Cannavaro returns from week-long 'self-examination'

Fabio Cannavaro has been reinstated as head coach of Guangzhou Evergrande following a bizarre week-long hiatus during which he supposedly engaged in "deep reflections and profound self-examination".

Evergrande abruptly relieved the Italian of his coaching duties on Oct 27 after a 2-2 draw at home to Henan Jianye that further damaged the league leader's title bid.

The club claimed Cannavaro would "attend a study class on Evergrande's corporate culture", with captain Zheng Zhi appointed interim head coach.

The development appeared to be the beginning of the end for Cannavaro at Evergrande, but just seven days later the former Real Madrid defender is back on the job – with another bizarre explanation for his absence.

"Mr Fabio Cannavaro returns to Guangzhou Evergrande today, keeping his job as head coach," read a statement on the club's website.

"Cannavaro handed his personal report to Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group on Sunday afternoon, and made deep reflections and profound self-examination.

"Xu Jiayin acknowledged coach Cannavaro's merits of being diligent and resolute, and praised the coach's efforts for nurturing the next generation of players.

"Meanwhile, Xu criticized Cannavaro's deficient management of the club and inadequate error-correcting capability. Xu hopes Cannavaro will work harder to improve the strength of the coaching team and the players to fight for an eighth CSL title."

Fans on social media took the language and tone of the statement with a large pinch of salt, with most attributing the strange turn of events to Evergrande's unwillingness to pay Cannavaro a big severance package.

The 46-year-old has three years remaining on his Evergrande contract.

Ppsport.com revealed more details of the drama, reporting that veteran Zheng had taken a day off from training with the national squad, which is in Guangzhou preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Syria, to attend a meeting with Cannavaro and Xu.

Cannavaro's detailed analysis of the team's recent failings, and how to improve its performance, reportedly placated Xu sufficiently to save his job.

"Cannavaro's sincerity touched Xu Jiayin," said the ppsport.com report.

"The decision to make the coach attend a study class on Evergrande's corporate culture was not a sign that the chairman wanted to place all the blame on the coach. It was also not a way of forcing Cannavaro to quit."

The report added that Xu remained confident in Cannavaro's abilities, and that confidence was the reason they signed a five-year deal in the first place.

Cannavaro was first named Evergrande coach in late 2014 before being replaced by Luiz Felipe Scolari in June 2015.

In November 2017, Evergrande rehired the 2006 World Cup winner as head coach.

In March this year, Cannavaro briefly coached Team China and the club team at the same time. But the national side's lackluster showing at the China Cup prompted an end to that experiment before Marcello Lippi was reinstalled as national boss in May.

"Life is like theater and theater is like life," renowned Chinese sports commentator Han Qiaosheng said on Weibo on Monday.

"It has been seven days since Cannavaro left his coaching duties and now he has returned to the job. The seven-day suspense drama now comes to an end."

How much longer Cannavaro remains at the helm will surely depend on how the CSL title race plays out as Evergrande chases a record-extending eighth domestic league crown.

After just one win in nine games, including an Asian Champions League semifinal loss to Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds, Evergrande is now just a point ahead of defending champion Shanghai SIPG, and two ahead of third-place Beijing Guo'an, with three matches to play.

Six Evergrande players feature in the latest Team China lineup, so Cannavaro will hope the likes of Zheng and naturalized striker Ai Kesen return injury-free from the Nov 14 World Cup qualifier against Syria in Dubai.

Evergrande resumes it CSL campaign with a mouth-watering showdown against SIPG on Nov 23 – a match that will have a huge bearing on the destination of the title.

Evergrande then travels to Hebei China Fortune before concluding its season at home to Shanghai Shenhua on Dec 1.

SIPG's other remaining games are against lowly Beijing Renhe and Shenzhen. Guo'an's final three matches are against Shenhua, Guangzhou R&F (both away) and Shandong Luneng at home.