World Cup: Ronaldo and Cannavaro, one Ballon d'Or on the bench and five on the field

HOUSTON - Eleven and a half years separate Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Cannavaro, the Uzbekistan national team coach. The Portuguese star was born on February 5, 1985, while the Italian legend's birthday is September 13, 1973. Today, from 6 PM Continental Portugal time, one will be in the Uzbek dugout, and the other will, most likely, be on the pitch wearing Portugal's number 7 jersey.

Cannavaro's illustrious career saw him play for Napoli (1992-1995), Parma (1995-2002), Inter (2002-2004), Juventus (2004-2006), Real Madrid (2006-2010), and Al Ahli (2010/2011). He could have crossed paths with Ronaldo at Inter, Juventus, or Real Madrid, but only as an opponent.

They nearly met in August 2002 when Inter and Sporting clashed in the Champions League qualifiers. In the first leg at Alvalade, what's about to happen today already occurred: Ronaldo played in that goalless draw nearly 24 years ago (coming on in the 58th minute for Toñito), while Cannavaro remained on the bench (Cordoba and Materazzi were the center-backs; Sérgio Conceição played up front). Today, it will be the same story: one on the field, the other on the bench, and perhaps another Conceição will also be on the pitch.

In the second leg, two weeks later at the Giuseppe Meazza, Cannavaro entered the game in the 60th minute for Guglielminpietro. Hector Pérez's Inter, already leading Laszlo Boloni's Sporting 2-0, aimed to solidify their defense around Toldo's goal. Ronaldo was not listed in the squad for that match, and Sérgio Conceição, four months away from becoming a father to Francisco, stayed on the bench.

Eighteen months later, on March 31, 2004, another missed opportunity for them to meet on the field. Portugal hosted Italy in Braga (1-2) in a friendly match ahead of the Euro 2004 finals. Ronaldo came off the bench at halftime for Simão Sabrosa, but Fabio Cannavaro wasn't even on Giovanni Trapattoni's Italy squad.

Finally, on February 6, 2008, in Zurich, Portugal and Italy faced each other again, once more in a friendly in preparation for the Euro 2008 finals. By then, Cannavaro already had the 2006 Ballon d'Or in his pocket, primarily due to winning the World Cup in Germany, while Ronaldo was 10 months away from being named the world's best footballer for the first time.

Italy won that 2008 match 3-1, with goals from Luca Toni, Quagliarella, and... Cannavaro. Portugal's goal was scored by Ricardo Quaresma. The captains of the two teams were Ronaldo and Cannavaro, and both played the full 90 minutes.

Just over a year later, they were close to meeting again, this time as teammates at Real Madrid. However, the Italian left the Merengues on July 1, 2009, to join Juventus, where he partnered with, among others, Pepe. The transfer cost: zero. Ronaldo arrived in Madrid five days later, on July 6, for a transfer fee of 94 million euros. Manuel Pellegrini managed Real Madrid at the time, and Ciro Ferrara was at the helm of the Old Lady.

They met one last time on July 31, 2009, when the Italian was already at Juventus, in a pre-season match for the Peace Cup. The Italians won 2-1 in Seville, with each player scoring a goal.