Dubai: Former Italian World Cup captain Fabio Cannavaro reaffirmed his commitment to Al Ahli.
"I've given 100 per cent since I arrived here at Al Ahli. So far it has been a great experience, thanks to the players and all others who have been around to help me settle in," Cannavaro told media yesterday.
"It has been a different sort of experience playing here, and hopefully the results in the next few games will be in our favour and that should help us further," Cannavaro added.
The Italian captain created headlines in June after he announced a two-year agreement with Al Ahli.
His arrival in Dubai was earlier than expected as Italy suffered a humiliating first round exit at the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa.
Since then, Cannavaro has not only endeared himself to the club faithful in Dubai, but also done a lot in putting UAE football on the world stage with his sheer presence on the field. He did not have the best of debuts after Al Ahli were humbled 2-0 by lowly Al Dhafrah in their opening match of the etisalat pro league last month.
However, they did well in their second match with a thumping 4-1 result against Al Wasl. Besides his solid display on field, the club captain made an erroneous impression of picking up two yellow cards in the couple of matches he has played for his new club.
"I bring more than 20 years of experience and I want to share this willingly with all at Al Ahli. I have made myself 100 per cent available to whoever wants to use my experience as I know how important it is to reach out to the youth to start with," Cannavaro added.
Though he is not particularly pleased with the start of their campaign this season, Cannavaro is at ease with the manner in which he has settled in at Al Ahli.
"Maybe it is the fasting during Ramadan or the heat factor that have been factors in our results so far. And while the first match was a disappointment, we showed what a strong line-up we have in our 4-1 win against Al Wasl in the second game," he said.
"What we need to do now is maintain our consistency and show a will to win. And the results will follow with titles, whether this year or the next," the 37-year-old added.
