By Steve Amoia
Contributing Writer

Fabio Cannavaro has just begun the last chapter of his stellar career with Al-Ahli of Dubai.. Cannavaro has brought his charisma, personality and global appeal to help promote football in the Emirates. Cannavaro is ready to begin a new season in the Emirates and has also been busy with language studies.

Full-Immersion in English

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Cannavaro has been learning Arabic and English. The latter via daily immersion courses since English is the official language of his new side.

"Fabio ha così potuto verificare i suoi miglioramenti nella lingua inglese, per la quale compie una full-immersion di tre ore quotidiane con insegnante madrelingua, utile anche per ripararsi durante il giorno dal caldo umido insopportabile che assorbe questo angolo della penisola arabica... Anche perché l'inglese è la lingua ufficiale della squadra, visto che tutto lo staff tecnico è inglese e il tecnico è David O’Leary, ex difensore-bandiera dell'Arsenal, è irlandese".



Fabio Cannavaro shakes hands with Al Ahli Club CEO Ahmad Khalifa Hammad during a news conference in Dubai July 4, 2010.  Signing a two-year contract, it was announced that Cannavaro will captain Al Ahli club.


"Fabio can verify his improvement in the English language. He takes three hours of full-immersion courses in English with an Italian teacher. This is also helpful to protect him during the day from the uncomfortable humid heat that engulfs this corner of the Arabian peninsula... Also because English is the official language of the team seeing that all of the technical staff is English and the manager, David O'Leary, a former defender who was a flag bearer for Arsenal, is Irish."

Former Arsenal legend, David O'Leary, Manages Al-Ahli

David O'Leary was the former manager at English clubs Aston Villa and Leeds. According to Arsenal.com, O'Leary had a club-record 722 appearances for the Gunners. He was also capped 68 times for the Republic of Ireland.

In a telephone interview with the Milan sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, O'Leary denied rumors of problems with Cannavaro and had high praise for his new captain.

"Nei giorni scorsi sono arrivati dei rumors su un rapporto difficile fra l'allenatore e Fabio Cannavaro all’Al Ahli. Voci che il tecnico ha voluto smentire in una intervista telefonica alla Gazzetta: "Non so come sia stato possibile questo equivoco. Io ho sempre parlato di un giocatore 'absolutely fantastic'. Non capisco come si sia potuto scrivere che io avrei fatto fuori Fabio per un’amichevole. Stava solo seguendo un programma di preparazione differenziato, visto che col Mondiale ha iniziato dopo gli altri e proprio quel giorno aveva svolto un lavoro fisico particolarmente pesante". O' Leary parla al telefono mentre la sua squadra in pullman si trasferisce nella lontana (ben 4 ore di bus) Dhafra. La domanda dunque diventa inevitabile: Cannavaro sarà in campo stasera? "Of course. He is my captain". E qui la traduzione è univoca e non consente interpretazioni ambigue. Il successivo concetto è ancora più chiaro: "Fabio ha un bagaglio di esperienza eccezionale e sarà un maestro per i giovani qui negli Emirati. È un valore aggiunto e tutti abbiamo da apprendere qualcosa da lui. Siamo felici che abbia deciso di venire a giocare qui".

In the last few days, rumors have arrived of a difficult rapport between the manager and Fabio Cannavaro at Al-Alhi. Voices that the manager wanted to deny in a telephone interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport:



New Al-Ahli player, Fabio Cannavaro, participates in his first training session in Dubai on August 05, 2010 under the club's new manager, David O'Leary.

"I don't know how this mistake was possible. I have always spoken of an 'absolutely fantastic' player. I don't understand how it could have been written that I left out Fabio for a friendly. He was only following a special training program, seeing that with the World Cup, he began after his other teammates and on that day (of the friendly), Cannavaro had endured a very heavy physical training session."

O'Leary spoke by telephone while his team was on a bus trip to Dhafra, which was four hours away. The questions then became inevitable:

"Will Cannavaro be on the pitch tonight? 'Of course. He is my captain.' "

And here the translation is clear and doesn't provide any ambiguous interpretations.

"Fabio has an excellent portfolio of experience and will be a teacher for our young people here in the Emirates. It is an added value and all of us will learn something from him. We are happy that he decided to come and play here."

Italian source: La Gazzetta dello Sport, 26 August 2010.

Steve Amoia is a freelance writer, editor and translator from Washington, D.C. He is the founder, editor and writer of the World Football Commentaries blog He has written for AC Cugini Scuola Calcio (Italian soccer school), Football Media, Italian Soccer Serie A, Keeper Skool and Soccerlens.


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