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World Soccer views and news
Five moments of Spanish glory captured in paint
Pressed to name the five key goals in the history of the Spanish national team, most soccer fans would easily be able to pick the two most recent.
The deft chip on the run with which Fernando Torres beat Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to seal Spain’s 1-0 victory in the final of Euro 2008 gave the success-starved Iberian nation their first major trophy in 44 years.
The best was yet to come of course, Andres Iniesta’s dramatic stoppage-time winner in Johannesburg last year securing a first World Cup triumph.
Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) president Angel Maria Villar commissioned an artist to capture those two landmark goals and three others and the five paintings were presented at a gala ceremony on Thursday at the RFEF’s training facility outside Madrid, with Torres, Iniesta and their team mates present.
Also immortalised on canvas in striking detail were Telmo Zarra’s effort against England at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, which put Spain through to the last four; Marcelino’s header which won the 1964 European Championship final against the Soviet Union and Kiko Narvaez’s winner against Poland to give Spain gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The paintings, by Andres Sanchez, will go on display at the federation’s museum at Las Rozas outside the Spanish capital.
“In the football world past events are sometimes forgotten,” Villar, who is also a vice president of FIFA and UEFA, told the audience.
Messi’s FIFA Ballon d’Or award is still a victory for team football
It’s strange that when 2009 winner Lionel Messi was awarded the combined FIFA Ballon d’Or award on Monday there was shock in the Zurich auditorium and around the globe.
He is clearly the best player in the world but most fans and pundits had expected one of Barcelona team mates and Spain World Cup winners Andres Iniesta or Xavi to take the prize.
Some might argue that talent has unfairly outstripped team play yet again in the big award but of all the truly great players to have graced the game, Messi is one of a handful who shine because of their understanding with team mates not just their outrageous skill.
Unlike rugby where the kicker can make a huge amout of difference or NFL where the quarterback is all powerful, soccer really is a team game and that is why skilful workhorses Xavi or Iniesta were widely expected to win.
But the fact three Barca players were the only men on the shortlist is a wonderful achievement for the Catalan club and is yet more proof that the beautiful game is about 11 men combined to create one beating heart, with Messi’s brilliance providing the killer touch.
Without Xavi or Iniesta, Messi would not have become arguably the game’s greatest ever player and the modest Argentine will be the first to thank his friends. His win also breaks the mould of the great and good just voting for whoever triumphed in the big on-field prizes during the year.
This was taken as a snub in Spain, where they could not believe that Messi beat Xavi and Iniesta to the prize. My own feeling was that Xavi had a pretty good argument, not just for his form this year but as the outstanding midfielder for the last three or four.
Ballon d’Or shortlist should give Premier League pause for thought
England performed well below expectation at the World Cup in South Africa and judging by the FIFA Ballon d’Or list announced on Tuesday the stock of the Premier League is not at its highest either.
Just three players from the league that likes to call itself the best in the world are on the list and it would be a huge surprise if any of them made it into the top three:
Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), Daniel Alves (Brazil, Barcelona), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Inter Milan), Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal), Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana, Stade Rennes, then Sunderland), Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona), Julio Cesar (Brazil, Inter Milan), Miroslav Klose (Germany, Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Germany, Bayern Munich), Douglas Maicon (Brazil, Inter Milan), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Thomas Mueller (Germany, Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Germany, Werder Bremen, then Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (Spain, Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Netherlands, Bayern Munich), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, Bayern Munich), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands, Inter Milan), David Villa (Spain, Valencia, then Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid), Xavi Hernandez (Spain, Barcelona)
Have a glance through the full list (in all its glory above) and you’ll see just Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas and Asamoah Gyan representing England’s Premier League, and the latter has barely figured for his new club Sunderland.
I doubt anyone in English football will be too worried by this, with the money from TV rights still rolling in, but perhaps they should be.
In terms of star quality La Liga makes the Premier League look strictly second division. Serie A, derided over the past few seasons, now boasts the European Cup holders and a resurgent AC Milan and even the Bundesliga has a healthier than usual representation thanks to the exploits of Champions League finalists Bayern Munich and Joachim Loew’s fearless Nationalmannschaft.
It was different, perhaps, when Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres and the like were being described as among the world’s finest but performances at the World Cup that were indifferent to poor have made those assessments look like so much hype.
As Xavi won player of Euro 2008, Forlan won player of World Cup, Messi and Ronaldo have already won it, I would give it to Iniesta as he deserves some recognition (with Sneijder second).
Still strange Diego Milito, officially UEFA’s player of the last Champions League, isnt even on the shortlist. Ok he only started once for Argentina in South Africa but Inter team mates Julio Cesar and Maicon made little more impression in the WC.
‘Iniesta generation’ flooding Barcelona maternity wards
The first week of May 2009 was a rather good one for Barcelona fans and it seems like many of them celebrated in the time honoured fashion.
An historic 6-2 humiliation of arch rivals Real Madrid at their Bernabeu home on May 2 that effectively wrapped up the La Liga title was followed on May 6 by Andres Iniesta’s brilliant, last-gasp goal at Stamford Bridge that took Pep Guardiola’s side through to the Champions League final at the expense of Chelsea.
According to a survey of hospitals and clinics by a local radio station, the euphoria (and other emotions) generated among Barca fans by those two performances has had a rather unexpected result nine months on.
Maternity hospitals say they are struggling to cope with demand for beds and the survey, by COMRadio, of four hospitals and a clinic showed births this week and those expected next week are 45 percent higher than the average.
“When we notice some sort of surge we look for the reason and it’s evident that the cause of the increase this week is the euphoria of Barca fans thanks to the huge win (against Real) and Iniesta’s goal,” El Mundo newspaper quoted Mercedes Rodriguez of the city’s Quiron Clinic as saying.
The babies were popularly known in Barcelona as “the Iniesta generation”, the paper added.
We did a story out of Berlin a couple of years ago that, disappointingly, showed expectations of a baby boom in Germany inspired by the 2006 World Cup proved to be little more than wishful thinking.
Time to revamp player awards
This week we had the nominations for FIFA world player of the year, discovered the winner of the FIFPro world player of the year and mulled the contenders for the Ballon d’Or.
Exactly how many gongs do we need? In the recent past the situation was a bit clearer.
The Ballon d’Or was originally just for Europeans (hence the foreign language-challenged English calling it the European player of the year). In 1995 magazine France Football, which runs the award, decided any player playing in Europe could win it and since 2007 any footballer in the world is eligible (although it will surely be rare for a player not playing with a European side to win). (more…)
Yep, Cristiano Ronaldo, 40+ goals as a midfielder on a club with Rooney and Tevez is no small feat. He was clearly the best.
Xavi’s understated brilliance deserves recognition
The shortlist for the Ballon d’Or got shorter this year, but there was still room for seven members of the Spain squad that restored a bit of faith in football at Euro 2008.
A lot of news reports focused on the big-named absentees, including Thierry Henry, Fabio Cannavaro and Ronaldinho, but I don’t suppose too many people would argue for their inclusion after disappointing seasons.
No, the real surprise, and shame, is the absence of Andres Iniesta, to my mind the most skilful of Spain’s little men in midfield. If he wasn’t quite at his best at Euro 2008 he was still better than most and he deserves a place in the top 30.
One thing to consider about the award is the weight given to performances over a season against form shown over a few weeks in the summer.
For many Premier League watchers, it will be hard to see past Cristiano Ronaldo but when Portugal needed him he was outshone by Bastian Schweinsteiger. Again. Where does that leave us?
Xavi won the player of the tournament award at Euro 2008 for pulling the strings in that beguiling Spanish midfield and despite the fact that Barcelona won nothing last season, he would be my choice. It would at least recognise that brilliance can be understated as well as flash.
Xavi is a great player who is way under glorified. Give him his credit he is an awesome player.
