I don't know if how where these votes came from, but my first observations are Recber over Kahn? Damain Duff? No Pires? UEFA team and coach of 2002 The results are : Keeper (90562 votes) Rüstu Recber Fenerbahçe SK 33,83 % Oliver Kahn FC Bayern München 28,55 % Iker Casillas Real Madrid CF 17,68 % Gianluigi Buffon Juventus FC 12,52 % Santiago Cañizares Valencia CF 7,42 % Right back (74060 votes) Carlos Puyol FC Barcelona 31,72 % Cafu AS Roma 26,11 % Lilian Thuram Juventus FC 17,62 % Curro Torres Valencia CF 14,12 % Michel Salgado Real Madrid CF 10,43 % Center back (135829 votes) Alessandro Nesta AC Milan 22,90 % Christian Chivu Ajax 15,05 % Rio Ferdinand Manchester United 12,17 % Lucio TSV Bayer Leverkussen 10,08 % Fernando Hierro Real Madrid CF 9,27 % Roberto Ayala Valencia CF 8,72 % Iván Helguera Real Madrid CF 7,97 % Sam Hyppiä Liverpool 7,43 % Christopher Metzelder BV 09 Borussia Dortmund 3,81 % Edmilson Olympique de Lyon 2,58 % Left back (66768 votes) Roberto Carlos Real Madrid CF 54,15 % Paolo Maldini AC Milan 24,19 % John Arne Riisse Liverpool 10,25 % Ashley Cole Arsenal 6,88 % Diego Placente TSV Bayer Leverkussen 4,52 % Right midfielder (60122 votes) Clarence Seedorf AC Milan 34,88 % Joaquin Sanchez Real Betis Balompié 25,62 % Unit Davala Galatasaray SK 19,38 % Bernd Schneider TSV Bayer Leverkussen 14,73 % Brett Emerton Feyenoord 5,40 % Center midfielder (66483 votes) Michael Ballack FC Bayern München 39,23 % Patrick Vieira Arsenal 21,27 % Yildiray Bastürck TSV Bayer Leverkussen 18,22 % Ruben Baraja Valencia CF 14,17 % Shinji Ono Feyenoord 7,12 % Attacking midfielder (77919 votes) Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid CF 43,60 % Hakan Yakin FC Basel 18,90 % Alessandro del Pierro Juventus FC 17,63 % Pablo Aimar Valencia CF 15,84 % Tomas Rosicky BV 09 Borussia Dortmund 4,03 % Left midfielder (79300 votes) Damien Duff Blackburn Rovers 25,08 % Fredrik Ljungberg Arsenal 21,75 % Hasan Sas Galatasaray SK 21,58 % Juan Valeron RC Deportivo de La Coruña 20,65 % Ze Roberto FC Bayern München 10,93 % Forward (144106 votes) Thierry Henry Arsenal 19,33 % Ronaldo Real Madrid CF 16,35 % Ruud van Nistelrooij Manchester United 15,85 % Raul Gonzalez Real Madrid CF 13,99 % Filippo Inzaghi AC Milan 8,55 % Rivaldo AC Milan 7,96 % Hernán Crespo Internazionale FC 7,45 % Roy Makaay RC Deportivo de La Coruña 4,88 % Pierre van Hooijdonk Feyenoord 2,63 % Jon Dahl Tomasson Feyenoord 3,01 % Coach (60653 votes) Senol Gunes Turkey 28,50 % Vicente del Bosque Real Madrid CF 27,97 % Rafael Benitez Valencia CF 17,63 % Rudi Völler Germany 13,85 % Klaus Toppmöller TSV Bayer Leverkussen 12,05 %
Best player? No. Definately George Best. Most influential? Probably. They won 4 out 5 championships during his time at the club after a 26 year barren spell.
That's not really my point though ... is it. You stick a poll on the Internet, you are guaranteed to get shit answers, because a costly percentage of respondents won't know what the fuck they are talking about.
lol. You could say that about any poll though. If I were to walk around town and ask people whether we should bomb Iraq tomorrow I would get a mixed response. Some people would give very convincing answers for or against and some would just repeat what they've heard on TV. You have to take a poll for what it really is - opinions of people, some of which will be informed on the subject and some will not.
True enough ... but then you also have to be willing to attach zero significance or relevance to what they purport to show. Extrapolating anything from them is useless. Especially in this instance. It is quite clear that the votes for that poll were taken at some point last summer or autumn (hence no Pires - injured during World Cup - but a Duff). Which means it is a snapshot of who's been in the news most in the month or so leading up to the poll. The real UEFA team of the Year is, I believe, chosen by coaches from around the continent.
Hmm, we could probably argue this all day. It's like Ronaldo winning player of the year. Yes, he did nothing at Inter all year and as Vicente Del Bosque said recently "He has not made Real any worse but he has not made it better either". He did however, score 8 goals at the world cup which is a tremendous achievement and will be talked about for years to come. Who will be remembered the most for that year? Henry, Raul, Crespo etc for scoring bags of goals in the regular season or Ronaldo scoring the most goals at a World Cup for x number of years. The WC is the biggest sporting event in the world and only comes along every 4 years so it's only fair to give it the spotlight that it deserves. The fans poll may have one outcome, the managers another and the Matt Clark poll will evidently be very different aswell