Cannavaro doping issue overshadows qualification
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Italy host Cyprus in Parma on Wednesday in a World Cup Group Eight qualifier which should act as a celebratory occasion but has so far been overshadowed by a doping row involving the world champions' captain Fabio Cannavaro.
The Juventus centerback tested positive for the banned substance cortisone in August but on Monday was exonerated by the Italian Olympic Committee after they accepted his club's assertion that he had taken a medication in an emergency after his arm swelled up following an insect sting.
The affair, although now technically over, has left a sour taste with an angry Cannavaro hitting out at the press.
After firing off some expletives at the press on Monday, Cannavaro insisted he had done nothing wrong.
"I have a clean conscience. Someone gets stung by a bee and then he finds themselves in the newspapers as if he had doped," he said.
"When that happened I thought I was dreaming. Some newspapers and television stations went too far."
Fortunately for Italy Alberto Gilardino's last-minute strike in Dublin to earn a 2-2 draw against Ireland ensured they don't need anything from this game, otherwise they would have needed to win it to guarantee qualification.
Had that been the case, the Cannavaro issue could have had an unsettling effect on the squad, the last thing it would need ahead of a match against a team that just thrashed Bulgaria 4-1 and which probably should have won when the two sides met in Nicosia last year.
Instead, this match has nothing riding on it and should provide an opportunity for Italy's fans to turn the event into a carnival.
Italy will be without goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon but coach Marcello Lippi may be tempted to switch things around anyway and take a look at some of his fringe players.
Among those who may be selected are young Villarreal forward Giuseppe Rossi and Inter Milan's teenage fullback Davide Santon.
For Santon it would be doubly important to get a run because he is rarely first choice for his club.
There has been speculation that his lack of domestic action could cost him his place in the Italy squad but he says Lippi is right behind him.
"That's something important and I hope to repay him. The boss told me to stay calm (about not playing for Inter) because I have a future in the national team," he said.
He and others should get the chance to stake a claim for their inclusion on the plane to South Africa on Wednesday.
