With the glitz and glamour of the Balon D’or now over, which I personally thought was made more to look like an awards ceremony than anything else, Cristiano Ronaldo was announced as the 2014 Winner of the Ballon Do’r for his second consecutive win and his third so far. It was an occasion, which when looked over featured some bizarre decisions with Roy Hodgson voting for Javier Mascherano to win and not even including Messi or Ronaldo in his top three and both Ronaldo and Messi keeping up the debate of the rivalry between them by for the second time in a row refusing to include either one in their selection. But most of all how David Luiz been included in the FIFA Pro World XI. I will be looking at whether the decision throughout all the awards within the ceremony were the correct one or where there better people who they should have gone too.
Let’s first look at the main award with the players up for the Balon D’or; Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer. Ronaldo who had an incredible season with Real Madrid in 2013-14 had been there player of the season, winning the coverted La Decimal and scoring 51 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions and continuing that into this season already scoring 33 goals in 28 appearances in all competitions. While Messi had a turbulent season for Barcelona who failed to win any trophies that season but was there standout player scoring 41 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions and has so far this season scoring 25 goals in 25 appearances in all competitions. While Manuel Neuer was the star goalkeeper and both Germanys World Cup Victory over Argentina and Bayern Munich’s march towards the Bundlesiga title in which he only conceded 23 goals all season and received praise from fans and pundits alike for his style of “rush” goalkeeping. While I think overall all these players deserved to be in the run up, the right winner was chosen and that overall considering the season Ronaldo had with Real Madrid and the trophies which he run meant that there was no doubt in my mind that he was the rightful winner.
Next on the list is the coach of the year, the ten nominations for the list was Jochiam Low who won the World Cup with Germany leading them to their first major tournament victory in 18 years. Carlo Ancelotti who lead Real Madrid to the coverted La Decimal , Diego Simoeone who led Athletico Madrid to their first La Liga win in 18 years and lead them to runners up in the Champions League and Pep Guardiola who lead Bayern to there second successive Bundlesliga title. Jose Mourhinio who led Chelsea to third in the premier league and to the semi finals of the Champions League, Louis Van Gaal who took Holland to 3rd place in the World Cup, Alejandro Sabella who led Argentina to runners up in the World Cup Final, Antiono Conte who led Juventus to their third successive Serie A title, Jurgen Klinsman who led the USA to round 16 and Manuel Pellergrini who led Manchester City to their second Premier League title. I do agree with the voting for this and that Low deserved it as he led Germany to their first major tournament victory for 18 years but Digeo Simoene could also have received that award for what he did in winning the La Liga title and breaking the stronghold of Barcelona and Real Madrid he also could have been manager of the year.
The next award was the goal of the year award and this was down to three choice, James Rodriguez goal against Urugay in the World Cup quarterfinals, Robin Van Persie’s Goal against Spain in the World Cup group stages and Stephanie Roaches goal against Weaxmouth Youth who was the first woman to ever be voted for this category. While I personally believe that Roaches goal deserved to win as it was technically the best goal above the other two it would have also been a big win towards the promotion of Women’s football. However as the FIFA rules for the award suggest that the importance of the goal itself must be taken into account, whilstRoaches goal was technically the best it was only a goal in Women’s National League in Ireland while the other two were in the World Cup and have more of a significant importance and I think that this is what swayed the voters to go for Rodriguez.
Next on the list is the FIFA Pro XI team of the year which consisted of Manuel Neuer in Goal, Sergio Ramos at LB, David Luiz and Thiago Silva as the two CB’s, Phillip Lham at RB, Andreas Iniesta as CM and DI Maria and Kross as the two wingers, with Ronaldo, Messi and Robben as the three strikers. Overall i do agree with this squad but like many people I would have to question why David Luiz is in the team of the year after he had a poor world cup been part of the team which were hammered by Germany 7-1 and was moved off to PSG from Chelsea for 40 Million a move which many saw as a head scratcher and that he didn’t deserve to be in the team of the year at all and you have to question as this is a selection which is voted by professional footballer players which ones really had their brains on when they voted for this.
Next on the list is the FIFA Pro XI team of the year which consisted of Manuel Neuer in Goal, Sergio Ramos at LB, David Luiz and Thiago Silva as the two CB’s, Phillip Lham at RB, Andreas Iniesta as CM and Di Maria and Kross as the two wingers, with Ronaldo, Messi and Robben as the three strikers. Overall I do agree with this squad, but like many people I would have to question why David Luiz is in the team of the year after he had a poor World Cup being part of the team which were hammered by Germany 7-1.
Next is the Women’s football of the year, the top three for this award Nadine Keßler who had a terrific season for Wolfsburg who won the German Bundesliga and was there second top goal scorer with 12 goals and also won the Women’s Champions League. Next on the list was five time consecutive winner Marta who played for Tyresö FF who were runners up in the Champions League Finals and the first time they had got to the Champions League Final but the team went financially bankrupt which meant Marta had to move away then moving to FC Rosenburg. Last on the list Abby Wambach who’s side won the NSWL league in 2013 and finished 7th in 2014. I personally think that the right choice was made and that Keßler deserved to win the award especially with what she had won during the season for Wolfsburg.
Last is the Women’s coach of the year in which the top three candidates were Ralf Kellerman who led Wolfsburg to the German Bundesliga and the Women’s Champions League, Maren Meinert who led Germany Under 20’s to their first World Cup win in 4 years and Norio Sasaki who led Japan Women’s team to AFC Asian Cup Victory in which was their first victory in the tournament. Overall again I believe that given what Ralf had won over the course of the season that it was the right decisions made.
Overall baring some questionable decisions in some of the voting by players and managers alike in this tournament i for one would really like to see the percentage of voting for the FIFA Pro World XI just to see who voted for David Luiz alone but I think that overall they did get it right this team and that bar the small choices there weren’t really any big questionable descions which would have caused too much uproar.
The post Ballon D’Or – Right decisions or bad choices? appeared first on The Aspirer.