"Edwin van der Sar is no lounger laughable"
Friday 27 February 2009
The column of Candido Cannavò
was about Edwin van der Sar last week.
The master writer handed in his
piece at the desk of the Gazzetta dello Sport
and went on to order a plate of pasta in the cafeteria.
After a few bites he started twitching
his mouth and he was struck by a brain haemorrhage.
On Sunday the pater familias (78)
of Italian sports writing as dead.
Cannavò was a maestro of
the written word and was widely regarded as the conscience
of Italian sports.
In Italy that means you are somebody.
Il Direttore will be dearly missed.
It makes it all the more special
that in the nick of time he rehabilitated Edwin van
der Sar.
"Edwin van der Sar is no lounger
laughable," was the title of his last epistle.
He used to be though.
He was the laughing stock of both
the press and the public.
As goal keeper of Juventus Edwin
van der Sar was once called Edwin van der Gol, or even
pannocchione (maize stalk).
No flattering nicknames for a shot
stopper.
The Dutchman, now breaking one
record after the other in England, is remembered in
Italy as a maypole who was mocked by Totti with a lob
and who made some terrible blunders while minding the
Juventus goal.
He made his most famous papera
(slip) in 2000 against champions Lazio.
Salas shot wasn't all that powerful,
but Van der Sar went down on his but and saw the ball
end up in the back of the net.
For the Juve tifosi the cup was
full.
Banners and jeers were his part
and the media were also ruthless.
Especially La Stampa cut him to
pieces and spoke of a lack of charisma, made jokes about
the shape of his ears, wrote that he was brutto
(ugly) and that he did not have the appearance of a
real champion.
All of a sudden everything was
wrong with the goal keeper.
Then Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti
fiercely defended him in the media, but later admitted
- off the record - that the Dutchman had cost him two
league titles.
It wasn't that Ancelotti didn't
like Van der Sar.
The former Ajax keeper was much
to nice and social for that.
He fitted in the group very well
and spoke Italian better than many of his team mates.
His Italian adventure had actually
begun rather well.
Only towards the end of his first
season did he start messing about.
Getting off his line at the wrong
moment, having trouble with high crosses.
Van der Sar became un caso.
Everybody frantically looked for
an explanation.
Newspapers were suggesting the
Dutchman had a problem wit his eyes and that he simply
needed a pair of glasses.
"End of mystery, problem solved,"
La Repubblica headlined.
"Nonsense," said Van
der Sar, explaining they were wrong and that it was
Edgar Davids who had a problem with his eyes.
To no avail.
Buffon came, Van der Sar went.
Much to the relief of the fans
in Turin and perhaps even much to the relief of Van
der Sar himself.
He went to England (Fulham) were
he refound the joy of football.
"Nine years after his departure
one might wonder where in Jurassic Park that odd Van
der Sar is enjoying his pension at the moment. In reality
the Dutchman is about to become a legend," Cannavò
wrote last week.
"Fortunately life is full
of surprises. How beautiful it is to get revenge with
a smile."
The words were a mixture of melancholy
and joy, Candido Cannavò for the last time.
On Tuesday the born Sicilian was
buried on the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, close to
Giuseppe Meazza, the legendary player of Inter.
Next week it's Manchester United–Inter.
The future is Edwin van der Sar's.
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