Polls

And WHAT on earth is the new Ballon d’Or?

Well – for those of you who don’t know – it’s the new award that goes to the best player in the world of soccer / football. It is voted on by coaches, players and journalists from every corner of the planet and is awarded by soccer’s world governing body, FIFA.

And why are we talking about this award already, when the 2010-2011 season has only just begun and FIFA is not due to announce the winner until January 10, 2011?

Well, because – it seems – that everything that needed to happen has already happened: the Champions League final was played in May and the World Cup final was played in July.

So, it doesn’t matter what will occur in the various leagues around the world between August and the end of December 2010?

Nope. No. It doesn’t matter. And what’s more, THE discussion that occurs around this topic, this question of who is soccer’s best player – is already in full swing.

So who is saying what on this topic then?

Well, strangely, Uruguay’s Diego Forlan, who won the Golden Ball at the World Cup – for best player – is not being talked about at all for the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball in French). And, in a twist you will find only in the world of football – he is promoting another player for the award. Forlan is backing Spain’s Xavi Hernandez for the award, saying: “I want to win the Ballon d’Or, but if were give the opportunity to vote, I would give it to Xavi.”

Not so strangely, Spain’s coach Vicente Del Bosque is also backing Xavi, the maestro of his World Cup winning midfield. However, back to the strange, the unique, the wonderful ways of football, Del Bosque is also promoting Xavi’s equally magical midfield mate, Andres Iniesta, who scored the beautiful cup winning goal to knock out that dirty Dutch team. Both players for the Ballon then? Definitely says the coach: “Do they deserve the Ballon d’Or? None of us here doubt this. They are both the best in the world.”

Well, that clears things up doesn’t it?

Hold on a minute though. Phillipe Coutinho believes it should be Wesley Sneijder – the magical midfield maestro – who lead that dirty Dutch team to the World Cup final. Why Sneijder? We thought you’d never ask. You see Sneijder is a teammate of Coutinho’s at Internationale of Milan, Italy: “I think Sneijder deserves the Ballon d’Or. I watch him in training and he leaves me stunned. He is a legend.”

Hmm. Should FIFA really be leaving the voting to players who could be voting for teammates?

Or what about the coaches of candidates, should they be allowed to vote? Should Jose Mourinho be allowed to vote for his former player at Inter, especially when the Best Manager in the World has the special view that the Champions League means more than the World Cup?: ”You cannot give it to Iniesta, because although he scored the most important goal of the year, for the rest of the season he was injured. Nor Diego Forlan because, although he had a good World Cup and has won the Europa League, Atletico Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League…Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan) deserves it, he has won everything, has always been crucial and has played in the World Cup final, behind him should be Xavi.”

Well, incredible. But he’s the Best Manager in the World – so he must be right, right?

Well, yes, unless you are talking to the actual Best Manager in the World, the manager who Mourinho himself has referred to as Don Corleone, none other than Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson thinks it should be someone who couldn’t even get into the Argentine side which lost 4-0 to Germany at the World Cup. Diego Milito! Imagine. But here is what the Football Goodfather says of Milito: ”I think the Ballon d’Or will be won by Milito…He had a great Champions League campaign and was decisive in the final…I think he has a very good chance of claiming the honor.”

Decisive? What does that mean? Let me look this up. Oh yes – Milito scored both goals in the Champions League final:

That’s nothing to snear at but are those two goals in the Champions League MORE decisive than this wonderous goal which gave Spain the most cherished trophy in the world of sport?:

Umm – that goal was scored by Iniesta.

With Xavi nowhere to be seen.

So maybe it should be Iniesta for the Ballon d’Or. He scored the decisive goal in the most important game.

And Xavi was nowhere to be seen.

And neither was Messi!

In this long, tediously ironic post, there has been no mention of Little Leo. Where oh where is Messi in this debate? Last year’s Ballon winner and still everybody’s Best Player in the World? Where?…

Well, while his body may be in Barcelona as he tries to win yet another La Liga title, his reputation must be cowering somewhere back home with Argentine teammate Diego Milito after getting decisively dumped out of the Best Tournament in the World.

Did Messi have any chance of winning this season’s Ballon d’Or without winning the World Cup?

I suppose not. And yet you the fans of the world keep on voting him the Best Player in the World dot com.

What on earth is going on?



{ 4 comments }

The La Liga season finally opened yesterday and it didn’t take Lionel Messi very long to remind us why he is still the best player in the world.

In only the second minute, a sublime outside-of-the-foot pass from Iniesta sent Leo in all alone on the poor Racing Santander ‘keeper and Messi did what he does best: scored by chipping it over the ‘keeper.

A Messi classic.

Our 2010 poll shows that the fans of the world believe that Messi is still clearly the best player in the world…



{ 0 comments }

Nobody else is talking about it – so we will – next Sunday marks the beginning of Spain’s football season and we feel that this properly unveils the 2010/11 best football players in the world.

The chief attraction is of course – the Messi v. Ronaldo debate. But please don’t forget that last season the five nominees for FIFA’s Player of the Year Award (now the FIFA Ballon d’Or) were all from La Liga: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Xavi (Spain). And then there is of course David Villa – who can now regularly display his talent on the big stage at the Camp Nou.

Sure – the Premier League has Wayne Rooney – but that’s all the English league can manage when we are talking about the very best. Right? : )

(We’ll see how quickly we get hate mail from English fans, after we hit the “publish” button.)

As for me – you’ll be surprised to know that I won’t be focusing on my favourite, Lionel Messi, this season. No, I will be focusing on Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes – CR9. Why? Because if anyone can get the Portuguese step-over king back to the top of the heap again – it’s Real Madrid’s new Portuguese manager, the one, the only, the very special, Jose Mourinho. Sir Alex Ferguson did a masterful job of making Ronaldo the best player in the world while he was at United – and I think that Jose is up to the task too.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ll still be watching the Barclay’s this year but my focus is going to be on Real-Barca, Mourinho-Guardiola, Ronaldo-Messi.

My focus will be on La Liga – because maybe we need to start talking again about which exactly is “The Best League in the World”…



{ 8 comments }