The 2012-13 Season Thread Part 2 | Setting the record for setting records

He won it after the last world cup and Argentina were blown out in the quarterfinals by Germany 4-0. I do think that his GOAT standing will suffer if Argentina cannot win it all once next year or in 2018 when he is 30, but not sure that winning the world cup = winning the Ballon d'Or. Poor Sneidjer did not even make the podium after the Inter triple and helping lead Netherlands to the Final in 2010, but it did at least get Xavi and Iniesta on the podium with their teammate.

 

There are votes worse than that though (e.g. Ibra #1). At least 2 of his picks are valid, even if the order is a bit whacked!

The Egypt captain got it spot on IMO: 1) Messi, 2) Ronaldo, 3) Pirlo

 

You mean coming second to Messi, well Lionel does need some better competition

 

I'd really like to find the full list of points (and also broken down by media and captains) but I've only seen these quotes:

Messi received 41.60 percent of the points in votes by national team coaches and captains plus selected media. Ronaldo got 23.68 percent and Iniesta 10.91 percent.

and The top English player in the list was Manchester United's Wayne Rooney who came 15th with 0.39 per cent of the votes.

Who came 4th-14th?

 

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ballond'or/general/01/98/08/52/fboawards-byrank.pdf

4. Xavi
5. Falcao
6. Casillas
7. Pirlo
8. Drogba
9. Van Persie
10. Zlatan
11. Xabi Alonso
12. Yaya
13. Neymar
14. Özil

 

Forget about Neymar in 2013, his team didn't qualify for the Libertadores. The Confederations Cup isn't enough on its own. I think Kaka was the best player in the last Confed Cup and he didn't even get a sniff of the Ballon d'Or that year, despite the advantage of playing for Milan and Madrid.

 

Rana - I can't see what you posted but found the Fifa page with that info. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ballond'or/general/01/98/08/52/fboawards-byrank.pdf

1 Messi Lionel Argentina 41.60 14.79 13.25 13.56
2 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal 23.68 7.69 7.23 8.76
3 Iniesta Andrés Spain 10.91 2.66 3.33 4.92
4 Xavi Spain 4.08 1.26 1.92 0.90
5 Falcao Radamel Colombia 3.67 1.39 1.15 1.12
6 Casillas Iker Spain 3.18 0.78 0.72 1.68
7 Pirlo Andrea Italy 2.66 0.85 1.02 0.79
8 Drogba Didier Côte d'Ivoire 2.60 0.87 0.92 0.81
9 van Persie Robin Netherlands 1.45 0.31 0.72 0.43
10 Ibrahimovic Zlatan Sweden 1.24 0.63 0.59 0.02
11 Alonso Xabi Spain 1.09 0.50 0.59 0.00
12 Touré Yaya Côte d'Ivoire 0.76 0.31 0.35 0.11
13 Neymar Brazil 0.61 0.37 0.24 0.00
14 Özil Mesut Germany 0.41 0.22 0.17 0.02
15 Rooney Wayne England 0.39 0.09 0.28 0.02
16 Buffon Gianluigi Italy 0.35 0.20 0.13 0.02
17 Agüero Sergio Argentina 0.30 0.13 0.15 0.02
18 Ramos Sergio Spain 0.22 0.02 0.20 0.00
19 Neuer Manuel Germany 0.21 0.15 0.02 0.04
20 Busquets Sergio Spain 0.20 0.11 0.09 0.00
21 Piqué Gerard Spain 0.11 0.00 0.09 0.02
22 Benzema Karim France 0.11 0.00 0.11 0.00
23 Balotelli Mario Italy 0.07 0.00 0.07 0.00
Invalid points 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.09
100.00 33.33 33.33 33.33

 

The weirdest thing about that list is Rooney ahead of Buffon, Aguero and various other players.

 

Pique and Ramos formed a partnership at the Euros that leaked just one goal throughout the tournament, that's a big reason why they're both there.

But let's not kid ourselves, Pique has been back to his best this season whenever he's played.

What puzzles me is how Alves and Marcelo are on the list. Should have been Hummels and Alba instead.

 

Or Lahm since he almost won the Champions League. I'd also have Cole as the left-back since he really helped control some major onslaughts - first against Barca, then Bayern (playing alongside a make-shift backline) then Italy. All one-sided games in terms of possession, but limited good scoring opportunities allowed.

If someone didn't know any better and just saw that FIFA XI team, they would assume that the CL final was Barca v Real Madrid, with both winning their semifinals by 6-8 goals on aggregate.

 

I hear Lahm isn't so good these days and is no longer the player he was a few years ago. Cole was great, but I just think Alba was the best leftback in the world last year. He was one of the only silver lights in Valencia last season, managed to replace Capdevila and deliver a beast performance at the Euros with Spain, and has replaced Abidal effortlessly as our leftback this season.

Alves really underperformed last year by his standards and I think Hummels would have been the better option in this team. He had an amazing year with Dortmund but I guess his bad game in the Euro semi against Italy maybe hurt him here. Would be harsh if it is.

This would have been a proper team of the year in my opinion;

Buffon​

Ramos Pique Hummels Alba​

Pirlo Alonso Iniesta​

Messi Falcao Ronaldo​

​

I know leaving Xavi out might be a surprise, but I really think Pirlo deserved to be here after the amazing year he had for club and country. And Alonso was the orchestrator of the Spanish team at the Euros in midfield, he deserves his place too here. Buffon and Casillas is a tight one.​

 

You know at least one English player should be high on the list, even if its for nothing. Remember he's best player in best NT in the world and played in best league in the world.

 

By the way, I thought the Puskas award wasn't given to the right goalscorer. Stoch's goal was absolutely fantastic, but surely this one takes the cake for goal of the year;



While del Bosque did deserve to win the coach award, I thought Mourinho and Pep getting nominated weren't the right decisions. Some others like Renard, Girard, Tite, or Simeone should have been nominated instead.

 

Fantastic achievment for Messi and he still only 25, just brilliant. But I do have to say one thing, Messi, what was going on with that jacket and bow tie.

Could you not just have gone to Paul Smith in Notting Hill and got yourself a bespoke PS suit?

 

I guess he has invested in polka dot jacket company, and after him sporting that jacket, "fanboys" are gonna empty the stores of those jackets. Dunno what stores though. Step up Barca Store imo.

 

Maybe Messi was hinting at what he'd like to see everyone wear for next season's team 'suit' photo.

 

Got our decima of a sort before you know who: