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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.
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.
Messi wins Ballon D’Or almost unanimously
There was never any doubt was there? Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has been awarded the 2009 Ballon D’Or by French magazine France Football.
The 22-year-old became the first Ballon D’Or winner from Argentina, eclipsing runner-up and last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin.
The award’s 96 jurors gave Messi 473 points out of a possible 480, a near unanimous verdict, the magazine said.
The win caps a brilliant year for the soft-spoken left-footer, who helped Barcelona to a Champions League title with nine goals, as well as La Liga and the King’s Cup.
PHOTO: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates a goal against Cultural Leonesa during their Spanish King’s Cup match at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, November 10, 2009. REUTERS/Albert Gea
It wasn’t a suprise, but for consistency last season surely Xavi deserved the award, especially if you tied in Euro 2008 where he was voted player of the tournament. He should definitely have been above Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ibrahimovic volley gives Barcelona bragging rights
A Barcelona-Real Madrid game that veered from the brilliant to the banal, as is pretty much always the case in these contests, was settled 1-0 in favour of the Catalans by a great finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, following an even better pass from Dani Alves.
Real will go back to the capital content with their performance in all areas … apart from in front of goal. They will rue missing six or seven good chances to get something from a game that was pretty even, although that was partly to do with the sending-off of Busquets for a daft handball.
The result took Barcelona back top of La Liga but it obviously didn’t settle anything. What it did confirm is that Real have become a much tougher team to play against with all that new talent and that coach Pellegrini is on the right track. So they couldn’t get the ball off the Barcelona midfield at times? I can’t think of a single team that wouldn’t have had problems at Camp Nou against Iniesta, Xavi, Messi and the rest.
The Ballon d’Or will be announced on Tuesday and you can bet it will go to Messi, but after watching that match I was reminded that Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol deserve to be up there as well.
But what did you make of the game? And who do you think should be named Player of the Year?
PHOTO: Barcelona’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts after scoring a goal during their Spanish first division soccer match against arch rivals Real Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona November 29, 2009. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino
I was expecting more from this game; maybe the timing of Ronaldo’s injury is a factor. Great save from Valdez w/ his right foot in the first half when Ronaldo was by himself in the box. Maybe next game will be better. Messi, yes, he is a good choice for player of the year even though we need to see more of him in South Africa.
Ronaldo was the only choice for Ballon d’Or
Such is his extraordinary talent, Cristiano Ronaldo takes his place among the greatest players to have graced European football despite the less savoury aspects of his game.
The Portugal winger was runner-up to Kaka in the Ballon D’or last year and, after scoring an extraordinary 42 goals to help propel Manchester United to the Champions League and Premier League double, was untouchable in the race for this year’s award.
For all the diving, the theatrics, the exaggeration, the “what me?” shrugs and the Real Madrid transfer shenanigans, Ronaldo’s most important contribution to the game is simply an extraordinary array of talents.
There are many people who can perform eye-boggling acts of football trickery but the closest most of them get to the professional game is a bit part in a halftime fizzy drink advert.
Ronaldo does it in the white heat of battle at the very highest level against the most committed defenders who take it personally when he makes mugs of them.
His tricks, more often than not, are less for show and more a means to an end as, once he has made his space, he wastes little time in delivering his crosses and incisive passes. (more…)
it’s interesting to look at the voting and see how far ahead of second-placed Messi Ronaldo was (446 points
to 281)
Luca Toni, after a great first season at Bayern, was also among the nominees but didnt get a single vote. This would suggest that the big summer championships, where Toni really flopped at Euro 2008, do make a big difference. Then again Ronaldo wasnt great for Portugal.
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.