FIFA Player of the Year?
Saturday, 20 October 07, 11:18 PM · Comments(6)
Every year, the infamous Fifa World Player of the Year Award comes out and every year I find myself wondering why I ever paid attention. Yes, if you’ve been living under a rock, or as I have suffering the after effects of jet lag and Barcelona, here’s the list. ‘ll join you after you read it.
FIFA World Player of the Year nominees:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Petr Cech (Czech Republic), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Deco (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana), Samuel Eto’o
(Cameroon), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Steven Gerrard (England), Thierry Henry (France), Juninho (Brazil), Kaka (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Frank Lampard (England),
Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Alessandro Nesta (Italy), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribery (France), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina), Ronaldinho (Brazil), Wayne Rooney
(England), John Terry (England), Carlos Tevez (Argentina), Lilian Thuram (France), Fernando Torres (Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), Patrick Vieira (France.
See anything glaring? Now I won’t argue that Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud or even Riquelme deserve to be on that list. Maybe Essien. They all had spectacular years. Kaka, Gerrard, Pirlo and Gattuso met in the Champions League final so you could also make a case for them as well. But the rest? How many of these are here because of reputation? Thuram and Viera are washed up has beens. Ribery hadn’t yet come into his own, and Torres had never lived up to his billing in Spain. Tevez spent most of the year on the bench at West Ham, Buffon most of the year in Serie B, and most everyone else spent a significant portion of the year injured; except for Deco who spent most of the year being confused with Iniesta and Xavi. Am I getting to my point yet?
I think I’m not arguing that these people shouldn’t be nominated, I’m not even worried so much with who will win because it’s obvious that one of these, Kaka, Drogba, C. Ronaldo, or Messi, deserve it just as much as any.
Yet, eternally injured Rafa Marquez gets nominated, over the Golden Boot winner in Europe- Francesco Totti?
I realize that I’m biased for Totti, but I’m trying to be objective here as well. Is Petr Cech more deserving of the award than Pepe Reina who got his club to the CL final? Is Miroslav Klose more deserving than Raul Tamudo or Daniel Alves who both met on the field in Scotland for the UEFA Cup final? God, even David Beckham deserves votes for inspiring his club to wins down the stretch for Real Madrid.
I realize this is a popularity contest, and Francesco Totti, who isn’t even liked by the majority in his own country (outside of Rome I guess) won’t be winning any, but there are glaring cases like this that completely underscore how stupid this award really is. Give it to Kaka, who seems the darling of Fifa anyway, and of Brazilian extraction which helps for starters but don’t come to me afterwards and tout a player by how many individual awards he’s won, because clearly don’t matter.
Mando from FF
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Thanks. I didn't mean that Deco, Xavi and Iniesta were confused, I just thought that they were being mistaken for each other; they are all very similar players, good players, but all at about the
same level of play. I agree with your top three, not in that order though as I think CR had a better year last year, Messi is having a better year this year, but Kaka is the darling of the World
Press.
c.ronaldo is going to win it everyone knows that common everyone be real hes the only player in the world that makes you stand up from your seat evertime he takes someone on he did better then some
of the other top players did in the world cup ansd he won the premership so people please start being real and face the facts that no one is better than cristian ronaldo when you find someone that is
better then ronaldo let me know because i think its impossible right now.
forza, no problem. I agree with pretty much everything you said. But, I still feel (in my own opinion) that Ricky deserves it more than anyone.
jehu, at the end of your comment, you said the 2 words "right now". Well, as of "RIGHT NOW", Lionel Messi is doing better than any player in the world, including Cristiano Ronaldo. When you're
talking about the award, it will go down to Kaka or Ronaldo, but when you're talking about RIGHT NOW, as you said, Messi is better than Ronaldo. I just let you know, buddy.......
Hey Guys... Great article FORZA... excellent arguments. There's not much to add but the fact that there is one player there that is not the popularity champion but i believe he deserves to be among
the 3 finalists: That's Juninho from Olympique Lyon. I don not follow the French League, but it is a fact that since Juninho's arrival at the club he was the leader they needed and Olympique Lyon won
6 out of the last 6 French Tittles with Juninho. That might just mean something. Other than that I see the political selection every year and I don't really see it changing soon. As you said, just it
to Kaka if that's what Fifa wants.
6 Comments · Add yours
Gennaro gattuso deserves the award from all the nominees because he really is a fundamental part of the milan team. He does all the work that no one else wants to do. messi would be a deserving
winner as well
Great article. Well, I think some of these players are on this list because of the World Cup hang-over. FIFA doesn't realize that the World Cup has passed and so they put players who really don't
belong up there. I disagree with you on Thuram and Vieira being washed up, has-beens. They still have some tremendous talent left in them. I'm not saying that because I'm a fan of both players, but
because it's true (in my opinion). Deco, Xavi, and Iniesta didn't have a good season, but they weren't "confused", as you put it. More like... out of form. So, no, I don't think they deserve to be on
there, and neither does my man Rafa, but I feel that defenders don't get enough credit for what they do. The award is ALWAYS given to an attacker and it's usually the right pick, but defenders never
really get thei props (unless you're Cannavaro). This award is going to 1 of 3 players: Kaka, CR, or Messi.