Uzbekistan’s head coach is a man famous for captaining his country to the World Cup. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro has urged his players to show greater fighting spirit when they face Portugal in their second FIFA World Cup Group K match on Tuesday after opening their campaign with a 3-1 defeat to Colombia.

The Central Asians are making their World Cup debut, and Cannavaro, who captained Italy to the 2006 title, expects his side to learn quickly from its opening setback.

“As I have always said, we have nothing to lose,” Cannavaro told reporters. “Portugal like to control the game and they will start very strongly. We know what to expect and we have our strategy. We will try to do our best and stay in the game until the end.”

The Italian said he wanted to see a more combative performance from his players, but stressed that aggression must be controlled.

“I asked my team to play with more fighting spirit than against Colombia, but we cannot just run around stupidly everywhere,” he said.

Cannavaro also warned his players against concentrating solely on Cristiano Ronaldo despite the veteran forward producing a subdued display in Portugal’s 1-1 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We cannot focus only on Cristiano,” he said. “He is one of the greatest players ever, but Portugal have many other quality players and talent on the bench. Having said that, Cristiano can score in every situation, so we need to be very careful.”

Reflecting on his own World Cup journey, Cannavaro said coaching at the tournament is vastly different from playing, though the emotions remain just as strong.

“As a player you think more on an individual level, but as a coach you have to think about the whole team, the strategy and the players,” he said.

“I don’t show them videos of me lifting the World Cup because that was 20 years ago. Instead, I try to show them how important it is to play as a team. Players like Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona can win matches on their own, but for us everything starts with teamwork.

“When you are at a World Cup, the memories stay with you forever. I am fortunate that mine are very happy ones.”

Published on Jun 23, 2026