I feel bad for Ruiz. Last year, with only American candidates, he'd have had a chance. I voted for Friedel. I had a tough time, though, going against Kahn and Ronaldo.
And Donovan didn't? He played in 5 different positions and performed well. The only player to do that. But since he won it last year, I doubt he does again.
The nominees seem a bit misguided really if that's a vote for the best male soccer player of the last year then why is Beckham in ahead of Van Nistelrooy? Why Ronaldo ahead of Raul?
I think the vote options are meant to give the non-fan some names they might recognize; alot of people may be familiar with the name Ronaldo or Beckham, but how many would know Henry or Raul?
Who the hell was responsible for coming up with that list of six? I don't even think I'd put Landon Donovan in the top six in the US alone, much less worldwide. If I were to choose the list, here would be my six: Brad Friedel Thierry Henry Ruud van Nistelrooy Gianluigi Buffon Christian Vieri Roberto Carlos
Nominees are bogus! The male soccer nominees are bogus. that group does not truly reflect the world's top mail soccer players. The awards seems meaningless. If Ronaldo or Beckham wins, would they show up? it would have been more legit if the category was Best US male Soccer Player!
Brad Friedel gets my vote. A very interesting list, but I'm not surprised since it was compiled by ESPN. I don't know how Ruiz got on there along with Beckham, Oliver Kahn and Ronaldo. BF is definitely World class so I can see him in the list. LD's, nomination is a little shaky, but at least ESPN tried to give an American player some props. Maybe ESPN should have made the catagory "Best MLS player" since some of the other catagories are defined by league. (Best NFL Player, Best Major League Baseball Player, Best NHL Player, Best NBA Player,Best WNBA Player)
Van Nistelrooy for the guys not nominated. Ronaldo for the guys that were nominated. They're both money players that are there when it counts.
I hear that if Friedel wins, ESPN will have Mike Segroves read the Brad Friedel Manifesto to the audience during commercials.