Jonathan Wilson 
/ Jonathan Wilson / 15 March 2012 / Leave a Comment 
The one and only Mauro Camoranesi
"Playing not as a right winger, but as the central part of the trident
in a 4-2-3-1, Camoranesi started quietly, the game rather passing him
by for 35 minutes or so. But then, suddenly, he found space 25 yards
from goal and slipped a delicious pass outside him to Mauro Regeiro."
World Cup winner, Serie A stalwart and a much-travelled midfielder of genuine quality, Mauro Camoranesi now plays his football back in Argentina for Lanus. And there's still life in the old dog, says Jonathan Wilson.
It takes a little while to pick him out, but once you do, Mauro Camoranesi is unmistakable: the straight downward swoop of the nose, the bounce of the hair, the oddly soothing jerks of his running style, the number 16 shirt. He is 35 now and clearly not the player he once was, but there were moments in Lanus's 1-0 win over Emelec on Tuesday when you could still see the class that made him such an important part of Italy's World Cup squad in 2006.
Playing not as a right winger, but as the central part of the trident in a 4-2-3-1, Camoranesi started quietly, the game rather passing him by for 35 minutes or so. But then, suddenly, he found space 25 yards from goal and slipped a delicious pass outside him to Mauro Regeiro.
The number 10 dallied and the chance was lost, but Camoranesi seemed
inspired. Twice before half-time he tested Esteban Dreer, the Lanus goalkeeper, with long-range efforts and it was his flick to Regeiro that created the opening in which Mariano Pavone was brought down, costing Jose Luis Quinonez a red card.
Lanus is an odd place for Camoranesi to have ended up. It's an unlovely suburb to the south of Buenos Aires, noted for its industry and for being the birthplace of Diego Maradona. A long shopping street, in which a huge poster of Glen Johnson talks pride of place, leads from the bus and rail stations to the ground, the sort of
soulless, windblown, litter-strewn arcade that characterises satellite towns through the developed world. The stadium is compact and neat, and the barras impressive loud, but Lanus is essentially a small club for whom survival in the top flight is the major priority. They did win the apertura in 2007, but this is only their fourth season of Libertadores football.
Camoranesi has always shown a willingness to travel. He was born in Tandil and, despite growing up a River Plate fan, began his career with Aldosivi from Mar del Plata, just 100 miles from his hometown. He then had stints in Mexico and Uruguay before returning to Argentina in 1997 with Banfield.
After a season there it was back to Mexico with Cruz Azul, his form there earning a transfer to Verona. He played 54 league games for them before, in 2002, joining Juventus. That was where Camoranesi really made his name, playing 224 league games over eight seasons, winning three league titles (two of them subsequently lost as part of the fallout from the Calciopoli scandal) and a further 55 caps for Italy, whom he represented through his dual citizenship.
Amid the on-pitch celebrations that followed the World Cup final success over France in Berlin in 2006, he had his team-mate Massimo Oddo cut off a hunk of his hair, then ran to a camera and dedicated the success to the youth of Argentina, shorting - in Spanish - "para los pibes del barrios" ("for the kids of the [implicitly impoverished]
neighbourhoods").
After a year at Stuttgart Camoranesi joined Lanus in 2011. He still has touches of inspiration, as when he flicked a low free-kick between his legs for Pavone early in the second half on Tuesday. A neat through pass for Regeiro then created a chance for Silvio Romero, whose shot was superbly tipped over by Freer, but his legs were going
by then and, after dropping deeper, he committed a comedically awful foul, was booked and substituted almost immediately. Moments after he had gone off, Pavone turned in Diego Valeri's cross at the back post, the only goal of the game.
Lanus are no more than an ordinary side and the [6.2] available for them to win the Libertadores is far too short, but Tuesday's performance was good enough to suggest a team finding a pattern; even before Quinonez was sent off, they'd hit the woodwork twice. They lie eleventh in the clausura table after five games, just a point clear of
Argentinos Juniors whom they face on Friday, but they showed enough against Emelec to suggest the true gap may be rather greater than that. Certainly the [2.1] on offer for them to beat Argentinos looks enticing.
Jonathan Wilson looks back on this week's Copa Libertadores matches, where Vasco da Gama won and should have scored six but displayed some alarming weaknesses......
Tournament co-hosts have won both games so far and could secure a stay at their favoured Libreville stadium throughout the knockout stages by avoiding defeat. Jonathan Wilson thinks they can do it...
It's been a disappointing tournament for Senegal but they can make amends by signing off with a win, says Jonathan Wilson...
