I just got the latest edition of World Soccer and the voting for thier awards has started. I figured we should have our own awards to see how close we come to each other. I like World Soccer's awards much better that FIFA's because the people voting usually know more than the coaches who vote for FIFA's awards. Although, World Soccer did screw up last year by giving Ronaldo the award. My pick would be Pavel Nedved. Although as a Rossoneri I hope Maldini wins this award for all he has done last year. Nesta, Van Nistelrooy, and Raul would also be worthy winners and I would have no problem if any of them won it. If anybody else wins I would be shocked. If you want to vote for somebody else just say who it is and why.
great idea, my pick is The Czech Cannon Pavel Nedved. He meant so much to both his club and national team in the last year, I do not how he could lose this. Add to this his consistency, team work ethic, and superb skills and you have a worthy winner. edit* how can anyone vote for Ruud when he is not tearing it up with his national team ?
although this year is not as clear cut for me as last year (when i chose ballack), i will have to agree with the choice of nedved
Nedved is definitely a worthy choice, but I chose van Nistelrooy because he was unstopable last year. Goals in 9 or 10 strait EPL games and he broke his own Champion's League scoring record. I don't think national team performance should count for that much this year, because there was no major tournament.
And what did Beckham do this year besides sit on ManUs bench? I disagree, Euro 2004 qualifying is just as important as the final tournament imo. Because if you don't qualify you don't play in the finals. And in qualifiers Nedved led his team to the finals while Ruud can't even get into Holland's 11.
not to defend the idiot steve hog... and not that he should be on the 2003 POY shortlist... but beckham now starts and shows quite well for real madrid
OK, that's fine. But this is a year award not a 2 month award. But don't be surprised if Beckham gets alot of votes. He might even win the FIFA award the way they vote. Remember, Ronaldo won last years award based on 1 month of play.
I think this has to be the most pathetic list of candidates for a World Player of the Year poll. If you're going to do it at least do it properly, not this garbage. Paulo Maldini, Christian Vieri.... what a joke.
Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? Paulo Maldini a joke? But he captained the European Cup winners. I don't think his inclusion is a joke at all. This year is a tough one to call, epsecially as the Champions League/internationals are normally the key factors (and there's been no major internat tournament, so it has to be the Champ. L really) Candidates?: Ruud Van Nistel: great season, but United fell at 1/4s in Champ. L. Henry: The same more or less. Brilliant but Arsenal blew it again in Europe and ended up without the Premiership. Better national team claim than Ruud VN. Raul: fantastic against Milan and Man U, but Madrid lost out to Juve and to be honest he wasn't that great in the Spanish league. Makaay: Europe's top scorer, but not very exciting and nobody ever really talks about him. Depor didn't go that far ... Beckham: The Madrid move will win him more votes - and he has been excellent so far - but I'm, not convinced he should be a genuine candidate. Not yet anyway. Zidane: fabulous in Spain, but Madrid didn't romp the league and din't win Champ. L. Nor did he do as much in Europe as in Spain. Ronaldo: That hatrick versus Man utd will go a long way to helping his case and he was absolutely decisive in the final months in Spain. Might not be what he was at Barca but his goalscoring record is exceptional - and his goals alone won Madrid lots of key games at the end of last season (espec. in Valencia, for example) Nedved: Would probably get my vote. Just about. Best player in Italy, won league and took Juve to Champ. L final and missed out because he was battling to help them win the semi - and Juve lost (not necessarily because he wasn't playing but that'll be part of it). And don't forget, the Czechs flew through Euro Championship qualifiers, led by him. Maldini: long-term trajectory makes him worth it, maybe(?) And did win Euro Cup as captain. But logic doesn't always count. Ballack, I think, should have won it when he carried Bayer Laverkusen to the threee second-place finishes and Germany to WC final, but he didn't ... And from Spain, last seaon, personal faves included: Nihat, Helguera, Salgado. Not that I'd seriously back those as best in world/europe. Well, that's my two cents' worth anyway ...
......And Beckham scored in 4 consecutive qualifying games, leading his country to the finals. Although I don't think he's Player of the Year.
But he didn't do much with ManU. I think you have to be consistent on all levels International and Club. And Pavel Nedved did that last year and he continues to do it this year. My fear for him is that since he is Czech he won't get many votes outside of Eastern Europe and Italy. Whereas, Beckham, Ronaldo, and Zidane will get votes just based on thier name alone. If there were ever a clear cut winner it was last year when Ballack led his teams to the CL Final, WC Final, German Cup Final, and finished second in the Bundesliga. He was also top scorer in the Bundesliga and led the WC in assists. But he still failed to win it because his name wasn't Ronaldo.
Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? 1. Retired from Italy. Which rules him out pretty much straight away.International form is one of the biggest things for this award. Much more so than for the European Player of the year award. 2. Milan "won" the Champions League, but they only did so on penalties after a dreadful game and following just about the easiest possible route to the final in the knockout stages. Real Madrid, Juve and Man Utd were all better teams who played better football that year. No-one could seriously say that Milan were in any way worthy winners that year. They just had the luck at the end after Juve had run out of steam. 3. Milan had a poor league season, they weren't ever likely Serie A title winners. Maldini is a pale shadow of his former self. He's not yet useless, but he's not far away from being a liability. You can't pick someone out of sentimentality, which seems to be the case here. Anyway, my top picks would be one of the following: 1) Nedved - this has already been covered. 2) Henry - great league form, and more importantly has started to play brilliantly for France, especially in the Confederations Cup. Which although most of us will recognise as a crap meaningless tournament, will still carry a lot of weight for him in the voting. 3) Beckham - great international form, played well in his uncomfortable last days for ManYoo, including two goals off the subs bench against Madrid, and has settled in very well after his move. Needs another strong 12 months in La Liga and a great Euro 2004 performance to be selected. 4) Zidane - should always be in the running for this award while he's still capable of kicking a football.
Re: Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? Not another one You are clueless my friend. Let me fill you in on a little information. On Point 1. OK, you may have a point here. But Maldini didn't retire because he lacks skill he retired because he wanted to devote all his energy to Milan. And if you have been keeping tabs on Italy lately you would know that there has been a campaign for Maldini to come back to Italy NT. Although he has refused to do so. Point 2. This is where yor memory evades you. Milan were clearly the best club in the CL last year where they went undefeated throughout the competition in games that meant something. They beat Deportivo, Bayern, Real Madrid, Dortmund, Ajax, and got by Inter and Juve to be desereved champions. No one else beat as many good teams as Milan did last year. Point 3. Milan did lead Serie A at the halfway stage but did flounder down the stretch. They clearly showed that the CL was more important to them. They also won the Coppa Italia with thier reserves. So I would call that a domestic achievement. As for Maldini being useless you clearly didn't see him play last year. He was flawless leading Milan's backline to be the best in Italy and in the CL. He never had a bad game last year and only Nesta can be put into his category of class.
This is BigSoccer so expect lots of votes for Freddy Adu. I voted for Van Nistelrooy and would make Nedved my second choice. Without Fox Sports World, I probably don't watch as much Euro soccer as most of you. But I still get the ESPN Champions League offerings and watch several Serie A and Premiereship games per month. Maldini deserves a lifetime achievement award for his greatness but I would no longer place him at the same level of some of the other players listed. I don't even know who Carlos Teves is.
Re: Re: Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? Right, he's been asked to come back by the same people who wanted Baggio back. That's not enough. Look, I like Paulo. But he was the 2nd best defender on his own team, and no longer plays for Italy. How can you possibly award him the player of the year award? There are other CDs who I think are better than Paulo, although that list is short. Still, Paulo is just not a viable candidate, much as I remember his greatness.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? You hit on a major reason that Maldini will not win the award. Nesta. He helped Maldini be a better player but so did Maldini help Nesta after a bad previous season in Lazio. I think it's debatable who is better last year Nesta or Maldini. You can argue either way. But I wouldn't pick another defender over these two. Chivu is the only other center back that impressed me last year and he was even outclassed by Maldini and Nesta in the CL. Maldini played the best he ever had last year at center back. I think his age decieves people into thinking he is not as good. But it is not the case. Actually, Trap asked him to come back on numerous occasions. That is something that never happended to Baggio.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? Oh come on! Nesta is CLEARLY the better defender. Best defender in the world at the moment. Paulo hasn't quite mastered central defense yet - remember, he was completely at fault for Martins goal in the CL semi. He's very good, but I think Gallas is better, as is Cannavaro. You could also make an argument for Desailly, Samuel, Campbell, and perhaps a couple of others. And isn't Chivu a LB? Btw, Nesta's season at Lazio wasn't THAT bad, considering he had to spend half his time carrying Mr. Mullet (Couto) and Miha. Baresi would have looked bad next to those two.
What are you talking about Preki the first one on there! Oh wait ... Pavel ... dang I wasted my vote on him?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Best Player? What's wrong with Maldini? You won't get an arguement that Maldini is better than Nesta. I think they are both great. But don't give me Canavaro, Gallas, Campbell, etc. Cannavaro has been a huge disappointment since signing for Inter. Gallas and Campbell are not world class imo. Gallas has the potential to be good but I think Campbell is severely overrated. And the goal Martins scored in the semi was more Costacurta's fault if I remember correctly. And you are nitpicking abit don't you think? I'm sure you can find alot worse mistakes made by those other defenders on your list. I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree here because I wouldn't trade Maldini for any defender in the world at the moment. There is a reason Milan have the best defense in the world. And Maldini is 50% that reason.
A poll of the player of the year without Zidane IT'S A JOKE!!!!!!! It hasn't any credibility. Zidane is the best player in the world with many difference. My vote to Zidane!!!