As you said, you can't include everyone. I was basing my list off the one you provided from World Soccer and, if I'd given more attention to detail, most likely would have included Ronaldo at the expense of someone like Casillas. As for the likes of Muller, Pique and Ozil, there's just simply not enough room for every player who's impressed during the calendar year. I fully understand the arguement against Iniesta, but I still believe his play and achievements over the entire year warrant a place in the top 10. If he were to win though, as is it rumoured he might, it would certainly be a scandal.
And that is equally ridiculous although players from Italy and Spain, and Barca and Inter were considered whereas no German player was. Again, how many players have had a better 2010 than Schweinsteiger from an individual perspective? It seems like he wasn't even in the discussion which is outrageous. And people here seem to completely gloss over it as if it would be some far fetched call. Yea and since 2002 no German player really deserved it but just because they didn't in the last couple of years doesn't mean they don't this time around. Times change, players improve, leagues improve, etc. You really can't make a case against Schweinsteiger, no matter how you slice it. The fact that there exists this seeming hierarchy is ridiculous.
It's not really a case of making a case against him. In my opinion Messi is out in front by a distance. Then comes Sneijder followed by another jump. Then you have a load of potential candidates who can come out in any order depening on how you want to slice it. I'd say these include Schweinsteiger, Robben, Xavi, C. Ronaldo, Villa, Pique, Milito, Lucio, Maicon, Puyol, Oezil, Muller, Lahm. I mean I'd say someone like Cambiasso who was outstanding for Inter was on a level with Schweinsteiger last season, but because of Maradona's stupidity didn't get a WC call up. I understand that you are more likely to be outraged about someone who plays for your club or country, but there are a lot of players with a shout for top 3 this season. Very few with a shout of winning.
Agree. I hardly watch any Bundesliga but its hard to ignore the success of even lower-half table German teams in Europe (Schalke this season, for instance). Any player that stands-out in that league obviously deserves consideration for Ballon d'Or even though I probably wouldn't be able to tell you who that person is. Meanwhile an aging Milan team is topping Serie "A". hmmm...
My personal bias has nothing to do with it, I can make a very strong case against Cambiasso simply by pointing to their respective seasons since August as well as the WC. Pretty simple. You may not have watched much of Schweinsteiger last season but the reason I'm pointing him out is because no other player has really had such a consistent 2010 than him and that includes performances in the league last season, in Europe last season, the WC this summer, and again this season (domestically and in Europe). Add to that the role he plays for his team and the leap he made over the last year and a half as a player. If this award is really given out for the calender year 2010 and is based on a player's performance across all competitions during that year I don't see how he can be ignored. Trophies are one thing and the biggest determinant, I understand that, but there is such a thing as total objectivity. How many of the players you listed carried on their form into this season while also having an outstanding WC? I'd say only Pique comes close.
Well Cambiasso wasn't at the cup so make a very strong case for Swein over the course of the normal season and CL. Villa was excellent yet again for Valencia helping them into the CL this year and he was clearly one Spain's top players at the cup. Without him they don't even make if out of their group. He's been class for Barca so far this season with 11 goals and 5 assists in 15 matches in La Liga.
Yea Villa was great as well over the calender year. He was important to Spain at the WC but I don't think he had as strong a tournament as Schweinsteiger or Forlan for example.
Agree about Forlan disagree about Schweinsteiger. Villa was their key player, even ahead of Iniesta, for most of the cup imo and he finished tied for top scorer. I'd say their influence and quality was about equal.
We'll have to disagree then. I don't think Villa had exceptional games throughout the tournament. Schweinsteiger was magnificent in every game except the semi final. He was really the centerpiece of the team, Villa wasn't. Although his importance cannot be diminished. Also, Schweinsteiger's performance against Argentina is one of the greatest in recent WC history.
BigSoccer Rule #57: Everytime a poster on this board points out that a player gets underrated, overlooked, robbed by the voting committee while everyone else is blind and can't see it that poster is a fan of the team that said players plays for.
Cambiasso wasn't even at the WC. And what are you basing the comment about since August on? Inter's league position? Well the last time I checked Bayern weren't looking too clever either. Pique, Villa and Oezil have all been excellent this season and had top class WCs. This sort of depends on what you consider to have been exceptional for a striker. Villa scored 5 out of Spain's 8 goals at the WC. For a striker in a team with very little other goal threats (given the abysmal form that Torres was in) he was absolutely vital to the team. Take away Villa and there is a major chance that Spain don't even make it out of the group. You see this rather undermines the "no personal bias" claim. I'll be honest with you, I can't even remember Schweinsteiger's performance in that particular game. I'm not saying it wasn't a very good one but it certainly didn't strike me at the time as being one that merited a place among the greatest in recent WC history. I mean you talked above about "total objectivity", but you're a Bayern and Germany fan, and seem baffled that you are the only one outraged about Schweinsteiger's lack of comments in this thread. I'd have to say that Schwuppe hit the nail on the head.
Its far easier to appear consistent when your main responsibility is defense. Therefore its no surprise that you mention Pique instead of Villa or Messi. Messi has been extremely consistent this year for an attacker. Even when he doesn't score, he'll often directly create 2 or 3 goals like last week against Espanyol or against South Korea in the World Cup. That's why there is really no argument against him winning this award.
That's the point, it takes being consistent in every competition and if you participate in more than others, it helps your case. I only mentioned Cambiasso because he was brought up before. Yes but Oezil's second half of the season with Bremen wasn't as good as his first and like I said, I don't think Villa had as consistent a WC as Schweinsteiger had if you look at more than just goals. Absolutely, can't argue with that. Without Villa Spain don't win the WC but based on individual performance through 90 minutes over the entire tournament Schweinsteiger edges him in my opinion. I watched every Spain and Germany game and I think Spain had better performers than Villa including Xavi and Pique. Well that I can't help you with. Schweinsteiger's performance against Argentina was phenomenal. In my opinion it was THE individual performance of the tournament. You might want to rewatch that match. Well someone who follows a player and all his games more closely than others obviously will know more about that player. I doubt you or Schwuppe watched all Bayern and Germany games in 2010 while also watching every Barca/Madrid/WC/CL match. To me Xavi and Messi are shoe ins. To be clear, I'm not arguing for Schweinsteiger over these two players. My argument is not for Schweinsteiger to win the B'Or.
What you are saying about the defenders having it easy to be consistent is very interesting. I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. I can't name one defender besides Pique that has been consistent over the season/year. Traditionally, when a defender or a goalkeeper makes mistakes it easily results in goal scoring chances or goals for the opposition, therefore they are the scape goats. An attacker can miss many chances, but score one and he is the hero, while everyone forgets the prior misses. Otherwise I agree with what you said about Messi. That puts you on my "favorite list".
True, but if that goal doesn't come for 3 or 4 games in-a-row then everyone assumes the striker sucked during that stretch. What you say above about mistakes is certainly true for goalkeepers but not so much for defenders, I think. And definitely not for defensive midfielders unless they do something really dumb.
I agree about the strikers although they can still contribute with assists. Defenders are not as much victims as GKs but still, their mistakes are magnified also. Notice how Ashley Cole has been performing in defense lately. He has started to make some dumb mistakes more often now. He used to be the only fullback capable of playing against C.Ronaldo, but now I'm not sure anymore. This brings me to pose an interesting questions: Who is more consistent, Dani Alves or Maicon? Pique or Vidic? Lahm or Evra?
All three players are great but there should be a top 10 to finalize it. I mean make a final top 10 then vote. Then more choices, thats my opinion.
Maybe you are not familiar with the whole process. Voters voted for players from the announced shortlist of all nominated players, which is more than 10 I believe. Then, the announcement of the top 3 (Xavi, Iniesta, Messi) is a result of the collected votes. The winner will be announced on January 10 during the official ceremony. Journalists, national coaches and team captains all had plenty of players to choose from. Messi, Xavi and Iniesta collected the most votes, so they are the top 3 - plain and simple.
Xavi is a great player, but lets be honest, he does not deserve this award. He had what, 1 assist in the world cup? For all this "great passing" Spain was an extremely boring team that did not create much. Villa was the best player on Spain, without him, they wouldn't even have beaten Honduras for gods sake. Even the Portugal match, his goal came thanks to some nice stuff from Xavi and Iniesta, but every other chance spain made was villa shooting from long range and he could have easily finished with a hat trick that day. Xavi is great at keeping the ball moving, defending with the ball, but is that really what constitutes "World Player of the Year?' If you had Xavi and Forlan switch places, Uruguay doesn't win the group and is lucky to get out of it, and if they did it would have been over against Argentina in Round 2. You put Forlan on Spain, well they probably win the World Cup by scoring 15 or so goals as opposed to the 8 they managed. Same is true at Atletico Madrid, do you think Xavi could have led them to the title of the UEFA Cup? The point is, Forlan can play as a true number 10 as he did in South Africa, and he can play as a striker... He scores goals and provides plenty of assists, he is also an incredible leader on the pitch vocally, takes all the set pieces, and is an icon to all his countrymen. Xavi is a great player as I said before, but he is great in the Barcelona/Spain system and I'm not trying to down play his role, but I really don't think he should be given this award on the back of a season and World Cup that saw many player do more than him. He had 1 assist in the biggest stage of all. Let him keep his winner's medal, give him a spot on the FIFA Pro starting-XI, but don't give him player of the year.
This. Xavi is good at what he does, but he is NOT world player of the year material. If Villa hadn't been there, its arguable Spain wouldn't have made it out of the group. Torres was completely out of it, Fabergas wasn't allowed to play for whatever reason, Silva never played after the first game, iniesta was injured against Honduras the only goal threat was villa, he had to come up big and did. Against Chile, he scores an albeit lucky goal, but it was great technique. he then sets up iniesta for the winner. How many chances did Spain create that day? pretty few. Chile had the better of the match, and Villa's long range goal combined with Torres dive to get a Chilean a red card is what won the match, nothing Xavi did really impacted the game, as chile was having more possession early on. If Spain loses that game, they play Brazil and get squashed. I'll admit Xavi was great against the Germans, but his overall world cup wasn't impressive
Well, ideally this award should not be based on WC performance alone. To say that he doesn't deserve this award though is ludicrous.