Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Messi, Iniesta and the 2012 FIFA ideal eleven


Is Messi just too good, or is La Liga too easy for him? …or is it the toughest league in the world? I started wondering this after Messi won his 4th consecutive Ballon D’Ors and, especially, after the ideal eleven starters on one team came all out of Real Madrid and Barcelona, except for Colombian Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid.
Who decided this? I do not understand these votes. Do the ideal eleven players really play in La Liga? Whatever happened to players like Robin Van Persie, Andrea Pirlo, Drogba, Yaya Toure, Ibrahimovic, Thomas Muller, Ribery, David Silva, among others?
I think this has a lot to do with La Liga being the most watched soccer league in the planet, which proves that marketing is a very powerful tool. Unfair to soccer players, fans and viewers, but true.
Another factor to add to this is that ten of the last twelve Ballon D’Ors recipients have come out of La Liga.
Honestly, I do not have a problem with Messi winning the award, as he is clearly the best soccer player in the world. He shows this week in and week out. His skills and ability with the ball are unbelievable and no one compares to him. However, I think this year it was Andres Iniesta’s turn to take this award home. No, he did not score 90+ goals like Messi did, but what he did do was (like he does  every season) be the playmaker of his club team Barcelona FC and national team Spain. He actually won the 2012 Euro Cup with Spain, while Messi did not win anything in 2012 with Argentina.Iniesta is not only the brain of Barca and Spain, but also one of the best distributors of the ball in the world. His creativity in small spaces and ability to see the field out wide and find hidden gaps to make through passes make him a lethal weapon on any given match.
Who knows? Maybe Messi without Iniesta would have not performed as well as he did in 2012, but that goes the other way around too, because an assist to be accounted for, it must be finished.
This would be my ideal eleven, what would yours be?
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart (ManCity).
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG), Vincent Kompany (ManCity), Marcelo (Real Madrid).
Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) , Yaya Toure (ManCity), Andres Iniesta (Barca).
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barca), Robin Van Persie (ManU), Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
P.S. Yeah, CR7 is not on my list because I do not like drama queens.

Ronaldo's face (left) when Messi (right) is receiving his 4th consecutive Ballon D'Ors
 

No comments:

Post a Comment