AL DHAFRA // Michael Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls while wearing the number 23. Shane Warne was cricket's biggest celebrity in his version of 23. While, in Madrid and Los Angeles, David Beckham became arguably the world's most famous sportsman with the prime number on his back.
If Fabio Cannavaro wants to brand the consecutive digits like the rest and compete with the best, he should perhaps treat last night's first airing of his new No 23 Al Ahli shirt as a soft opening. For a start, there are no replicas ready yet. Like all the Pro League clubs, Ahli's first batch of official merchandise will not be ready until halfway through the season. And in addition, Madinat Zayed, the tiny town better known for its camel festival than its football team, was a less than suitable venue for the big launch.
At a good 150km south-west of Abu Dhabi city centre, and hence a considerable distance from their nearest geographical rivals, Dhafra's home ground must rank as one of the most isolated in any national top division. If not by sheer distance, than by the strong sense it gives of being off the grid of football civilisation. The road signs direct drivers towards the town's Main Building, then the Graveyard, followed swiftly after by signs thanking you for visiting the capital of the Western Region.
Despite the seclusion, the home fans put on quite a show at the Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium last night. Cannavaro was probably wondering what to expect when he arrived at a venue lined by one main stand, with a capacity of approximately 4,000, then grass banks on the other three sides. The last time he kicked a ball in anger was at the World Cup in South Africa. Now the vuvuzelas have been replaced by traditional Arabic trumpets, and the main stand was swaying to the sound of al youla for the majority of the contest. Cannavaro's arrival in the UAE had been a major marketing coup, as the game's administrators here attempt to increase interest in the nascent Pro League.
There was the odd expatriate amid the crowd of UAE nationals, but probably not the kind UFL bosses had expected to be attracted by the league's new headline signing. The bright lights, maybe, but not the 2006 Fifa World Player of the Year. "Cannavaro? Who is he? Does he play for Al Dhafra?" Sharif Khan, 24, a Bangladeshi hospital porter who has lived and worked in Madinat Zayed for the past two years, said at half-time. "I prefer cricket, but it is nice to come to the ground and watch Dhafra."
Even the away fans, who numbered perhaps 200, would likely have made the trip whether Cannavaro was playing or not. Ali Gharib, a diehard Ahli fan, left his home in Dubai at 3pm, stopped for iftar on the way, and arrived at the ground two hours before the 10pm kick-off. It left him just enough time to deck the away end with a mass of red bunting. "I have been to this ground before, but a very long time ago," said Gharib, 47, an Emirati who works for Emirates airline in Dubai. "I go to every game, home and away. I'm not here just because of Cannavaro. But I think that many more fans will come to watch him. You will see when Al Ahli play Al Wasl."
Ahli's next fixture is on its home ground, at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai, against Wasl on September 1. The unique atmosphere notwithstanding, it was a debut Cannavaro would no doubt like to forget. His first contribution of note was to be yellow-carded for a deliberate handball in the eighth minute of his first match in the UAE. He had got himself into trouble in the first place when he was unable to control a pass on the long grass and put himself under pressure. He had hinted that the playing surface was not quite what he was used to as soon as he arrived for the warm-up with the rest of his teammates.
He trotted gingerly onto the spongy grass, looked down, then dragged his foot across the pitch, as if suggest: "They don't make pitches like this at the Bernabeu." Shortly after, a mix-up at the back between Cannavaro and his centre-back partner, Abdulla Ahmed, led to Mohammed al Saeedi being felled for a penalty. The Italian legend's blushes were spared as Abbas Lawal's meek penalty was saved by Obaid al Taweela, which earned the Ahli goalkeeper a kiss on the head by Cannavaro.
pradley@thenational.ae