"As a coach, it is completely different," Fabio Cannavaro says. "Because as a football player, you have one goal, and as a coach, I have so many things to do and think about." Twenty years after lifting the trophy as Italy's captain, he's finding that out in real time — on the touchline with Uzbekistan.
The image most people carry of Cannavaro is from July 2006: shaved head, captain's armband, the World Cup held aloft in Berlin. Months later, he won the Ballon d'Or. He played in four World Cups total. Now he's managing a team that has never played in one.
A historic debut, and a messy handover
Uzbekistan qualified for the 2026 World Cup for the first time in the nation's history — a genuine landmark moment, and one that belonged entirely to Timur Kapadze. The former Uzbek international, who made 119 appearances for his country, guided the team through qualification and delivered something no Uzbek manager had ever done before.
Then, four months later, the federation brought in Cannavaro.
Kapadze was asked to stay on as assistant. He resigned just over a month after that. The politics there are pretty transparent, and they don't reflect especially well on how the federation handled the transition. Cannavaro inherits a squad he didn't build, a staff reshaped by friction, and a World Cup group that would test sides with far more experience.
Colombia are the opening opponents. James Rodríguez and Luis Díaz are on that team. Portugal come next. Uzbekistan's World Cup debut — decades in the making — arrives against some of the most attacking talent in the tournament. Any bet on them picking up a point from that group stage is a leap of faith, not a value play.
Enjoy it — you have nothing to lose
Cannavaro's message to his players is straightforward: "I try to remove the pressure. I told the players to enjoy it because they have nothing to lose." That's the right framing. There's no expectation of progression, no weight of prior World Cup history to carry. Just the weight of being completely outmatched on paper.
Whether his players can channel that freedom into anything competitive is the real question. Cannavaro knows what it feels like to win this tournament. His players are about to find out what it feels like just to be in it.
