Football Special Feature: Ballon d’Or – Who shall it be? Analysis of nominations and criteria (Part 2)
To decide who is the best player for the award or the best candidate in more technical terms, there are several tests that can be applied to determine the eventual winner. This year’s winner will be a special one because his selection will be a result of
Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s joint decision. The first test is a fairly simple one; put out all the players on a virtual field and see who is simply the best at football, who would you want on your side once you step outside on the green? If you are given an unlimited
transfer window budget in a utopian world, which player will be your first and foremost signing?
These questions have only one answer; Lionel Messi. The current FIFA World Player of the year for the 2008-2009 football season hails from Argentina and he has been touted as a successor to Diego Maradona. There is no doubt that Messi is a bag full of talent,
his short physique gives him an advantage over heavy weight defenders while his quick feet are a sight to behold. Once he gets going there is no stopping him, just ask Real Madrid or Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal F.C, Lionel Messi is unplayable on most days.
A quick glance at Messi’s stats for the 2009-2010 football season only confirm this hypothesis that he is really the best player in the world at the moment when it comes down to sheer talent and skill. In the 2009-2010 season, Lionel started a total number
of 58 football matches, out of which 46 matches were started by the left footed forward for his club side Barcelona whereas 12 matches were started by Messi for Argentina.
In his collective appearances for Argentina and Barcelona altogether in the 2009-2010 season, Messi scored 49 goals and managed 11 assists. Not only that, he had a total number of 233 attempted shots out of which 119 were on target. He also suffered from
158 fouls and only gathered seven yellow cards for both Argentina and Barcelona. On the other hand, if FIFA are looking to give the award to someone who has been consistent throughout the 2009-2010 season for both club and country, it has to be Wesley Sneijder.
The Dutchman featured in a total number of 46 games collectively and scored 9 goals while also managing to contribute with 12 assists. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup for Netherlands, Wesley started seven games and scored 5 goals in addition to a single assist.
His heroics against Brazil in the quarter final game paved a path to the final match of the tournament for his national team; a feat worthy of admiration under any circumstances.
However, football tends to be an emotional game and fans are emotional as well. Thus, if FIFA also got for sentimental value then it makes sense to give the award to Andres Iniesta. Iniesta, the Barcelona midfielder and Spanish national team playmaker was
Spain’s hero in the final match of the 2010 World Cup as he bagged the winner in the second period of extra time thanks to a Cesc Fabregas assist.
Iniesta started just 34 games in an injury plagued 2009-2010 season for both club and country during which he managed to score just a single goal while contributing with seven assists. In the 2010 World Cup, Andres started six games for Spain and scored
two goals, one of which gave his national side the FIFA World Cup Trophy. With emotion, talent and consistency out of the way, it is time for team performance.
If FIFA go for some common sense and actually see which athlete makes his team tick and work better than the nod should definitely go to Xavi Hernandez. Xavi, Spain’s main creative force in the World Cup as well as Barcelona’s lynch pin in central midfield,
was perhaps the best team “performer” in the 2009-2010 season. In a total of 57 games that he started for both Spain and Barcelona in the last club football season, Xavi managed to assist 19 goals while scoring 6 goals all by himself.
In the FIFA 2010 World Cup, Xavi ran the show as he contributed with a single assist but the most outstanding part of his game was his pass completion rate which was above 80 percent for the best part of the 2009-2010 season.
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