Phoenix: Loss to Portsmouth bringing change?
Losing three of their first four games is not pleasing the Phoenix faithful. Management has started to put pressure on Coach Scriv because they believe they drafted a great team for him to run. After the loss Coach Scriv let me know there would be some changes in terms of who the leaders of this team are. He just needed time to think.
About 4 hours later Coach Scriv courteously called me back to let me know about the situation. He said he held a team dinner earlier tonight about 7 PM est. However, before he met individually with Xavi, and let the Spainiard know that he needed to make some changes to get the team going again. He told Xavi it was nothing he personally did. Xavi being the class act he is, accepted the move in grace telling me later, “We started off a little slow and Coach Scriv wanted to make some changes. I stand by him and want to do whatever it takes to help the team win.”
Coach Scriv told me the dinner with the squad went well. After dealing with Xavi prior to the dinner, he made two other changes. First he selected Fabio Cannavaro to be the new team captain. Cannavaro definitely has prior experience in this role. He captained Italy to a World Cup Championship in 2006. Coach Scriv also added a role to the team that wasn’t previously there, vice-captain. He named the soon-to-be 24 year-old Cristiano Ronaldo as his vice-captain. He feels Ronaldo has been playing a little tentative in the first few matches and wants to show his confidence in him. Cannavaro spoke with the new vice-captain afterwards. He told Cristiano he wants him to wear the captain’s armband during the matches. Cannavaro said wearing the armband or not doesn’t matter to him and he wants Ronaldo to take even more of a leadership role on the field. Afterwards they pitched the idea to Coach Scriv who agreed with the plan but let the two of them know that other than the wearing of the armband, Cannavaro is the distinct captain of the squad.
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