Ballon D’Or and TOTY Reactions
With Cristiano Ronaldo winning his third Ballon d’Or on Monday, the duo of Ronaldo and Messi has won all seven of the last editions of the award. This sort of dominance is incredible in this day and age, where there are so many talented players. When you think about the incredible year Arjen Robben had, both at the World Cup and with Bayern Munich, it is a real testament to Ronaldo, Messi, and Neuer that he was not on the three-man shortlist for the award. All in all, though, there can be no doubt that 2014 belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo, and his incredible goal-scoring ratio proves that. Despite his shaky World Cup, Ronaldo had the best season of his career and deservedly won the Ballon d’Or.
The Team of the Year, on the other hand, is a bit more controversial. Starting out with the keeper, Neuer had an amazing year in 2014 and was a key reason Germany were able to secure the World Cup, and despite the breakout seasons for David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois, there can be no other man than Neuer in net. Philippe Lahm as the right-back, much like Neuer, is undisputed. For the last decade there has not been a smarter player to play the position, and he guaranteed his position by captaining Germany to the World Cup title. Sergio Ramos put in a fantastic shift this past year for Real Madrid, and controlled opposition strikers en route to the Champions League title.
Now let’s look at the controversial decisions in defense with Thiago Silva and David Luiz. There is no doubting Thiago Silva’s importance to the Brazilian squad, as his Brazilian teammates lost in embarrassing fashion to Germany 7-1 in the World Cup semifinals when he was suspended. David Luiz, making his inclusion all the more surprising, captained the Brazilian team on that day. Furthermore, when both played together one final time in the World Cup, against Holland in the 3rd place playoff they lost again, 3-0. Even though Silva had a decent season, there have been much better center backs this year. My personal choices would have been Diego Godin and Jerome Boateng substituted in for Silva and Luiz.
In midfield, the three nominees were Toni Kroos, Angel di Maria and Andres Iniesta. Kroos and di Maria were included for obvious reasons, and in my opinion, fully deserve their spots on the team. Kroos won DFB player of the year, and when you win player of the year for the World Cup-winning squad, you will be included in the Team of the Year. Di Maria had an amazing year for Real Madrid and continued his form at Manchester United racking up 6 assists in just 12 games before his injury. He also helped Argentina reach the World Cup final, and Real Madrid win the Champions League. Iniesta, on the other hand, did not have anywhere close to as good of a season as either of the previous two. He did not win any trophies, and was one of the big disappointments of the 2014 World Cup. This season for Barcelona he has just 3 assists, and has an average match rating of 7.08, which is decent but not TOTY worthy. In his place, I would insert Yaya Touré or Eden Hazard, both of whom thrived for their clubs in the Barclays Premier League.
Lastly, up top, there are no complaints from me. Arjen Robben, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo are easily the three best players in the world-for me-right now and there is no reason anyone should pip them. Sergio Agüero is the only one who even comes remotely close to them, and deserves an honorable mention. Robben lit up the right wing for Bayern while Messi and Ronaldo are just Messi and Ronaldo.
MY TOTY: Neuer; Lahm, Ramos, Boateng, Godin; Hazard, di Maria, Kroos; Robben, Messi, Ronaldo (Ballon d’Or)
by Arjun Balaraman
Soccer Notes 