For what ?? You need a player to slow things down and keep your centre backs busy with an endless stream of back passes ?? Rakitic is your man !
Probably an unfair way to rate Modric's performance as your system doesn't consider how he advanced play through quality passes.
Modric got the award due to the romanticism associated with Croatia Croatia for me had one great game vs Argentina but other than that required 3 extra times (and 2 pks) to get to the final in what was clearly the weakest bracket. Glad that France got the win (6 games won and all KO games won within 90 mins in the harder bracket)
Not sure what your post has to do with Modric winning WC Ballon d'Or.(?) Regardless of the relative strength of the 2 sides of the bracket, France went into every match as solid favorites. Bigger than Croatia. So Modric' job was still tougher than anyone on France in that sense. And always difficult to make a solid case for anyone that didn't make the WC final.
Against England it was Perisic who got them back in the game and Modric was largely MIA till that point. Similarly vs Russia and Denmark he was not above players like Rakitic or Perisic. Croatia's rivals in KO were Denmark - Croatia cleary has better players Russia - Croatia clearly has better players England - Croatia has better players in key positions (Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, the fullbacks) People bitched about Messi getting the award and Modric's performance was no better. Dont see the public outrage at his award. For my money Kante was the best overall player. BTW - in 2010 Forlan and 1990 Schillachi got the awards so the precedent was there
Yeah, Kante probably deserved it more. France took a very defensive approach in this tournament, which they couldn't have done without Kante. So he was vital! Yeah, I forgot about Forlan. He wasn't even the most important player on Uruguay (Suarez) so for me the last 4 winners of this award could be considered highly debatable. Messi might be the least debatable of the 4.
That theory may well be tested if he gets sent to prison for five years - Google Modric and Prison sentence
most goals+assists in top 5 league: messi 46 most successful final third pass in top 5 leagues: messi 846(3rd after de bruyne and david silva) most successful dribbles in top 5 leagues: messi 185 most clear cut chance in top 5 leagues: messi 30 most freekick goals in top 5 leagues: messi 6 the most dominant player ever. hope he will get his sixth
Thinking doing Hazard next, looking up statistics it could be one of the best performance in World Cup, ever. It does if you watch which led to good chances. What my system doesn't take into consideration is back and side passes that don't lead to anything. Such passing isn't really about individual skill, but about team dynamic, and thus shouldn't be taken into account when assessing individual performance. Personal records in dribbling and freekicks too.
If it's not a direct chance creation, it doesn't seem to account for it. You can be spraying passes left and right with accuracy advancing play that end up in crosses that don't amount to much ... but doesn't mean you're not playing great yourself.
That could be counted by pass accuracy, but passing is more difficult less space and time you have, which again comes from team dynamic, or what position and how marked you are. I don't think any team marked Modric, or he was usually well on space in every game, because he was playing the middle point in well oiled machine.
Last January after Barcelona won 5-0 away to Betis (Messi with two goals) Andres Guardado took his son to meet Messi. The video is only now making the rounds after Guardado's wife posted it on Monday. Messi has received compliments for taking time to greet the kid and Guardado has received praise for allowing his son to meet a rival his son considers an idol. 1023668221147328512 is not a valid tweet id
I believe his foundation made that donation, not Messi. Interesting timing given the Spiegel online report into his foundation earlier in the year. http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/questions-surrounding-lionel-messi-foundation-a-1188813.html The source of funds is likely to be F.C. Barcelona’s foundation and not Messi personally. Is this their way of preparing to liquidate or make the foundation dormant?
Semi-old news but Messi won't play for Argentina again this calendar year. So he'll get some nice rest for a week in each of the next 3 months. https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/opinion/messi-takes-a-break-from-carrying-argentina-6989313