Victory for Canna
Cannavaro, who at 16 had a ringside, and much too painful, view as a ball boy, of Italy's defeat in the quarter- finals of World Cup 1990, when it was played at Stadio San Paolo in his hometown, Naples, is the son of a small-time footballer.
The scarred French messiah
He began his career with a local football club at 17 and then went on to play for Parma's football club for seven eventful years where he brought the club plenty of fame.
In 2002 he joined Inter-Milan and then in 2004 he moved to Turin's Juventus on a lesser salary but with higher ambitions. He still plays for Juventus where his teammates are Frenchmen Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram and David Trezeguet.
Prior to the Cup, Cannavaro's Turin home was searched by the Italian tax authorities, who were looking for information on his transfer from Inter-Milan to Juventus. Officials of his Turin club are facing charges in one of the largest match-fixing football scandals and the implications of that soon-to-be-expected judgment has hovered in the background throughout the tournament, making a win even more vital for Canna and his mates.
Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/Getty Images
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