Re: The Official Balon d'Or 2014 Thread

[FennecFox7]

Messi scored against the worst team in the tournament, iran. Granted nigeria are a good team, but messi didn't do anything in the knockout stages. His overall play was shocking, despite having a team with higuain, palacio, aguero, and di maria built around him, he turned over the ball countless times. The defense got them to the final. Mascherano is a worthy candidate but we know that people don't rate defenders

Regardless of how bad those teams were his goal against Bosnia, his goal against Iran and his two goals against Nigeria got Argentina the 9 points, take those away they only get two points in those three games. He assisted the winner in Switzerland game for Di Maria and played apart in providing the winner in Belgium game, so he played a part in 6 of 8 Argentina goals.

Aguero was injured in the second game or third game, Higuain we all know is a scrub as is Levezzi, Di Maria and Masche are the only reliable Argentina players, Di Maria was injured. Argentina parked the bus the whole way through the KO phases having only 2-3 attackers out at most of course his over all play wouldn't be good when your trying to defend for your life. You miss the point that Messi created the most scoring chances at the WC with all that attacking talent I wonder why they couldn't finish it, maybe we should blame Messi for their finishing as well.

And in no way am I saying Messi deserves the ballon D'or not even top 3 in my opinion, but this thing of down playing his WC performance his getting ridiculous. I can't believe I'm saying this, but even Mourinho said it during one of his interviews after the WC.

“He sacrificed himself for the good of the team.

“He was more focused on winning the tournament than being its best player.”

“I saw him playing in areas of the pitch where he doesn’t usually play. He dropped deep and picked up the ball a long way from the opposition’s goal.

“Messi has my utmost respect for what he did at the World Cup.

Portugal have players like postiga, no-end product nani, eder don't get me started on the midfield. CR has to carry those sunday league scrubs by himself.

[Donuts]

also all of ronaldo's coaches said he was fit the only one who disagreed was some random friend who talked to the papers which tbh i wouldn't blame him after watching his buddy play that crappy.

Do you really think Ronaldo was fit during the WC ? I don't say that he had a good world cup, but there is now way he was fit. I saw Ronaldo having bad games, but I've never seen him incapable of running.

i do not know if he was fit or not.
what i do know is the coaches that he saw every day said he was
its a matter of who you wanna believe
his friend who will never say anything bad about him or the people who actually know..

[farfan]

fit or not , portugal was garbage and ronaldo shouldn't be hed responsible for their shortcomings .

blaming ronaldo for " flopping " in the WC is like blaming Bale for failing to qualify wales to the WC.

ok Portugal is not wales, but still ...

[_LMG_10_]

Ronaldo played the WC with a screwed up pataller tendon and hamstring tendonitis,

And who's fault is that? He exerted all his energy for the champions league and didn't save anything for the world cup. That's why he was so shit/injured for portugal. I've been saying this for months. The Champions league in a world cup year means very little. The CL final is like 2 weeks before the World cup!!!!! Just think about it.

Ronaldo sacrificed his WC for the CL, while Messi did the opposite.

Messi scored against the worst team in the tournament, iran. Granted nigeria are a good team, but messi didn't do anything in the knockout stages. His overall play was shocking, despite having a team with higuain, palacio, aguero, and di maria built around him, he turned over the ball countless times. The defense got them to the final. Mascherano is a worthy candidate but we know that people don't rate defenders

Lol this is a terrible argument and it shows you're just clutching at straws. Iran were NOT the worst team in the tournament. And even if they were, it doesn't change the fact that they defended heavily for 90+ minutes, making it difficult to break down. In fact, if you weren't so biased, you'd see that it took 90 minutes for a team full of superstars to break down Iran, through a moment of magic from messi. Yet you degrade that accomplishment, and then proceed to say that Higuain, Palacio, and Aguero are a good supporting cast

[Doc]

Rubbish.

Champions League during a WC year is exactly what it is every God damn year: the greatest club competition in the world. Try not to diminish the man's efforts because someone decided to "take it easy" during the season for WC preparations.

[FennecFox7]

Ronaldo played the WC with a screwed up pataller tendon and hamstring tendonitis,

And who's fault is that? He exerted all his energy for the champions league and didn't save anything for the world cup. That's why he was so shit/injured for portugal. I've been saying this for months. The Champions league in a world cup year means very little. The CL final is like 2 weeks before the World cup!!!!! Just think about it.

Ronaldo sacrificed his WC for the CL, while Messi did the opposite.

Messi scored against the worst team in the tournament, iran. Granted nigeria are a good team, but messi didn't do anything in the knockout stages. His overall play was shocking, despite having a team with higuain, palacio, aguero, and di maria built around him, he turned over the ball countless times. The defense got them to the final. Mascherano is a worthy candidate but we know that people don't rate defenders

Lol this is a terrible argument and it shows you're just clutching at straws. Iran were NOT the worst team in the tournament. And even if they were, it doesn't change the fact that they defended heavily for 90+ minutes, making it difficult to break down. In fact, if you weren't so biased, you'd see that it took 90 minutes for a team full of superstars to break down Iran, through a moment of magic from messi. Yet you degrade that accomplishment, and then proceed to say that Higuain, Palacio, and Aguero are a good supporting cast

The team is built around messi. everything starts and finishes with him. his high amount of turnovers hurt the team in the world cup
Higuain, palacio, and aguero are TOP players, if you can't see that, don't talk to me.

Iran is complete and utter shite. Most of those players have no business being near a world cup. I saw the whole game. The amount of chances he missed was ridiculous.

Do NOT tell me messi "saved" himself for the world cup. after a few games it was obvious he was burned out he was lazy for barca last year and every fan in that section was saying so

[FennecFox7]

also all of ronaldo's coaches said he was fit the only one who disagreed was some random friend who talked to the papers which tbh i wouldn't blame him after watching his buddy play that crappy.

Do you really think Ronaldo was fit during the WC ? I don't say that he had a good world cup, but there is now way he was fit. I saw Ronaldo having bad games, but I've never seen him incapable of running.

i do not know if he was fit or not.
what i do know is the coaches that he saw every day said he was
its a matter of who you wanna believe
his friend who will never say anything bad about him or the people who actually know..

I just gave you two sources saying otherwise. Why are you lying? I know ronaldo said himself that he was fine. Just because he "felt" fine doesnt mean he was. Tendonitis often stays and lingers during periods of inactivity

[Winter is Coming]

The Argentina team wasn't built around Messi, please stop talking rubbish. Their defence was their strongest asset hence the team was built for that when they switched out of the 4-4-2 formation in the final Germany got the better of them, so how the hell does that make it built around Messi is beyond me.

For Messi to even get the ball he had to drop further back. Did you not read the quotes I provided, it pretty much debunks your claim that Argentina was built for Messi.

[Pip]

Tendinosis was clearly the reason for this. Poor Cristiano, since his team is so bad he probably created all these clear-cut chances himself. It's a shame his tendinosis was so severe that he could only score one goal. If he converted those chances, Portugal would have made it out of their group. It's all Postiga's fault.

[Pip]

Loads of chances the usa midfield dominated portugals. Let me repeat that.

The USA's midfield dominated portugals

Tendonitis doesn't just disappear.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/cristiano-ronaldo/10911138/Cristiano-Ronaldos-World-Cup-could-be-over-after-knee-injury-flares-up-ahead-of-Portugals-clash-against-USA.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2648203/Cristiano-Ronaldo-nursing-two-injuries-ahead-World-Cup-Portugal-star-remains-doubt.html

Take a sports medicine class and talk to me donuts

You might want to get the injury's name right before you tell someone else to take a sports medicine class.

[Be/\/ceCALI]

You might want to get the injury's name right before you tell someone else to take a sports medicine class.  

I always laugh at how big of a mouth he has when he posts; calling people idiots all the time, and now this gem, telling Donuts to "take a sports medicine class".. like Donuts needs to do that before he is qualified to voice his opinion or something.. hilarious. Maybe it wouldn't be so funny if he was actually a good poster.

This dude's head is always so far up Cristiano's ass that I'm surprised he's even able to use a keyboard to type.. but I guess once in a while he does need to come out to breathe some fresh air.

That being said, nothing new to add that hasn't already been talked about really. Ronaldo's WC was shit. No debating that - we don't need an explanation constantly on WHY it was shit, or WHY he didn't perform, or downplaying his teammates' abilities with ridiculous exaggerations (because Bruno Alves, Pepe, Coentrao, Moutinho, Nani, Meireles etc are all pub level players that mighty Cristiano had to carry all on his own, right?.. please..) CR had a shit WC by his standards and the standards we hold for a player with his abilities and status. That's a fact. CR himself would probably acknowledge that.

Also, at calling Iran "complete and utter shite" and "by far the worst team in the WC".. Cameroon was BY FAR the worst team in the WC, anyone with eyes should've seen that. Iran are a tough team to break down and were defending well. That's when a big player on the big stage changed the game with a big moment, as a superstar should and is expected to.

Higuain, palacio, and aguero are TOP players, if you can't see that, don't talk to me.

Yep- top players, all of whom had a terrible WC (just like CR) and were pretty much useless throughout the whole tournament. "Don't talk to me" classic.. how cute. Don't flatter yourself, bro. I don't think many people WANT to talk to you, it's just that every time CR is mentioned in a discussion somewhere, somehow you're first to heed the call and defend him by attacking other posters who don't agree with you. it's ok, child, one day you'll wisen up and learn to be civil

[rwo power]

People, please stay civilized. It's XMas time ^^

[_LMG_10_]

Higuain, palacio, and aguero are TOP players, if you can't see that, don't talk to me.

Yep, top top players. what a huge contribution by those 3.

[farfan]

" Higuain has always been clutch " _ hala

[Freeza]

Kaka was also healthy in 2010

[LeVersacci]

When is the date for this again?

[Wor Ayoze]

fit or not , portugal was garbage and ronaldo shouldn't be hed responsible for their shortcomings .

blaming ronaldo for " flopping " in the WC is like blaming Bale for failing to qualify wales to the WC.

ok Portugal is not wales, but still ...

They would have got through if Ronaldo had put away some of his many chances in their last game

[Wor Ayoze]

Tendinosis was clearly the reason for this. Poor Cristiano, since his team is so bad he probably created all these clear-cut chances himself. It's a shame his tendinosis was so severe that he could only score one goal. If he converted those chances, Portugal would have made it out of their group. It's all Postiga's fault.

Nah mate can't be Ronaldo's fault, must be some kind of mistake from those 10 other amateurs he was playing with. And people acting as if it was an impossible task for Portugal to get ahead of USA and Ghana in the group They nearly got to the final of Euro 2012 ffs

[izzy]

I can't wait to see CR7 win this award.

Lets see if the rest of the world thinks a decent World Cup eclipses a stellar season.

[BarrileteCosmico]

The hypocrisy of people defending Ronaldo for playing injured but criticizing Agüero and Higuain who were just as fit as him

[chad4401]

higuain was injured? i know about aguero and cr

[BarrileteCosmico]

Yeah he got injured a month before the WC and was still recovering from injury during the WC. Still, no excuse for missing that goal in the final...

[guest_07]

Tendinosis was clearly the reason for this. Poor Cristiano, since his team is so bad he probably created all these clear-cut chances himself. It's a shame his tendinosis was so severe that he could only score one goal. If he converted those chances, Portugal would have made it out of their group. It's all Postiga's fault.

Nah mate can't be Ronaldo's fault, must be some kind of mistake from those 10 other amateurs he was playing with. And people acting as if it was an impossible task for Portugal to get ahead of USA and Ghana in the group They nearly got to the final of Euro 2012 ffs

how dare you compare portugal with ghana & usa

both of them are 1 or 2 level above portugal

cronaldo had a reasonable excuse not to shine in the wc

[Harmonica]

Xavi rubbishes Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or bid: He wouldn't even be in my top three

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1785/fi...on-dor-bid-he-wouldnt-even-be-in?ICID=HP_TS_2

"He didn't do much in the World Cup, and in a World Cup year, the season is defined by that," the former Spain international said of Ronaldo in an interview with Sport.

"[In first place I would have] Leo, second Philipp Lahm, and third Javier Mascherano."

Glad to see there is still someone who appreciates football.

My top three based on full calendar year, statistics, big games and importance.

2014 Ballon d'Or

1. Messi
2. Neuer
3. Benzema

[FalcaoPunch]

Gosh people are so butthurt about Ronaldo having a chance to win it.

We bring up the World Cup and how Ronaldo flopped. Anyone remember Argentina's thrashing by Germany in 2010? Or that bs goal against Mexico?

Messi was a joke that WC and still won it.

[Valkyrja]

Gosh people are so butthurt about Ronaldo having a chance to win it.

We bring up the World Cup and how Ronaldo flopped. Anyone remember Argentina's thrashing by Germany in 2010? Or that bs goal against Mexico?

Messi was a joke that WC and still won it.

and he didn't win CL that year

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