Yes, I've played football....professionally. And my father has also played professionally. He played with shoes and balls from the 70s and 80s, I played with shoes and balls from the 90s. Each of us prefers the ones from our respective times over the modern day shoes and balls. However, a top level player is a good player regardless of the shoes he plays with. As for you wearing older shoes.....where can you get shoes from the 70s in 2012?.....I guess you are worse player, like an "amateur", anyway.....
OK, I think the main reason is that second tier nations do not have the means anymore to catch up. I've elaborated on this before. Of course, some basics are learned on the street and that is also a problem nowadays.
How is that a proof of weak era? Iniesta was very good in every Spain game. I personally would give the award to Jordi Alba. However, Casillas, Buffon, Pirlo and Khadeira also impressed. The fact that there were a few outstanding players at the tournament, rather than just one, speaks that perhaps the era is not weak as some people think.
True. Mexico was down at that time. They seem stronger today. A proper striker, maybe, but not a very good one. Still had to rely on Postiga, since Ronaldo wasn't half the player he is now and Pauleta was... meh. No, Greece beat both France and Czech. Holland wasn't that strong back then either. I know they just choked, but think about it: Today, Sneijder only barely makes the starting XI and Van der Vaart & Huntelaar are usually left out. Meanwhile back then van der Meyde made the starting XI. And, yes, the current defense sucks but any defense containing Wilfred "I can't tie my boots without tripping" Bouma isn't that strong either.
Its so CRYSTAL CLEAR thatthis era is WEAK: The best players of this tournament consists of a BIG list of OLD VETERANS (from previous era) like Pirlo, Buffon, Sheva, Melberg, Ibramovic, Lahm, Casano ... ONLY a few players that played acceptable good (to their names) are Iniesta, Casillas, Ramos, Balotelli, and CR7 ... well note that this Euro marked out a WEAKEST link ever in striker department, with Ballotelli and CR7 got 3goals/6games after 30+ shots ... and they are reagrded as the best strikers of the tournament ! GOSH ... From Platini 9goals Euro84 to Basten 5goals 88, to Shearer 5goals 96 and now .... 2012 Balotelli and CR7 with 3 goals ! GOING south ... lol Best players of Euro12: 1- Pirlo (4/6 very good games) 2- Iniesta (3/6) 3- Buffon (5/6) 4- Cassilas (4/6) 5- J.Alba 6- Cassano 7- D Silva 8- Ballotelli 9- P. Lahm 10- Kheideira ================================
I'm not debating who is the better goalkeeper. It is irrelevant anyway since both 'keepers played in both time - periods (ie 2002-6 and 2007-present). My only point is that in the current time-period, a strong showing at a major international tournament no longer gets a goalkeeper in the running for the Ballon d'Or. In fact, no matter what position you play, a strong international tournament by itself is no longer enough to get top 3 in Ballon d'Or because there are too many strong performers who show up every week, including int'l tournaments.
Quite interesting fact about Ballon D'or, big games and foreign voters: When Belanov won his Ballon D'or in 1986 he finished only 2nd behind his teammate Alexander Zavarov (who had only 5 out of 26 votes @ Ballon D'or) in both Soviet & Ukraine Player of the Year voting.
Spain beat Portugal in WC10 deservedly...no offsides in the goal, and completely superior throughout the match.
No one takes the Balon d'Or in 86 seriously, except possibly you, since it could not be given to Diego.
In that time frame Thierry Henry also showed his class every week. That is a weak point. Buffon won it because he made spectacular saves and because he is an Italian. I.e. the 'myth' of Italy leaning on their defense.
Yes, I do think you're incapable of accurately comparing players from across a ten year interval using sight alone. Football is not a sport like golf or athletics where achievements can reasonably be considered in isolation. A footballer is only as good as his opposition let him be. Given that I don't think you are in a position to accurately judge these current players against those of even 10 years ago.
I'm afraid to say I don't think I'm part of any "inner circle". I'm just a fan who likes to attend major championships. That's my particular focus. There scoring isn't good because no team has ever faced such fearful opposition in international play as Spain. The first team that attempted to press them got obliterated. I still argue that Iniesta wasn't the best player in this tournament, because his play still lacks penetration. Both Fabregas and Silva created more clear chances. I'm not arguing though that he is not an excellent player. The "top 500" (I think it was top 500 alltime but anyway) point relfects his age and the fact that I don't like to assess people until they near the end of their career, in addition to his lack of penetration.
Terms as "ever" are just as contentious as statements as "weak era." Such statements also reveal that you do no really believe in a "steady state of football" thesis. Every new record is "best ever" in your book. You mean Chile and Italy. Chile met an incredibly biased referee and Italy was unlucky to play with 10 men.
And what did Estel and Tribune say? Exactly, in the past a weak display at either the euros or a blackout at the final stages of the Champions League was a big bummer. Anyhow, I don't see how the win of Greece shows that it was a weak era. You corrected me even. Indeed, they beat France too, the favorites. You start with the assumption that a win by a minnow automatically means that it is a weak era.
You're combining different scenarios here. If we bring all those players into the modern scenarios (ie all talent is centred in Europe and all players are eligible for the Ballon D'Or) then we need to remember that at present Ronaldo only actually has one Ballon D'Or. Meanwhile Lionel Messi, someone I consider to be the equal in performances so far of any of the players you listed, currently has three. In the current era we have already seen Ronaldo trail behind not just Messi, but Kaka, Xavi, Sneijder, Iniesta and Forlan since 2007. In 2009 he finished second on name rather than performances. So I think the idea that he is completely dominating the field and that we have only two top players is unmerited.
That's only according to you though. According to UEFA's Technical Committee there where three players they considered for Player of the Tournament - Iniesta, Xavi and Alonso. Ultimately, Iniesta was selected. I personally think Alba should've been chosen. They are both players of the current generation. Sheva and Ibra had one good game each....Melberg? Are you kidding me?! Buffon and Casillas are GKs, a position in which players traditionally play at their best later in their careers. Pirlo is the only one I can agree with. But when you say certain players are from previous era, what eras are we talking about? How long is the current era? How long was the previous era? I think some modern era players showed themselves well, some even impressed - Alba, Lahm, Ramos, Pepe, Khedeira, Ozil, CR7, Balotelli, Alonso, Iniesta, Fabregas, Silva, Gomez, De Rossi, Veloso, Coentrao. These players will continue to play and try to make bigger names for themselves. We can't judge them yet compared to players who played 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago. And one last thing: the fact that Balotelli and CR7 scored only 3 goals may not be due to their weakness but more perhaps due to the strengths of their opposition.
Is this refering to myself or is a general statement? While you are mentioning me directly, the explanation you are providing to justify the assertion does not seem to be specific for a certain individual in particular, but rather a general statement.
Sheva (1 great game), Ibra (2 very good games) and Melberg (1 great game and 1 good) were among the TOP performers in group stage, granted their SQUAD were WEAK ! Only the bold names have some hope ... but I just can not foreseen .. they will become "all timers" (not in TOP100) well only maybe CR7 (if he continues same form for another 2,3 years) 2nd bold, It showed they were WEAK themselves (in shooting skills vs players in older era) PLUS in FACT, the way they scored 3goals out of 30+ shots showing their opponents were rather WEAK - to have granted them many chances to shoot, OK?
I'm talking in a more general sense here. I think people generally massively overrate their ability to gauge quality from watching games. Can you accurately gauge the quality of a French league match against a Dutch one? Or against the Copa Libertadores or Sudamericana? I certainly can't. That difficulty is combined with the lack of perspective we have about the current generation (ie insufficient time and distance to adequately reflect on their merits). Anyway, this discussion has run its course for me. I was stupid to get involved in the first place.
I see nothing wrong in doing that. I only included the extra scenario to show you how, if you include worldwide competition (which had quite a few stellar players, 2 of which were definitely equals of Platini in terms of performances and could have given him fierce competition for the Balon d'Or throughout his career), there was a good possibility that Platini would not have ended up winning as many Balon d'Ors as he won. This above was done because you said Platini could have won more Balon d'Ors if he had the same circumstances going for him as modern players do and yet you did not include the circumstancial point of modern players also competing against players from all over the world and not just those from Europe. I didn't forget this, infact I have specifically mentioned, "to be more precise, (Ronaldo has been deemed good enough to) end up 1st or 2nd in the Balon d'Or voting in the current system in 4 different seasons". I believe you did not read till this part or forgot about my stating this by the time you got down to write your reply. In any case, now it seems like Ronaldo is on course for a 1st or 2nd place in Balon d'Or for a 5th time in 6 seasons with him only missing out on the podium in the season when he was out injured for 2 months and there was a major international tournament to contend with, where he did not do particularly well. Do you know how many other players have this above distinction? None, apart from a Platini who had 3 winners awards and 2 third place awards and a Beckenbauer who had 2 winners awards, 2 second place awards and a third place award. Both these players only had the competition from Europe to contend with when they set these marks too. So unless you think CRonaldo is as good as these players (and even better depending on how the rest of his career pans out from a Balon d'Or perspective), I don't see how one can reach any other conclusion than that this is a weaker era in terms of elite level competition. Yes, and inspite of being only considered to be an equal (and not categorically superior) in terms of performances to the players I listed, Messi will still have more podium appearances than any other Balon d'Or candidate in history (6 in 6 years if the voting for 2012 is as expected), all at the age of 25 with a high chance of winning atleast a couple more such podium places. Again, the discrepancy in this is self evident IMO. Yes and Michel Platini trailed behind Alexander Zavarov in 1986, when he was having a relatively off year and there was a WC tournament. It still does not make Zavarov a serious competitor of Platini. Similarly 4 out of those 6 players you mentioned having finished above CRonaldo in his one off season does not make them relevant competition. Neither does Kaka's one good season when CRonaldo was still green, make him relevant. As for your point regarding CRonaldo finishing 2nd on name alone in 2009, are you telling me that this has never happened with any of the candidates from the earlier eras? I (on the basis of my above replies), and a few others, obviously disagree.
In some way there is a discrepancy in comme his statements. On the one hand he thinks that Spain is the best team in history (without Messi), Barcelona the best club team in history and that Messi has made the best single seasonal effort in history. Previously, arguments about Messi being so superior because of the platform he has, were denied by him but now, when it suits his argument, he calls Spain "the best national team ever."