When Cannavaro led Italy to lift the Hercules Cup in Germany in 2006, he would never have thought that one day he would be involved with the weak Chinese football.
In the summer of 2010, Cannavaro, who returned to Juventus and then left, chose to go to West Asia to seek gold. He joined the UAE powerhouse Al Ahli, but he only played for the team in total. In 16 games, he was called an "incompetent money-maker" by local media.
Cannavaro officially retired at the age of 38 in 2011. At that time, he planned to stay in Europe to practice himself and then become the head coach. Ancelotti had intended to recruit him to join the Real Madrid coaching staff, but Florentino wanted to focus on training Zidane. In desperation, Cannavaro returned to Al Ahli. , became the assistant of the Romanian Olaroiu. Later, both of them coached the Chinese Super League. Olaroiu personally ended Evergrande’s dream of winning the championship. Unexpectedly, Jiangsu Suning was disbanded a few months later, and part of Olaroiu’s salary Haven't gotten it yet.
In November 2014, a 1:1 victory over Guangzhou Evergrande completed the fourth consecutive Chinese Super League championship. Lippi embraced everyone on the team passionately. The age of 66 is considered retirement in China. Despite his age, he still proved his worth in Tianhe, but at the press conference later, a piece of news shocked the audience: "This is the last game I will lead the Guangzhou Evergrande team as the head coach."
The most famous coach in the history of Chinese football ended his era with one sentence. However, who is at the helm of the post-Lippi era? A few days later, the 42-year-old former World Footballer Cannavaro landed in Guangzhou. A rookie succeeded a legend, and Lippi retreated behind the scenes.
The rookie Kashuai worked hard throughout the offseason. He watched videos, studied tactics, and refused any entertainment activities. He had his own plans and ideas. Regarding the team, he said: "Although I am an Italian defender, I will not focus on defense. I will let Evergrande attack." About himself, he said: "When everything is stable here, I will bring my wife here in a year." . ”
In the end, Cannavaro’s first stay in China was set at 212 days.
After Lippi left office, Kashuai took the lead alone, but he was still a bit young. After game after game, the media were counting how many of Kashuai's worst records in team history during the same period, five In mid-month, the Evergrande League drew with Shanghai SIPG and R&F, and the AFC Champions League went on an unprecedented four-game losing streak. He tried very hard to reverse the decline, but there were still not many ways.
The tough battle with Shandong in the away game ended in a 1:1 draw. Evergrande and Luneng were ranked in the top two of the standings. Fortunately, the AFC Champions League entered the top 8 after stumbling, and the results were not bad. passable.
In the player tunnel, Cannavaro was called to the conference room by club staff. Ke Peng, who had just been appointed as the club’s chairman, said to him, “Mr. Cannavaro, we are going to terminate your contract. ." At the same time, the entire Italian coaching team during Lippi's period also left. Cannavaro accepted all this calmly, and he only received half of his salary in the remaining one and a half years of his contract.
Can’t he win the hearts of fans? When he left, more than 2,000 fans saw him off at the airport, and the crowd was even bigger than when Conca left; couldn't he unite the players? Some young players have gotten opportunities in his hands, and the main players have a good relationship with him; is his performance poor in leading the team? Both the league and the AFC Champions League are competing for the championship. From this point of view, Kashuai at the time seemed to have done nothing wrong.
According to the Evergrande club at the time, they fired Cannavaro based on long-term considerations, and the team's Italian period was over. The club spent 15 million euros to introduce Goulart and another 11 million euros to acquire Alan. They believed that the Brazilian style was the future of the team, so they invited Scolari, who was more famous in his coaching career, but they respected " "Brazilian Stream" was beaten 1:7 by Germany at their home court a year ago.
What’s even more magical is that no one could have imagined that the “Brazilian foreign aid” back then could actually become a “Chinese compatriot” a few years later.
Cannavaro, who returned to Italy, hoped to get the opportunity to coach a Serie A club, but as a rookie, no team was willing to take risks. In October 2015, the Saudi League Al Nasr team announced that Cannavaro would become a coach. The team's new coach, after leading the team for 12 games with dismal results four months later, was fired again.
Who can be as good as a player and a coach? There are many excellent players and many excellent coaches, but it will be difficult to have a football emperor after Beckenbauer.
The two coaching tours totaled less than a year, but this did not seem to affect Cannavaro's mood. He was enjoying the vacation while waiting for opportunities. He was willing to try wherever he could. After a try, 4 months later, it was China again. At that time, the ambitious Tianjin Quanjian contacted him, and this time his starting point was in the Chinese League One.
It was a crazy era of gold and dollar football. In the 2016 winter transfer market, Tianjin Quanjian ranked first in the world with 40.6 million euros, and Shanghai SIPG ranked 6th in the world with 18.5 million euros. Hebei China Fortune, a new team in the Chinese Super League, ranks 7th in the world, and Shanghai Shenhua ranks 9th in the world with 12.39 million euros...
He led Tianjin Quanjian to the Super League as the champion of the Chinese Super League, sweeping away all previous players in the Super League. In the haze of Evergrande, Quanjian is another Evergrande. Shu Yuhui's ambition is to create a "Quanjian miracle". He said the famous saying "Don't play Chinese football if you don't have money."
He directly called out a budget of 1 billion for the new season plan, so Pato came and Witsel came.
In Tianjin Quanjian’s debut season in 2017, Cannavaro brought the team into the AFC Champions League. The performance of super foreign players such as Pato and Witsel naturally contributed a lot, but he gave 95 Liu Yiming in 1995, Yan Zihao in 1995, Zhang Xiuwei in 1996, Zheng Dalun in 1994 and other young people had opportunities. In his hands, Quan Jian played young and energetic, and also had money.
At this time, Evergrande is still No. 1 in the Chinese Super League, but its dominance is declining, and Scolari is too conservative and young people do not get opportunities at all. A group of young people such as Liao Lisheng, Yang Chaoshan, and Xu Xin None of the talented players became the main force. Faced with a challenger like Quan Jian, Evergrande directly chose to poach its opponent.
"I am very excited because so many people came to see me off. I will always remember you. I hope that one day, I will come back here again and come back to you..." I once faced the farewell fans he said so. On November 9, 2017, Cannavaro entered the palace for the second time and became the new coach of Evergrande. In 2018, the two parties signed a five-year long-term contract with an annual salary of 12 million euros.
In the first season after returning to Evergrande, the league was overtaken by the more ambitious Shanghai SIPG and lost the championship. This was the first time Evergrande lost the Chinese Super League in seven years. The road to entering the palace for the second time was still difficult, 2019 At the end of the season, the AFC Champions League was double beaten by Urawa Red Diamonds, and the league was winless.
During the critical period of the league, he went to the Evergrande Center to study. Zheng Zhi took over as the head coach. He always used Talisca and hired his younger brother as an assistant. These were all criticized as nepotism, and he had to be dismissed from get out of class again. Already?
His path at Evergrande was completely planned based on Lippi’s experience. He won the championship at the club and led the national football team. If he could break out of Asia, he would be a hero for China. It is a pity that Cannavaro and Lippi Pi's coaching ability is separated by 5 Serie A titles, 1 Champions League title and 1 World Cup title.
The disastrous defeat in the Cup of China made him completely unable to lead the national team. When the epidemic broke out in 2020, the league adopted a tournament system. Evergrande and Suning reached the final of the championship. In the end, Guangzhou Evergrande fell short and failed to win. Enough that Evergrande lost again, and the even greater defeat came from the last straw that broke the camel's back for the entire Evergrande Group - Evergrande ran out of money.
It is strange that the real estate companies Evergrande, China Fortune Land Development, and R&F that have been exposed as "explosive" are all related to Chinese football. Guangzhou Evergrande Club has been rumored to be reorganized time and time again. The former giant is also unsustainable under the current Chinese football system. It cannot operate without blood transfusion. China's professional league is still far from "professional".
On September 23, 2021, it was reported that Cannavaro, who originally planned to fly back to Guangzhou, had decided not to return to China. He, the entire Italian coaching staff and the club terminated the contract in advance, and gave up the contract for this reason. With a salary of 120 million yuan, the bigger crisis in the future is that Evergrande may not be able to support the wages of players, including high-paid naturalized players.
Frankly speaking, Cannavaro's coaching experience in China was not successful. He could let Quan Jian conquer the world as a new army, but he did not have the ability to stabilize Evergrande. The courage of young players to come forward did not change the strength of the tired lineup. He allowed Evergrande to complete the replacement of old and new players, but it was unable to allow Evergrande to continue to dominate. He couldn't help the declining national football team rise. He did a lot, but didn't seem to do much well.
Evergrande lost the championship twice in three seasons. This kind of leadership ability is definitely not excellent, but there is one thing. It was very satisfying to terminate the contract with Evergrande twice. I don’t want to have to fight with the Football Association after Camacho was fired. The stubborn fight shows that Cannavaro still loves football and does not regard football as a tool to make money. He has wanted to coach the Italian team more than once. His plan has always been to go from East Asia to Europe, like Wenger.
According to Madaloni, a member of his former coaching staff, Fiorentina had contacted him before. At that time, he still had a contract with Evergrande. Viola could not afford the liquidated damages. Now that he is free, he may be coaching Serie A. best chance.