Ballon d'Or Nominees
Wednesday, 22 October 08, 12:34 PM · Comments(7)
Of the Ballon d'Or Nominees who is on your short list? We broke it down this week on the show and here is our list.
Agüero
Archavine
Casillas
Ronaldo
Fabregas
Torres
Ibrahimovic
Ribéry
Rooney
Senna
Ramos
Toni
Edwin van der Sar
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Vidic
Villa
Xavi
And we had Casillas, C. Ronaldo and David Villa tied for the award and it went to Casillas in the end with two votes to one. Ending with Ronaldo in second place.
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Why do they even have a list this big?Do they really need thirty players on a shortlist??!It should be fifteen at the most.Torres or Villa should win but we all know that Ronaldo will get it.
Hoser I have no idea why Pepe is on the list. Talk about a waste of a vote.
I agree with Hannah, Pepe wasn't even the best defender on Real Madrid. CRonaldo will probably win, but I've got to say that in a year with an International Cup competition, the best player on the best side gets a huge bump (or how do you explain Cannavaro in 2006?) That's why I picked Iker. Tough for a keeper to win though.
I have a question Mando: did Casillas really stand above everybody else on the Spanish squad? I think Xavi was actually named the official player of the tournament, but I think that was more of a sign of UEFA shrugging their collective shoulders and saying they have to give it to someone. Xavi was good, in fairness, but I don't think he was the best player in the tournament. Personally, I think the Brazilian beast Senna was the best player on the Spanish squad this summer. If I had a vote, I'd give it to him.
Still, as you mention, it is an International year and that does weigh a lot towards voting. Sammer one his Ballon d'or after having a phenomenal 96 Euro, but then again Sammer was no slouch either.
Cheers, and thanks for all the work you put into your podcast/blog etc.
The key for Spain was the game vs Italy. Iker won that game for the NT. He also was amazing for Madrid last season as well as the seasons prior. He deserves the award.
7 Comments · Add yours
I think it's Cronaldo's to lose, as much I just hated typing that.
I think the power of the domestic championship plus the CL trophy is difficult to deny. Of course, since it is journalist based the Ballon D'Or gets it right more often than the FIFA trophy, but still, I'd be surprised if anyone other than Cronaldo were to win it. 'keepers often get overlooked in these things. I'm not sure why.
Oh I just wanted to add that it was strange that Pavel Pogrebnyak wasn't even on the list of 30. Pogrebnyak tied with Toni with 10 UEFA Cup goals. Shame he was suspended for the final against Rangers.
And did Pepe really deserve to be on that list?