In case you didn't already know, the Ballon d'Or, or Golden Ball, is the top individual accolade a footballer can win. The FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or were kept separate until this year, but now have joined forces to create a super mega-award. Unfortunately it is already clear by FIFA's omission of Diego Alberto Milito from their 23-man shortlist that they have no idea what they are doing. Lets prepare for disappointment.
The list
 |
| Ball of Gold |
Xabi Alonso
Mesut Özil
Diego Forlán Corazo
Lionel Messi
Eto'o
David Villa
Philipp Lahm
Cristiano Ronaldo
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Julio César
Daniel Alves
Carles Puyol
Asamoah Gyan
Thomas Müller
Xavi
Cesc Fàbregas
Maicon
Didier Drogba
Wesley Sneijder
Miroslav Klose
Iker Casillas
Arjen Robben
Who's missing
 |
| Diego Alberto Milito, clowning around |
Diego Alberto Milito. It pains me to build a case for Milito, since I absolutely detest Inter, but the above list without Il Principe is a disgrace. Let's quickly highlight Milito's stellar season last year:
32 goals in all competitions
Most Importanly:
22 Serie A
6 Champions League
3 title winning goals ( 1 goal vs. Siena to win the Serie A; 1 goal against Roma to win the Coppa Italia; 2 goals against Bayern Munich to win the Champions League)
So, Milito knocks in 32 goals including all the goals that allow Inter to call themselves treble winners and is not on the list. Preposterous.
Who should be missing
Asamoah Gyan. I find it comical that the 24 year old Ghanian hitman from Sunderland is on this list. I'm not even sure why he is being considered, especially over Milito. He did score a few big goals for Ghana in South Africa, but does this really merit him being on the list?
Eto'o...oh Eto'o. First of all, you are a crybaby. Stop crying. Secondly, I'll give you credit - anywhere you are, you win. That said, in no way, shape, or form was Eto'o better than Milito last year. He did play a huge role in the treble winning season, but not as big as Milito. So again...FIFA..WHY?
Could this be a case of politics in the footballing world? The world soccer community needs to have every federation represented, it seems.
Who should win
Truthfully, the winner of this award should be Wesley Sneijder. Milito or not, Sneijder should be lifting this trophy in the coming months. He orchestrated Inter's treble and got Holland to the World Cup Final. Milito may have scored crucial goals, but Sneijder pulled the strings to grant him chances.
 |
| Wesley Sneijder, kissing triumph |
If not Sneijder, it better be Diego Forlán. This man single-handedly won Athletico Madrid the Europa Cup with a few late-great winners and amazingly got Uruguay a lick of paint away from a 3rd place finish at the World Cup (possibly). The brandishing of his wash board abs being his only detriment, it's hard to imagine anyone else on this list other than Sneijder who had a greater impact on their respective teams comparatively.
 |
| Diego Forlan, Wondering where he can score from next |
If neither of these two win I will lose all faith in FIFA and consider them another ridiculous, burecratic governing body. Predictions anyone?
its unfortunate for Xavi and Villa that so many spaniards are up there, though Casillas may deserve the decade award. I don't think Alves or Iniesta are as deserving as Xavi and Villa. Sneider is the most deserving. Robben did alot, but was also significantly injured. Hard to imagine Messi getting 0 votes. I would love to see Xavi get it, because i think he goes under the radar quite often, but would bet on Sneider winning.
ReplyDeleteI dont think anyone on Spain deserves to win.They are an awesome squad...every player individually is top level. So my thinking is that their supporting cast was SO strong that no one stuck out individually as much as Sneijder or Forlan or Robben like you said. But if I had to choose someone from their squad it would be Xavi like you said.
ReplyDeleteMessi shouldn't come close to winning. Barca had a good year but a bad one compared to their previous.
if milito deserves to be on the list, then so does rooney. rooney scored even more goals during the season, and both of them no-showed at the world cup.
ReplyDeleteyeah, i guess he should at least be on the list. but utd didnt win anything last year. winners of this award help their teams to big rewards...the past 3 were messi, ronaldo, kaka..messi won the treble with barca, ronaldo a double (prem and champs), and kaka the champs league with a shitty milan. those trophies matter
ReplyDeletegood point. trophies matter. but trophies are won by a team, not by a single player. if you put rooney on that inter team instead of milito, they would've still won those trophies and rooney would've still scored all those goals. when discussing a "who would you want to have on your team" conversation, my top 3 players in the world would be messi, rooney and ronaldo. it seems like the people who put this list together put way too emphasis on world cup performance. i see no other reason why guys like klose, gyan, and ozil are on this list instead of rooney, tevez and lampard.
ReplyDeleteIt's got to be Sneijder.
ReplyDeletethere's no way to know rooney would have scored those goals and won those trophies for inter. in fact, im sure mourinho would have wanted milito in the starting 11, regardless. afterall, he splashed out millions the previous summer to buy the aging striker from genoa. it payed dividends. "who would you want on your team means nothing" (see miami heat). the right person for the team is what's important.
ReplyDeletein terms of world cup emphasis - it should be emphasized in a world cup year...that makes sense. next year it won't matter! but gyan should not be there and good point about lamps, he should be on the list, tevez: come on. for what? looking and acting most like a bulldog? klose and ozil nearly won their country the world cup and had great club years. they deserve it.
klose had a great club year? he was hardly even in the starting 11. 3 goals in 25 league appearances is hardly a "great club year".
ReplyDeletecarlos tevez averages nearly a goal per game for manchester city. and also scored a couple of important goals in the world cup as well, since that's what theyre emphasizing most. manchester city would be bottom of the table without him.
if not tevez, then torres at least. liverpool would've been bottom of the table without him too. but there's no way klose deserves to be on this list. all he did all year was have a good world cup. that's it. he was a no-show for bayern munich. in fact, i think the english premier league is underrepresented on this list. for being the top league in the world, it should have more people on this list than just fabregas and drogba. rooney, lampard, tevez and torres are all deserving.
ReplyDeleteyou're right about klose (maybe his definitive fist pump got him on the list) and you do raise a good point about the epl being underrepresented.
ReplyDeleterooney and lampard should at least be on the list. but tevez and city didnt even manage to make the champions league with a spectacular team. why should he be on any list? stop loving tevez so hard. didnt you hear he wants to quit playing? and torres - are you serious? liverpool barely made the europa league and he was injured for half the year. not to mention he looked on the verge of tears throughout the year, including the world cup.
"The news will be a bit of a blow for Inter playmaker Wesley Sneijder. The Dutch international revealed earlier on Monday that he expected to be among the final three contenders for the trophy."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goal.com/en/news/2724/ballon-dor/2010/12/06/2247995/barcelona-trio-xavi-andres-iniesta-lionel-messi-make-fifa-ballon-
What'd I tell you everyone...FIFA is complete bullshit. They're just a video game to me now.