Ballon d'Or Dream Team (2020)

So instead of a normal Ballon d'Or the magazine France Football decided to make a Ballon d'Or dream team.

https://www.francefootball.fr/news/Ballon-d-or-dream-team-la-piste-aux-etoiles-de-ff/1179915

Ten goalkeepers are selected, ten right-backs, ten central defenders, ten left-backs, 20 defensive midfielders, 20 offensive midfielders, ten right forwards, ten center forwards, ten left forwards. 170 journalists around the world will vote for it and in that it's similar to what they did here.





The most glaring choice is here the inclusion of N'Kono.

Now, I don't like to shoot it down on face value (there are not enough places for similarly able keepers with proper longevity), but it has to be noted his countryman Bell was chosen as African goalkeeper of the century in 1999 (by IFFHS), with another countryman Songo'o of 1990s Depor in the top six as well.

In FF their best African player vote of 2019, N'Kono wasn't the highest ranked African goalkeeper. His goals conceded record isn't particularly good either.

On the other hand, he's there because he is a double African Ballon d'Or winner, was sometimes chosen by Don Balon (just as Songo'o) and various other keepers - most notably Buffon - admired him.



Nice the Ice Rabbit gets a thumbs up Recently watched back United vs Chelsea of 2009 in the league (with e.g. this review in mind) and his distribution and ball playing was genuinely top notch, with the English commentators amazed.





I miss Dani Alves... and is Suurbier the best, greatest and most significant right-back of his country? Perhaps. Is he *that* much better though than other 'forgotten' compatriots before and after him, especially at national team level? Most likely not.





Also here applies, even more so than with the full-backs, that there are not enough places for similarly deserving 'real' defenders. Within their own country (Koeman for ex. although his goalscoring and that he could be a standout in ultra-defensive, very low conceding back four, and ultra-offensive systems alike is a plus).

Naturally, they've included all their Ballon d'Or winning defenders to give their previous votes legitimacy. So just as some recent previous lists (FourFourTwo, The Independent vote among sportswriters) Cannavaro gets ahead of Nesta.

Although I don't agree with that, it's understandable for two additional reasons: 1) the protagonism at major events for club and country (Cannavaro, Ramos and the rest), 2) Nesta had only twice in his career the best defensive record in the league. In 2010-11 and in 1998-99 when he missed half of the games. This was occasionally noticed by various people. Pretty fine record too by Milan in 2008-09 when he missed the entire season (and Maldini in his very last season gathered some poor grades/reviews). He wasn't part of a truly legendary and low conceding defense in the way prime Baresi, Maldini, Desailly and Scirea were (arguably more of these nominations).





I'd go for more diversity. Thus I'd drop Marcelo for example and include another able guy (let's be bold: Alaba to name a contemporary; he was/is IMO not entire tiers/categories worse as his colleague on the other flank). Marcelo is a tremendous and fascinating footballer with the ball on his foot, just less so in all the other parts of the sport (in the league this comes more to the fore than in the fluky-or-not UCL wins). Roberto Carlos, who was often criticized in his time for his defense (Denmark 1998) or woeful free kicks, didn't have those memorable headless chicken games that I can think of (or I've not seen it, forgotten about it).
As 'brave' as the inclusion of Nkono was, so middle of the road is this selected bunch (three players each of the quadruple WC winners plus Krol).

Posted enough now for a while.

 

That's right. They could have chosen Barthez for instance, with his World Cup numbers, or him being in goal for the only Champions League won by a French club.

Unfortunately in their magazine they don't give a real reasoning for their selections. It are only one or two words for each goalkeeper, but I'm sure the double African Ballon d'Or for N'Kono is a factor.

I guess for VdS it was a factor he was genuinely the first reliable, perhaps boring, modern sweeper keeper (pass behind the Barcelona high line in the very last game; despite 8 saves it wasn't the best game) as well as longevity, see that compilation of his very last season.

"Only two goalkeepers have made more saves in a PL duel since 2003 in which they kept the zero than David de Gea (11 saves) today: Tim Krul - 14 (Spurs v Newcastle in Nov 2013) Edwin van der Sar - 12 (Arsenal v Fulham in Nov 2003)"

I'd have Thuram among the ten right-backs as well for sure. I think he was a more rounded defender and also better skilled with the ball as Desailly.

Desailly was the better man marker, won more at club level as Thuram did and with heroism in big matches ('94 CL final) but his positioning was imho less good, and less good in reading the play, intercepting the ball rather than man.

That's also visible (imo) in the 1993 CL final I recently watched with Massaro and half-crippled Van Basten outsmarting him at times (remember those scenes I posted? with the MvB through-ball?). He could be a fraction rash and clumsy: Desailly was sent off in both 1998 finals he played, both at the Coppa Italia final and World Cup final at the hour mark red carded.

Both are worthy top ten players in their position but I like Thuram more, who I see as the more rounded 'pure' defender, except for purely following the man (one difference is also that Desailly pretty much always played with highly rated colleagues next to him; more so than Thuram).

Thuram managed to have the 2nd best defensive record for Monaco in one season (behind controversial Marseille), the best for Parma, the best for Juventus (not surprising) and the best for Barcelona too in his first season there.

 

Buffon came fractionally closer in 2006 (whether he merited it or not).

Kahn is especially a strong choice on peak. See the link below:
https://fbref.com/en/players/c53142b5/Oliver-Kahn
He had possibly won it without the 1-5 game against Owen and his mistakes in the 2002 final, of which he was unlucky to see it punished.

N'Kono I saw popping up in some ideal teams for the 1982 world cup. As a result of this, he was picked for a FIFA XI. He did perform well there in the World Cup, despite a mediocre (and controversial) Italy game.

I agree with you N'Kono was over the full decade not among the very best in his time. But he was not totally ignored by Don Balon or what he did in the World Cup. Had in the late 1980s a good game against Sacchi's Milan too... Some white European keepers genuinely liked him while growing up.

The problem with the Ballon d'Or is that if it was up to the voters of the big five countries, Cruijff had received zero Ballon d'Ors in his career. Then add in the increased (cultural) dominance of the big leagues and countries and we see ourselves in the current situation. I presume his three awards were also tokenism, or a potential later inclusion of tokenism if he had ended up with zero of these things.

The Adidas and the Horst Dassler sponsored BdO award votes for other adidas players, that's the (to make an exaggerated caricature of this) reality of the often lobby driven award.

 

We agree here, yes. Also on the point of the foreigner spots, which were usually not given to goalkeepers.

Also the central defenders are good?

I think Lahm was considered better in the early years, until 2007 or so. Maybe as a result of playing for a bigger club team and for the national team, and scoring the odd goal against Costa Rica. Both had still much lower productivity numbers as later on. They have the same age, both are from 1983 (May for Alves vs November).

Then there was a period after Guardiola had left Barcelona, 2012, he was considered better again, boosted by playing as midfielder (although it dawned on observers that against Real Madrid counter attack quality, or for national team it wasn't ideal) until he slowed down as well and Alves having an Indian Summer for Juventus, PSG and Brazil too. The 2017 CL semi final and 2019 Copa America semi final against Argentina.

 

Cameroon themselves moved up from 'hopeless' level, that is outside the top 60 in Elo, to inside/outside top 30 during N'Kono his days and World Cup qualifications.

"Since being developed, the Elo rankings have been found to have the highest predictive capability for football matches.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings

Some African countries went from 'very poor' to 'decent' (but unorganized) in the 1980s.

 

Given the much better chances, infrastructure and organization it is totally understandable the likes of Desailly and Umtiti have done that.

What's peculiar though is players picking countries with a lot less football heritage. Opting to play for USA rather than Holland.

Money and media exposure is genuinely the main reason. Then kick in 5 goals and 5 assists for Barcelona as full-back and chances are you get your praise in the awards. I hope these hatful traitors fail.

 

For a start it's fair to say Cannavaro and especially Sammer wouldn't be here without three good games in the summer and the Ballon d'Or (in which Cannavaro was lucky to not have a penalty against in the semi final, and Sammer should have been sent off in the final but mysteriously got away with his last man tackle; or what to think about his Italy game really?).

Neither are of Wes Brown or Barzagli level, but I don't see itheir inclusion in the top 10 happen with the coin flipping the other way in those tournaments. Then the peak level and body of work isn't high enough, based on e.g. ESM (getting 2 of the 3 selections in months when barely playing...) and the disciplinary record.

Cannavaro for instance never made much of an impact at continental level, and domestically his best phases came at the end of 1990s (for Parma) and two superbly great seasons for Juventus between 2004-2006 (but, with both titles voided), topped off by the World Cup (but again, it really was a pen against him in the semis).

Vice versa, Scirea got only one vote for the Ballon d'Or in his entire career (in 1982), despite his admirable playing style and success he had. He received an upgrade in perception when his career was closing (after the '85 EC) and after his tragic death.

Just going by their own BdO voting though (when they didn't work yet with a nominations system and everyone was free to vote for everyone) Scirea isn't an obvious inclusion.

They're all excellent players but do they deserve it more than a Figueroa? Koeman can be replaced by about a couple other countrymen as well I think.

 

Bergomi is placed among the full-backs in their list so therefore I overlooked him for above comment.

Bergomi never received a Ballon d'Or vote indeed (many others in his time did), and DBScalcio only shows him twice as the best in his position (in 1996-97, when playing only half the season, and then in 1997-98 as sweeper).

He does have a pretty special, long and unique career, though. I actually think he's a fine pick, with a good peak and a large body of work, and a rare career.

He had presence and genuine leadership, with the goalmouth shut down. His ability with the ball is however not a patch on most guys of these lists, with sub-standard passing and every other ball playing ability. It's in everything worse than Maldini for sure, and Maldini wasn't a huge outlier either in technique.

edit: this one shows the longevity aspect well enough
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Bergomi

 

I think one can debate about Suurbier and Koeman, and replace them with someone else, but this is from an international perspective the most obvious one (Preud'homme, one of his examples, excellent as well).

Hans van Breukelen, who helped the Netherlands win Euro '88, has long been considered the best Dutch keeper of all time. But van Breukelen himself told a Dutch radio soccer show Thursday that van der Sar "was the best we've ever had. By far. We've very rarely seen him make a mistake in 20 years at the very top and in more than 100 caps. He was a jewel in soccer's crown."
http://www.espn.com/sports/soccer/b...ter-united-edwin-van-der-sar-ranks-all-greats

For who can read it, this is a superb article by an actual goalkeeping coach:
https://theathletic.com/1980798/2020/08/09/the-premier-league-60-no-47-edwin-van-der-sar/

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

Goalkeepers are generally judged more harshly for their failures than they are praised for their successes. Consistency is one of those qualities that is easy to overlook until it is suddenly lacking, and it’s one of the hardest things to accomplish for any goalkeeper. So how exactly did Van der Sar manage such sustained greatness? It’s all down to his superior fundamentals and the proactive style of play that he mastered over the years.
[...]
The fundamentals become ingrained in your psyche and you can execute them almost subconsciously as you move your focus two or three steps ahead, anticipating the play unfolding before you. This is a hidden skill that greatly benefits an ageing player.

This transition sounds logical, but it’s not a change all can goalkeepers make. There are keepers who try to rely on their athleticism for the entirety of their careers only to experience a steep drop off in their early to mid-30s. Van der Sar overcame this through his approach and fundamentals.
[...]
Van der Sar’s positioning was particularly superb and served as the foundation for the rest of his skill set.
[...]
He also took the quickest and most direct path to the ball in order to make the save. And it’s a big reason he was able to make as many saves as he did look so routine and effortless in moments when many of his peers would be wildly throwing themselves about to keep the ball out of their goal.

Schmeichel was an eccentric figure both on the field and in the dressing room, but Van der Sar never needed to be flamboyant. While it was a common occurrence to see Schmeichel barking out orders to the players in front of him, Van der Sar opted for a different, more subdued approach. He quietly but efficiently organised his defence, directing and orchestrating them into the right positions at exactly the right times to disrupt the opponent’s attack.

Often when you see a goalkeeper scream at a defender, the defender walks away and ignores the yelling or, at worst, gets into a shouting match with the keeper. This rarely happened with Van der Sar. By being calm yet constructive, he was able to get his points across while supporting his team-mates and the efforts they were giving. After all, the last thing any goalkeeper wants is for his team-mates to think that he doesn’t appreciate their work and effort.
[...]
In the instances when that wasn’t enough, Van der Sar’s reactions were otherworldly, right up until his retirement at 40 years old. He was capable of outstanding fingertip stops, sweeping up the danger behind his back-line, dominating the aerial game in his box, and producing the most important saves on the biggest of stages. Van der Sar was the definition of a complete goalkeeper, as there wasn’t a glaring weakness or deficiency in his game.
[...]
While most players usually hang on a season or two too long as their abilities decline, Van der Sar retired at the very top of his game, leaving after becoming the oldest player to win the Premier League and the oldest to appear in a Champions League final in his last campaign.

With many quick to point to Schmeichel’s success in the 90s or, more recently, David de Gea’s peak when discussing the best goalkeepers to ever represent Manchetser United, Van der Sar sometimes slips under the radar. Whether it’s because of his personality or the way he made things look so easy for as long as he did, we shouldn’t hold that against him and forget just how special he was. Few goalkeepers have reached the heights he did across such a long period of time.

Yeah I've seen it now. There are some surprising choices and categorizations.

It's interesting they included Tigana for example and not Vieira, despite the latter winning more at every level (imho I'd do the same).

Also think Guardiola is included because of his later career as coach, really.

Guardiola was a very good player at an elite level in his own right, but received only one vote for the BdO. It was in 1994 by the Spanish voter from FCB skewed Mundo Deportivo, for 5th place (behind Stoichkov, Baggio, Maldini and Brolin).

Roy Keane is born in the same year as Guardiola and was generally seen as the better player, and his Ballon d'Or voting reflects that too. Maybe that hindsight leads to other conclusions but I'm inclined to think the coaching career gives him a boost.

Not surprised to see Redondo in, but also he hasn't the BdO record of some excluded players.

In the coming days I'll make more structured comments...

 

This time they also give some alternatives in their text: Deschamps, Dunga, Haan, Bonhof, Clodoaldo, Souness, Simeone, Vieira and Lampard.

I'll make some structured comments later, but I think omitting Modric is almost criminal and Guardiola, Simeone are mentioned rather than Keane because of their coaching career. Simeone is born in 1970, Keane and Guardiola one year later.

Mentioned alternatives: Boban, Savicevic, Sekularac, Stojkovic, Netzer, Giresse, Scholes, Sneijder, Kempes, Riquelme, Kaka, Valderrama. "What a punch to the heart to not be able to find a place for..."

 

Alternatives DM: Deschamps, Dunga, Haan, Bonhof, Clodoaldo, Souness, Simeone, Vieira and Lampard

As said above, I think Modric is a big miss and think Guardiola wouldn't be here without his coaching career.

Including Neeskens is overall consistent with their Ballon d'Or vote, but personally (my opinion) I don't see him as better or greater as Haan or Davids (who had domestically and continentally also a strong track record with 5 european finals and 4 EC finals). Neeskens was a little bit more dynamic and very strong in the pressing, but Haan was no slouch either, positionally better (imho) and had the longer career. Both could shoot from distance, both could suddenly use surprisingly quick and nimble footwork... but who had still good stats and two assists at euro 1980, and who created with the outside of the boot the equalizer in the '78 World Cup final? That was also Haan. In the 1978 Ballon d'Or he was the highest ranked midfielder (11th overall) and Davids has his top 10 finishes, too.

Tardelli is I think a particularly debatable choice. He received only once a vote, in 1982 (by the English voter, for 5th place).

Personally - but on a lower plateau - I'd also challenge Redondo and Schuster (compared to their countrymen as well), although the latter has the Ballon d'Or track record speaking for him, his aura and his flair. Don Balon placed him just once in their team of the season (in 1985). His touch was great but could also mess up horribly and overstep himself in each match. He does have two great games at euri 1980 of course and from time to time also some convincing continental games (although with the crowning achievement missing).

I'm torn on Xabi Alonso, with four other Spanish midfielders of his era already in. On the one hand he had a great and steady career, on the other hand there were a few big weaknesses, with a very poor disciplinary record as a result (in the UCL, only Scholes and Ramos are worse than him, but the media conglomerates were always good in casting the opponents of tiki-taka as the villains of the story). This costs your team in the league.
I believe he was - similar to Redondo - a far greater tournament player as league player. In the Ballon d'Or he was included once, in 2012 (perhaps his best year indeed), finishing 11th but behind four team-mates, six La Liga players and three other central midfielders.

Gerrard should move to the AM category really, and then I'm not sure whether he should make the cut. Overall this is a decent selection, with most names having an appropriate weight.

 

Here a hidden gem, these two playing against each other, with the senior outsmarting the other right at the beginning:



Later in life they teamed up as coaching staff.

For some reason it's possible to make a quite useful team with former Groningen players... (you are more convinced of Neeskens, which is okay)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Groningen#Notable_(former)_players

You and others might like these highlights above.