。一個不合格的藥物測試在2009年-為他後來被清除了所有不道德的 -添加到緊張之後，沒有標題的兩個賽季，他是在他的出路。

 

PAOLO BRUNO/GETTY IMAGES/FILE

Still national captain, he surpassed Maldini to become Italy's most capped player by August 2009, with 127 caps (a record since surpassed by his longtime friend and World Cup teammate Gianluigi Buffon). But -- aged 35 -- he was beginning to slow and knee injuries became common.

Having sat on the sidelines with an ankle injury as Italy lost in the quarterfinals at Euro 2008, he reappeared for the a disastrous 2010 World Cup, where the defending champions took an early flight home, having failed to win a match, in a group that comprised minor footballing nations Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. He retired from international football on his return.

After one World Cup that made him a global star, the next marked the end of his career playing at the highest level.

Dreams of Napoli and Dubai

Sitting in the Al-Rashad Stadium among Dubai's glass skyscrapers and petro-dollar yachts, Cannavaro now boasts a jet of black hair which could render him unrecognizable from the skinhead defender lifting the trophy in 2006 -- if it weren't for the unmistakable wide smile.

The lavish surroundings hadn't been his first choice.

Before joining UAE Football League side Al-Ahli, where he is now assistant coach, he'd attempted to engineer a move back to Napoli, where he made his debut almost two decades earlier, and where he could be reunited with his younger brother Paolo, also a defender.

還是國家的隊長，他超越馬爾蒂尼成為意大利最加蓋的球員2009年8月，有127套（一個記錄，因為超越了他的老朋友和世界杯隊友布馮）。但是- 35歲-他開始放緩，膝蓋受傷成為普遍。

經坐在場邊腳踝受傷的意大利失去了四分之一決賽在2008年歐洲杯，他又出現了一個災難性的2010年世界杯，其中衛冕冠軍了早期飛行家，由於無法贏得比賽，在一組由未成年人的足球國家巴拉圭，斯洛伐克和新西蘭。他從國家隊退役對他的回報。

經過一個世界杯使他成為全球明星，接下來標誌著他的職業生涯結束演奏的最高水平。

那不勒斯和迪拜的夢想

中鋁拉沙德體育場坐中間迪拜的玻璃摩天大樓和石油美元的遊艇，卡納瓦羅現在擁有的黑髮這可能令他無法辨認的光頭後衛解除在2006年獎杯噴氣 - 如果它不是為了明確無誤的寬微笑。

在豪華的環境不是他的第一選擇。

在加入之前，阿聯酋足球聯賽側鋁阿利，他現在是助理教練，他會試圖設計一種移動回那不勒斯，在那裡他幾乎二十年前出道，並在那裡他可以用他的弟弟保羅重聚，也是一個後衛。

Paolo Cannavaro, Fabio's younger brother

It was where he'd been happiest -- graduating from a ball boy to first-team regular at his childhood club.

"When I started to play in 1993 with my team, I was shocked because I was a Napoli supporter: I grew up all my life with a Napoli jersey like my second skin and, for me, to be near to these players was unbelievable. I was like, 'What am I doing here?' "

A famous story recalls young Cannavaro training as a youngster opposite Napoli's greatest hero, Diego Maradona, and delivering a crunching tackle. The coaches were apparently less than impressed, but the Argentine legend urged him to keep the passion.

Even above his home nation's defending luminaries -- Maldini, Franco Baresi and the rest -- Cannavaro ranks Maradona, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 before joining Napoli, as a career-long inspiration.

"Maradona, I think, is not a football player but he's something different. He was unbelievable," Cannavaro says.

When the homecoming wish fell flat, it was time to "try something different," moving to Al Ahli first as a player on a free transfer after the 2010 World Cup, then joining the coaching staff the following year after knee injuries forced his retirement.

For a player whose career was defined by discipline, hard work and tactic nous, the move into coaching was unsurprisingly straightforward, and his appointment has coincided with an upturn in the Dubai outfit's fortunes. He has also learned to speak English.

"When I came here, the team was very, very bad. Now after three years with my president, we changed the team," he says, reflecting on a 2014 season that has seen the club take UAE's Arabian Gulf League, Super Cup and League Cup honors. "We are very proud of the job we did."

His contract with Al Ahli ends in June and the future is, as yet, undecided -- although he has recently stated his ambition to return to Italy once he has earned his UEFA coaching badges.

"Now I'm a coach so I want to be head coach," he says. "I think I'm ready to be, to go around the world and share my experience with the players."

As his national side prepare to head to World Cup in Brazil -- as outsiders, like in 2006 -- a few of the faces from Cannavaro's winning team remain, accompanied by younger players hungry to become "legends" in their own right.

But Italy -- the nation with the second best haul of World Cup trophies -- can never be ignored as it seeks a fifth crown.

"We have the good team, good coach and -- of course -- we are the Italian national team, we can try to win again the World Cup," Cannavaro warns.

"It is not easy because never in the World Cup history has a European team won the World Cup in South America. And inshallah, like we say in Dubai, we can win."

這是在那裡他一直最幸福 - 從球童到一線隊的常客，他的童年​​俱樂部畢業。

“當我在1993年開始與我的球隊踢球，我感到非常震驚，因為我是那不勒斯支持者：我長大了我所有的生活與那不勒斯的球衣就像我的第二層皮膚，對我來說，要接近這些球員是令人難以置信。我當時想，'我在做什麼嗎？“ “

一個著名的故事回憶年輕的卡納瓦羅培訓作為一個年輕人對面的那不勒斯最偉大的英雄，馬拉多納，並提供一個搗鼓解決。教練均明顯高於少留下深刻的印象，但阿根廷人的傳說勸他保持激情。

甚至高於他的家國的衛冕名人 - 馬爾蒂尼，巴雷西和休息 - 卡納瓦羅居馬拉多納，誰帶領阿根廷隊參加世界杯的榮耀，在1986年加入那不勒斯之前，作為一個職業生涯的靈感。

“馬拉多納，我想，是不是一個足球運動員，但他是不同的東西，他是令人難以置信的，”卡納瓦羅說。

當衣錦還鄉的願望倒扁，這是一次“嘗試不同的東西，”移動到阿爾阿赫利第一次作為一個球員在2010年世界杯後自由轉會，那麼次年加入教練組膝蓋受傷後被迫退役。

對於一個球員的職業生涯是由紀律，勤奮和戰術理性的定義，進軍教練是勿庸置疑簡單，他的任命恰逢在迪拜裝備的命運好轉。他還學會了說英語。

“當我來到這裡，球隊是非常，非常糟糕。現在，三年後我的先生，我們改變了球隊，”他說，這反映在2014賽季，已經看到了俱樂部參加阿聯酋的阿拉伯海灣聯賽，超級杯和聯賽杯冠軍榮譽。“我們非常自豪我們所做的工作。”

六月份他與阿爾阿赫利的合同結束，未來是，迄今為止，尚未決定-儘管他最近表示他的野心回到意大利後，他已經贏得了他的歐足聯教練徽章。

“現在我是一個教練，所以我想成為主教練，”他說。“我想我已經準備好要，去世界各地，並與玩家分享我的經驗。”

作為他的國家隊準備前往巴西世界杯 - 作為外人，就像在200​​6年 - 幾個從卡納瓦羅的獲獎團隊的面孔依然存在，伴隨著選手餓，成為自己的權利“傳說”更年輕。

但意大利 - 與世界杯獎杯的第二個最好的長途民族 - 永遠不能，因為它旨在第五冠被忽略。

“我們有很好的團隊，優秀的教練和 - 當然 - 我們是意大利國家隊，我們可以嘗試再次贏得世界杯，”卡納瓦羅警告。

“這是不容易的，因為從來沒有在世界杯歷史上有一個歐洲隊贏得了世界杯南美，而inshallah，就像我們說在迪拜，我們能贏。“