Fabio Cannavaro, the coach of the Uzbekistan national team, has clarified the reasons behind the security search his squad underwent immediately after disembarking their team bus before a World Cup warm-up friendly against the Netherlands. Cannavaro described the incident as “standard procedure.”
Uzbekistan is set to make its debut at the World Cup finals this summer, having secured second place in their qualification group. They will compete in the final tournament alongside Portugal, DR Congo, and Colombia.
Confusion arose when footage circulated on South American television, showing Cannavaro and the Uzbekistan delegation being stopped and subjected to a search, including the use of a sniffer dog, by security personnel just before a friendly match against the Netherlands.
Cannavaro: “Routine, Standard Checks”
Cannavaro has since addressed the situation on social media, explaining that security screenings are customary for teams participating in matches. He also praised the organization of the tournament in the USA as “flawless.”
“I saw photographs on the front pages of newspapers depicting the searches we underwent at the airport as members of the Uzbek national team. I’ve also seen misleading headlines, so I wish to set the record straight,” Cannavaro stated in an Instagram post.
“These were routine, standard checks. People don’t realize that when World Cup national teams travel, they don’t pass through airport terminals like regular passengers. Instead, they are taken directly to the tarmac in buses designated for the teams.”
“The checks that ordinary travelers undergo inside the terminal, we undergo directly on the tarmac. They are precisely the same. It’s standard procedure.”
“Therefore, there is no scandal, no undignified or disrespectful treatment. The same applies to the matches. Before the friendly against the Netherlands, we were screened at the stadium, and this was also expected. Before every match, teams undergo screening either at the hotel just before departure (as happened with the Netherlands) or directly at the stadium, as was the case for us.”
“The truth is that we found the organization to be flawless.”
