Much as I hate the little midget, reading this was a WTF moment for me. More proof that FIFA isn't a big fan of the Dutch then.
its an absolute joke, he won nearly everything he was in, aswell as playing outstanding throughout the entirety of the year! shocking..
You are reading a conspiracy into something where there really isn't one. I don't find fault with either Messi or Xavi being in the top three as they clearly had outstanding seasons and are the best at their positions in the world. Sneijder should have been the third nominee. Iniesta was hurt for periods of time last year and did not play a full season as Sneijder did. IMO the only reason he got the nod was the WC winning goal (which wasn't worth much I think).
Nice, great top 3 list based on ability rather than results. Also, remember this is about the entire year of 2010. Sneijder hasn't been so awesome the last few months. Barça on the other hand...
I was joking re: the conspiracy. But I am seriously sick of the Barcelona adoration. If they have the three best players in their team how come they didn't even reach the CL final? Were the rest of em that shite? Messi should win it. I just don't get why Iniesta is included ahead of Sneijder. It's absurd.
No, because they got ********ed by the referee against Inter. Twice. If you don't see that Barça is way out of anybody's league you either don't watch them play or don't understand good football when it hits you in the face. The current Barça team is one of the (if not THE) strongest teams there has ever been. Yes Iniesta. And you're wrong.
Just like Chelsea got screwed by the referee in the CL 2008-09 when they went against Barca? yes Barca got screwed against Inter by the referee but it was a nice piece of karma. Although I was for Barca, as I hate Inter far far more I still couldn't resist to smile. Barcelona isn't that good as you claim, they still have problems facing good defense teams and with away games. Sneijder not even in Ballon D'or top 3 is a joke. I don't even like Sneijder and hate Inter far more but he deserved to get in the top 3. Iniesta? was injured for quite some time Messi? sucked at the world cup(mostly Maradonna to thank for.) Xavi? is actually the only one really making sense was good at both club level and national level.
Chelsea didn't get screwed against Barça. They didn't deserve a penalty. Inter however scored an offside goal and Barça had a goal wrongfully disallowed for a handball. That's not open for interpretation. That's fact. Barça not as good as I claim? Name me one team in history that would be stronger than this current team. No team has less of a problem playing away from home or against bunkering teams than Barça does. Sneijder has an argument for making the top 3 since he was winner of 3 trophies and made the WC final. However, I applaud the fact that players were nominated on the basis of technical ability and football intelligence rather than trophies. Iniesta was injured quite a few games yes. However he did play 29 league games for Barça last season. Did play the World Cup and hasn't been injured since. And has generally been amazing when he did play. Messi, undoubtedly the best player in the world at this moment. Truly legendary stuff he demonstrates on a consistent basis. 40 (!!!) goals in 2010 in 34 Liga games. That's amazing! Was also the best player of the WC2010, unfortunately for him it was the rest of his team that sucked. Particularly Maradona of course. Xavi, pure and utter genius.
Watch these compilations if you doubt Iniesta > Sneijder. http://www.youtube.com/user/sjurinho HD And remember, jealousy is a bitch.
Messi is, in my opinion, undoubtedly the best player in the world, but his failure to produce on the world's biggest stage ie., the World Cup, should take him out of the running. During a World Cup year, since 1991, the winner of the World Player of the Year is always from the World Cup winning team. Whereas, the Ballon D'Or would go to the best Club football player. Maybe the criteria has changed with the merging of the two awards into one. To me, Xavi should receive the award, hands down. The fact that Sneijder was snubbed a top three spot is wrong due to his achievements for the 09-10 season. I agree with Johan on that the award should be based on that season. If you want to include this season than an argument could be made for CR9's inclusion in the top 3. Sneijder should be there regardless of his mediocre performances since the World Cup. In the end , who the f--k cares, Sneijder was never going to win the award, even if Oranje won the World Cup. It's a popularity contest, and lets face it, the Dutch are not that popular at the moment. One question, how is the winner chosen? I know the original WPOTY was voted on by national federation coaches, and the Ballon d'Or by journalists. Is that still the case?
I totally agree with everything said in this post. Excellent point, especially the bold line. Xavi will win it, no argument. He's been ridiculously consistent for both Barca and Spain. Messi is a dead wood in Argentina jersey, and Iniesta probably got a lot more credit than he should have deserved because of his winning goal in the WC final. His inclusion is mind-boggling.
Huh?!? What good does it do having a superior technical ability and football intelligence, but can't translate them to winning trophies? If these are the criteria, then you would end up having the same player nominated year after year, without regard to performances or accomplishment what-so-ever. It's like winning an Oscar without playing in a movie, or winning a Grammy without singing. On the same token, I wish I could get a raise or promotion based on my talents alone, without doing the actual works and making my company profitable.
Tough to compare Sneijder and Iniesta, different players, different qualities. Iniesta is a much better dribbler, quicker and much flashier, whereas Sneijder is more direct and clinical, a dead-ball specialist. Iniesta also has quite the supporting cast being a part of one of the greatest teams of all time. Showing a high-light reel of one player isn't going to convince me of anything. You could offer another video of any handful of players as evidence for their inclusion in the top 3. My point is, that the selection isn't black and white, different positions, different roles, different qualities, both exceptionally good footballers. To me, creating a list of the best players is laughable and defeats the premise of team sports. I wouldn't care what the coach of Guadeloupe, or a some English sportswriter who was the last player to be picked in the school-yard at recess thinks of me as a footballer. The whole process is stupid. To settle the argument we would need the official criteria for the selection process, and lets face it, with FIFA involved that will never happen ie. World Cup selection process. Sneijder was a winner last year, along with Iniesta. Both world-class, I guess everyone around here would like to see Sneijder get some recognition, especially after the way he was discarded by Real Madrid and went on to have a banner year. The whole thing is pretty childish, in my opinion, it's as if these professional athletes ego's don't get enough stroking, they need one more award to make themselves feel whole. Football is a team game, individual awards are for egotistical, lime-light loving, glory hogs.
I agree, if flash without results is what you are looking for then the best basketball team in the world is the Harlem Globetrotters.
IMO the Ballon D'Or should answer the question: "who was the best footballer of the year?" and not: "who was the most important footballer of the team that won?". Of course performances are important. That's what you judge players on. Results however are much less important. The fact that Sneijder scored 5 deflected goals at the WC and gave 5 critical assists in the CL doesn't make him the best player. IMO believing that Messi played a poor WC is result orientated thinking. It is result of looking at the scoreboard at the end of the game, not at the play displayed by the player. IMO he was the best player of WC2010.
What will be interesting is to see who wins coach of the year. If Mourinho takes it then that will be laughable. That will tell me it is all about popularity.
Results are everything for this award, Messi won when Barca won the CL, Ronaldo won when Man U won the CL, Kaka won when Milan won the CL, the list goes on. Unless it is a World Cup year or a surprise CL winner ex. Liverpool, Porto, the award almost always went to a player who won the CL. At least that's how its been the last 10 years. If Netherlands won the World Cup Sneijder winning the award should have been indisputable, but they didn't and here we are. The Skeptic in me still thinks he would have been snubbed. How did Cannavaro win the award in 2006, would he have won it if Italy lost the penalty shoot-out to France, probably not. It would have gone to a French player. It's speculating, but I'm fairly confident that would have been the outcome. You can say results do not matter, but at the end of the day, if results are second to beauty then why do we keep score? If you want beauty go watch Cirque de Soleil.
I know yet my opinion remains the same. The last part of your post is unnecessary. I got my own reasons for watching football.
penalty? there were more than just one penalty. Not that the referee was pure Barca biased seeing as he send Abidal off for no good reason. But under a normal referee Barcelona's "Unbeatable dream team" would have most likely lost. I already did, Chelsea was better at that time when they faced Barca and Rubin Kazan proved last year you don't really need that big names to beat Barca, Inter also beat Barca even though it was with a little help from the referee. It's pretty useless to compare "Golden teams" in history as football changed trough time so much and seeing how we sadly can't use a time machine to test things out. Yet Messi is a mere shade of what he is at Barca when he plays for his country. Maradonna can be blamed for it but it also looks like he isn't a player who can carry the team on his shoulder, there is also no Xavi or Iniesta to help him. Maybe the new coach will figure out something. Calling Messi the best player of the 2010 world cup is laughable by the way.
I'm am of the opinion that Chelsea didn't deserve a single penalty. The first dive was close but still too easy. But whatever, we're talking about 2010, not 2009. So what Barça can lose as well. There has never been an unbeatable team. No. Messi was excellent. He hit the post a couple of times and prepared quite a few goals. He also was by far the best player of the tournament. Xavi second and Forlan third.
What stands out in that video is his amazing balance... and how it seems to desert him every time he dribbles into the penalty box.
1. The Ballon D'Or has been a joke for an eternity. I won't bore you all with listing all the years in which they got it - obviously - wrong. 2. Apart from Iniesta, the shortlisted Barça players deserved the honor.