What neurotic blathering! You gotta calm down. I wasn't discussing your criteria for hiring footballers . I just mentioned the reasons why Europeans, among others, consider Brazil exotic and regard Brazilians in high esteem (which was your suggestion in the first place). You definitely need a mind unfastener. The apparent favoritism received by Brazillians that you talk about is baseless. If Raul was Raulinho and remained the same player at his peak, he would still never win a FIFA WPY award. He wasn't worth it. Weah, Zidane, Figo, Baggio did not need 'inho' suffixes to win WPY awards. Raul was just never good enough. Ditto other players that you seem to think would have won the award if they had a Brazilian name affixed to their own.
Oh, like Ronaldo getting it for a 2nd time after being the whole year injured...that was for what, winning an UEFA Cup?. Yes, his career is excellent with Brazil, and he has top scorers hard to match....but no CL, and getting the WP price just for "coming back" from injury? Coming to think of it....Figo got it for winning a CL? what exactly? the 3 Raul has (as the top scorer, also in Liga and in the NT)...I mean, Figo is no EC or WC Champ either... Baggio? oh wait, he won the Calcio a few times, and an UEFA Cup..... Ronaldihno, in the year he just had?. Ok, I do consider him the best in the world, he does things others don't that make you a winner, but did you see Raul at his "peak"? how he won Liga, Champions, even was the overall top goalscorer at NT level, all in the same season, and being the best of the best team? (the best team Real has had, btw, not the one these days, in spite of Ronaldo, Figo, Zidane, funny, how many WPs...). Fame is one thing, performance is the other, and the WP seems to go with fame more than performance, since several times I don't see it being given to a player who even though he may have deserved it, he doesn't then. If it was performance Raul would have gotten it easy, but he is missing the flair and fame of the others. Look, I don't doubt the qualities of any of these players. Baggio and Figo are actually some of my personal favourites and all of them have been deserving of the WP (at least one time, but maybe not 2, 3..). Baggio a hell of a lot more than Figo. Anyway, Raul had a single year in which he was the top goal scorer in La Liga, CL, and overall at NT level, plus the Intercontinental... He was the best player of the best team in the world...and even the European Footballer of the Year went to Owen for winning the UEFA Cup, something which did raise some questions here and there. Raul, as a striker, has numbers and records that only Ronaldo surpasses from that list. Numbers that prove that he was the best at one point and got nothing for it. Raul has both the team and the personal career numbers to go with them. He has gone into a couple of bad years, true, but do not take anything from him, he should have gotten a lot more and he didn't. Why?: because he does not sell like the others, it's that simple. He doesn't talk, he just works, so he doesn't have the image of the others but in our own market he is not like them. There is a lot of that and other "politics" involved when FIFA names the WP. Actually, nobody has the slightest idea why they do what they do to rank the players (if you look at the complete list of players that get voted in, it makes you wonder a lot of things), so I don't see it as anything really representative of who the best is or isn't at a particular time, and, hey, if you are just going to take resume into consideration, I'd like you to find one that has Raul's who hasn't got it the WP already. There is none, but even if not, Raul at peak level wasn't worth it? a peak level that lasted years (as opposed to some in the list), with everything he has won and done?. Where have you been hiding?. Raul's main problem is simply that he is Spanish. We don't have the pedigree, we don't play in foreign teams getting ourselves better known(until very recently). Our only priced player, Luis Suarez, got his when he was playing at Inter....Raul hasn't been bought in a record breaking 70mill. transaction either...and no, he is not "exotic" to anybody. Of course, on top of that, after starting to play at his top level at 17, now that he has gone down after 26, everybody was right in not recognizing him. I hope he makes you shut up soon (or go away for good, but it be better for Real Madrid that he does, which is what counts way more than WPs and selling shirts). "Personality", "liberalism", "general fun way of life".....man. This is what we get when a sport turns into a business...empty heads.
You have no clue, right? The second time Ronaldo won the WPY was during his first season with Inter. He wasn't injured that year. Rather, he won the Copa America (highest scorer), Confed Cup, Uefa Cup and came second in Serie A due to a highly controversial decision. The way Ronaldo played that season, no one other than Pele and Maradona in the history of football played that way. You need to go watch some videos. Sure Raul, of all the players, could match that. Remind me again how Ronaldo won the Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Cup (the tournaments he played in) but failed to win a CL before his injury? Also, remind me again of another player in the history of football who came back from severe injury after two years and scored at a rate of 0.7 goals/game in the league (Serie A) and won the World Cup scoring 8 goals in the process. Again, remind me of the number of times Raul has scored in the 4 international tournaments he has played in (Ronaldo has 26 goals in 5 international tournaments). Oh wait, he has scored 5 times...WOW! Look, Raul was respected for his skills by most when he was at his best. He was certainly considered one of the best strikers in the world. He probably deserved to be European Footballer of the Year ahead of Owen. However, to be FIFA WPY, one needs to perform at FIFA's tournaments (international level) as well. Raul has failed to alleviate Spain's crappiness and has shown that he lacks the quality to perform at that level. So, I do not see how he deserved a WPY more than any of the three times Zidane or Ronaldo won them. There is no way Raul could have won the FIFA WPY award in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002 because he did not come anywhere close to matching the performances of the players who won the awards. In Figo's (2000) defence, he also deserved the award more since he was undoubtedly Real Madrid's best and most important player and Raul would never win it being second fiddle to Figo. Moreover, Raul never possessed Figo's skills and all-round ability. Man, so much blathering!!!!! These have nothing to do with how good a player is on the field.
i remember it like it was yesterday when you people were begging beckham to become captain.... heres the link: http://www.soccernet.com/euro2000/columns/20000623featclarke.html
I always support Becks, but the article makes reference to Becks becoming the captain of England (which he did), not Real Madrid.
One more year for what? To be Real Madrid captain? Well, that would mean changing tradition because the captaincy is given to tenured players. Beckham has a few players ahead of him in that regard. I would be very surprised if he got the captaincy in lieu of one of the tenured players.
What's the shake up? Are Raul, Roberto Carlos, Guti, Casillas, Salgado and Helguera all leaving? They'd all be captains ahead of Beckham. I don't see it happening, but I guess you never know.
Actually , I'm surprised that Raul has not been given the travelling bags in view of lack-luster 2 previous seasons.
The other guys , R. Carlos , IMO is on his last season in Madrid. The Spaniards may stick around but are, again IMO, not going to get the nod. I could be wrong ( Nahh. . .)
What is the order of seniority right now. Raul, Guti, R.Carlos, then what...Casillas, Salgado, Helguera(didn't he arrive same summer as Salgado?) Once Casillas becomes captain, he could have it for a long time because of his age. Since I think Raul will be at Real as long or longer than Guti and R.Carlos, Casillas will probably follow Raul as captain.
Get the nod??? Ok, no one gets the nod, the captaincy at Real is based on who has been at the club longer, therefore, Becks will never be captain because he is too far down the pecking order. That list provided by Alma is the seniority list and THAT determines who is captain at Real...its been done like that for as long as I can remember.
seniority doesn't mean anything...even if its tradition. lets say figo was still here...would real let him be captain...no the locker room players have to like him, has to have a high work rate, and must have the coaches respect. figo is out of the question. so same for seniority. beckham on the other hand has experience as captain and has the teammates respect. he would have a good chance at it if raul leaves...but currently that armband is going to carlos then maybe casillas.
Things change. Real used to field a team, now or at least lately , they have been fielding a group of soccer stars. As far as I know there is no rule written anywhere that requires a team to use seniority as a pre- requisite to determine its captain; so somebody needs to get the nod.
Well the tradition hasn't been broken and a stadium full of Real Madrid supporters won't let it be broken. Just wearing the armband doesn't mean much...u think the players listen to the head case Guti when he wears it. It is easier to go by seniority, it becomes a symbolic item and doesn't create an issue in the locker room. Whether someone else stands up in the locker room and becomes vocal....is up to them. I am pretty sure there are a handful of players in the locker room that have more clout than Guti. Going by seniority avoids making it an issue. You guys are just asking for problems.
Seniority has always been the deciding factor - not just for who wears it at the start of the game, but even for who gets it in the event that person is subbed. Seniority all determines the three captains. These individuals are the players' voice with the club when negotiating incentives, days off, whatever. I don't understand the point about Figo. If you look at the club's history, you'd understand that "seniority doesn't mean anything" isn't exactly true. I don't think Gravesen wore the captain's armband in his debut. I seriously doubt that. Anyway, sounds like some of you are trying to create a debate where it doesn't exist.
You gotta be kidding me? You know how many people are ahead of him? Raul, Guti, Roberto Carlos, Salgado, Helguera, Zidane, and maybe even Ronaldo!
No point in debating the captain's armband. It is based on seniority. guti got it a few times last season when Raul was subbed.
i do not see why we debate this issue. there is no debating to be done. raul guti carlos is the 3. and when i went to madrid i worked out the others as they have a board on it with all the people who have played for madrid and in order. cant member exactly but was cassillas salgado helguera. that sorta thing! we stil got those 3 plus ronaldo zidane and others b4 becks anyway