Rio Ferdinand. He is an excellent defensive player and also shows consistency. Ronaldo's been back 5 minutes and people think he's the best thing since sliced bread. Give Owen a similar number of chances to score goals and see how he does.
the revised shortlist as of august 31 2002 Ronaldo- fifas favorite for the award, the original phenomenon, still trying to regain his orginal ability but nontheless had a great world cup Diouf- rising superstar, a phenomenon, full of skill and a unique repitoire of tricks, did everything but score a goal at the world cup Ballack- one of the best midfielders in europe, had a great year with Leverkusen and lead Germany to the final, skillfull, efficient, and a leader on the field Rio Ferdinand- great defender with excellent technical ability and superb ball skills, had a great world cup, and hopefully will have a great season with manchester united Ronaldinho- after rising from obscurity with his famous goal against venezuela while playing in a youth world championship, his star seemed to fade... did have a good second half to the season with PSG... his real claim to fame should be at this world cup where he was my player of the tournament hes the complete player he can do it all and his hair style is just sic i really think the award should go to this guy
Re: best 4 How does a World Cup and Golden Boot winner get overrated? The Phenom scored in almost every match. Friend, the Game has seen many decent strikers since Fontaine's day. Not even Pele was able to break the record. Maradona, Rossi, Klinsmann, Lineker... none of Pele's runners-up were able to do it either. An aberration, that's what it was. Like Bob Beamon's long jump. You fail to realize just how much the Game has changed since Fontaine worked his magic. Teams don't attack anymore like they used to. The day of four and five forwards are over. The catenaccio (sp?) killed what was left. The only objective left is to lead one's team to the Cup. Ronaldo did that. I suspect Adidas, Puma, Lotto, Kappa and Diadora "own" a few athletes of their own. Why single out Nike? Aside from making uniformly ugly uniforms, they've committed no crime against soccer.
Like i read in some newspapers. This year the F.W.P.Y. 2002 is going to be WHITE. 1-Roberto Carlos (most probably) 2-Raul 3-Zidane 4-Ballack 5-Ronaldo . . . . . 956-Khan
1. Michael Ballack 2. Ronaldo 3. Raul 4. Oliver Khan 5. Fernando Hierro 6. Hasan Sas 7. Rio Ferdinand 8. Roberto Carlos 9. El Hadji Diouf 10. Rivaldo 11. Yilderay Basturk
a phenomenon? dioif is a foward who did not score a goal in the world cup very impressive kuffour should have been african player of the year
It's over, Ronaldo just wrapped it up today. As long as he's healthy and scoring the occasional goal for Real Madrid he'll win it thanks to his World Cup and the fact that he's a huge sentimental favorite. Robert
Michael Ballack deserves to win. He had a great world cup, 3 goals 4 assists, and he led Bayer Leverkussen to a great season as well. Although Ronaldo was sensational during the world cup, thats about the only time he played, due to injury. I think the winner should be someone who played at a high level over the couse of the entire year. Also, Ronaldo should lose points for that horrible haircut he had.
Best player of the tourny.. hands down... ................ ............ .......... ....... .... .. ME!
It's actually a very interesting choice for World player of the year this year. Typically the winner in a World Cup year is the dominant player in the World Cup. This year that was Ronaldo (I don't care if Kahn won the award as top player, how can you not give it to a guy who scored 8 goals in the tourney and won the title?!?!) but Ronaldo barely played for Inter in the first half of the year and so far in the second half he has been a disaster with Real Madrid. Kahn had that great World Cup and did well in the first half with Bayern but his error was so costly in the year's biggest match (WC Final) and Bayern has been Europe's biggest disappointment this fall. The same logic applies to Ballack. He did well in the first half of the season and in the World Cup but the second half has been disappointing for him. Zidane missed out on the World Cup for all intents and hasn't been too brilliant with Madrid this fall. Raul was great for Madrid and Spain(and his injury in my view probably cost Spain a semifinal spot in the World Cup) but he too has been a bit down this fall. Maybe that does leave it open for a guy like Roberto Carlos who won both the Champion's League and the World Cup this year. Plus he has been solid for Real Madrid this fall. If van Nistelrooy had been doing better this fall, he could have slipped in there since no one else is really standing out but he's also not shining this fall. Henry has been very good for Arsenal but had a poor World Cup. Ronaldinho did well in the World Cup but wasn't too good for PSG in the spring. Rivaldo perhaps if he can shine for Milan this fall or how about Inzaghi who is scoring a boatload of goals? It really is wide open.
Oliver Kahn could be in the running but is he only being judged on his world cup contribution or did he play well all year round. Players like Beckham and Figo should definitely be nowhere near the running because they aren't even the best players at their clubs in terms of contribution and use of the ball:REAL MADRID-ZIDANE,MAN UTD-ROY KEANE(by a mile or two or three or four or......) Roberto Carlos is good but a world player of a year he is not. Ronaldo missed most of the season with Inter Milan came back and had a good world cup but its not "PLAYER OF THE WORLD CUP" is it. If its consistency you are after then pick Dietmar Hamann but then again he doesn't show alot of flair but does what needs to be done and plays the game simple. Pires was amazing for Arsenal ast season and recieved player of the year without even finishing the season. Until Clint Mathis plays in a proper league i.e. England,Spain,Italy or Germany he has no chance to prove he is worthy of such a title or to even get any international praise. Zidane was good for Real last season his goal in the championsleague final summed up just how good he was and still is but no world cup but if we are judging players on a basis that if you miss 7 games in the year you aren't good enough to win it then he's not but he is and I think people are inclined to go against the obvious and won't vote for Zidane BUT CAN YOU THINK OF ANYONE EVER BEING THAT GOOD THESE DAYS JUST SAY ZIDANE I've deliberated over this looking at different possibilities and combinations but I just can't see past Zidane
The fact you would even consider Ruud Van Nistlerooy is a joke. Van Nistlerooys last 18 goals consisted of 11 penalties leaving 7 goals from open play. He's a goal poacher and not the best I might add that title lays firm with Michael Owen. Owen creates goals for himself aswell VanNistlerooy doesn't he lives off the best crosser in the world BECKHAM(who is nowhere near world player of the year he can't header or tackle and rarely hits the byline to get in crosses). NOTE:What is the last goal you saw VanNistlerooy score outside the box(6yard box even) You deliberate the credentials required and VanNistlerooy falls very very short you'll find.