The Golden Ball or Golden Blunder

                                    

With millions of fans entering hibernation for another 4 years, us fanatics are in a familiar waiting period of constant speculation on clubs wheeling and dealings before the start of their respective pre-season tours. The World Cup, as promised boasted goals, amazing saves, drama and moments of tactical genius that we all longed for. But as the final whistle blew and we thought it was all over, we were treated to yet another debatable topic, the Golden Ball award, reserved for the player who performed the best throughout the Cup, was gifted to arguably the greatest player the sport has ever seen.

Whats wrong with this you might ask? Only that by and large the footballing world believes that he does not deserve this award, for his displays throughout the competition, namely the group stage format. Countless calls of "rigging" or "scandal" rang out as he was presented with the award, with almost a handful of more deserving candidates standing only a matter of meters away. The ruthless, and disciplined Germans watched on as the Messiah collected the award, and maybe a few felt they were more deserving. Facebook seemed the outlet for most of the frustration however, as my news feed turned into a who's who of football experts chiming in with their vote for who should have received the award. Claims of Tim Howard due to one spectacular game in particular surprisingly seen in a few posts had my head in my hands within seconds. With the outlandish suggestions brought forward, it had me wondering really if anybody really watched the performance of Messi in this World Cup, or did they just go to watch matches with friends while drinking beers and small talking while paying attention only to the "exciting or attacking" moments within each game.

We collectively have been blessed to witness in our lifetime arguably two of the greatest footballers there has ever been, in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (had to put him in there guys). In my opinion, it is this blessing which has cursed us. Have we become ungrateful or desensitized to the simple intricacies involved in Lionel Messi's football ability? Has his past proficiency in front of goal made us expect so much more on the Worlds greatest stage? Have we overlooked what a player is to a team, and sacrifice one makes for the progression of said team? I watched this World Cup mostly in the comfort of my home, and in the office, missing only one or two matches which could not be helped, choosing the simple silence over constant banter during the game so as to study the positioning of players, the role they played and formations used.
                            
This allowed me to witness the brilliance of players many would overlook in favor of those who steal the limelight due to a quick dribble or brilliant finish that they didn't expect. James Rodriguez for example who scored amazing goals, and earned the Golden Boot award for his 5 goals scored in the tournament can be used as an example. To many football fans, he is no newcomer and his talents have been known, but not the extent he displayed at the Cup. Only becoming a starter at Porto with the departure of Falcao, Hulk and Guarin, Rodriguez developed into quite a footballer, commanding a transfer fee of 40 Million Euros to move to Monaco. The fact that his performance was so unexpected, led many football fan to overlook his instances of failure, or disappearance from a game, in favor of his positives throughout. A luxury not afforded to the great Lionel Messi, who although scored 4 goals and provided a crucial assist has been criticized widely for his absence or lack of "influence" in the 7 games he played 90 minutes of in the Cup.

Football fans, myself included, have always held the notion that until he can win a World Cup, Messi will always be in the shadow of Diego Maradona. A player with the same physique, ability and talent of the same country, with the same aura and menacing dribbling technique, only 2  decades before, who was able to carry his nation to successive World Cup finals lifting it on one occasion, almost single handedly. It is this image, this notion that we expected such greatness from Messi that we overlooked his abilities on the pitch. Maradona showed just what a World Cup trophy can accomplish.. Instant Glory, and the power to have  indiscretions and poor performances overlooked, due to the blinding light of the trophy's golden rays. Nobody ever makes mention of the poor 1990 performance, and his doping allegations, with the only memory fans seem to remember is his Hand of God, or slalom run against England.

For my money, maybe the award should have gone to players such as Manuel Neuer, Phillip Lahm, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez or even Javier Mascherano. The choice to give Messi however, was not totally unfounded and in my opinion should not have been met with such uproar and immediate disagreement. Stats don't lie, and they also dont measure a players influence. Without Messi would Argentina have reached the final? Without his driving runs in the group stage, (which salvaged points for his team when needed), without him pulling 3 or 4 defenders at a time and hold them off long enough to feed the likes of Angel Di Maria, would Argentina have made the final? Did anyone take notice of this or was it just the norm, what we have come to expect from Messi? Is it because Argentina had what many would describe as an easy route to the final that his goals and displays not be counted? Is this why it came as such a surprise to many that he won the award?

Messi dropped deeper than we have seen him in recent years, sacrificed himself on numerous occasions and strove for collective glory of his teammates rather than individual, which by all accounts could have been so easy. As Jose Mourinho pointed out, it would have been easy for him to play a Robben role or a Muller role and stay up top waiting to receive and then dazzle on the counter, without helping in defense and he would have done this twice as effectively as Robben if he did, but this was not the case. Messi performed a duty, knowing that his midfield could not create as well as they should, and knowing that their defense was not as strong as most others, dropped deep, and became a play maker, a work horse, an outlet for his defenders to confidently pass to.

He single-handedly inspired and drove when given the opportunity as we have come to expect him to. Truly a person who "Carried" his team and inspired his nation once again to believe.

As pointed out by a truly amazing article that I read yesterday by Jen Evelyn, football fans of my age and younger only have the highlight reels of Maradona or Pele which highlight their greatness, and never show their mistakes, whereas Messi's are there plain for all to see every week over 60 times a year, and it is for this that Messi has lost in my opinion some of his God Like appeal today, which seemingly will only be regained once he has left the sport.

Messi had a great world cup by footballing standards, and a poor world cup by Messi standards, and it is for this reason many cannot accept that he deserved the award, myself included. But it is only by truly understanding the pressures he had, the simplicity with which he played, and the sacrifice he offered that we can truly appreciate his awarding or even nomination for the award. Again, his humility in defeat, and strength in not shedding a tear, which seems to be the new trend/embodiment of passion in the sport showed me a true great, a man whose disappointment at his falling at the last hurdle was highlighted tenfold by his sad demeanor rather than a decision to shed tears on the ground being consoled by teammates as so many players opt to do nowadays. As he made the long, lonely and unwanted journey up the stairs of the Maracana to receive the award, walking past the World Cup trophy on his way, Lionel would be the first person to tell you that maybe he did not deserve it, and should have been given to another on the same field that night. Such is the class of the Messiah.

 Im not trying to convince or agree that he deserved the award, (as many friends know I am not a Messi Fan per say #CR7) but merely putting into perspective, that he was definitely justified in contention for the award, and by his subtleties in his displays, deserves recognition as such.

WORLD CUP TALKING POINTS

Only an event such as the World Cup can spark the necessary encouragement for me, to once again dabble in journalism to convey my thoughts on the hot topics of the day. We have so far bore witness to what many 20 to 30 somethings have described as the "best world cup they have seen so far" due much in part to the free flowing attacking football we witnessed in the group stage, as well as handful of match winning performances from close to 7 different goalkeepers. No doubt that we have seen some truly amazing goals thus far, namely Tim Cahill's volley, Robin Van Persie's flying header an James Rodriguez's chest control swivel and volley, yet the performances and subsequent saves we have witnessed from the goalkeepers has been rivaled in numbers only by the number of "bandwagonists" for Brazil.

There are however a couple of talking points in this world cup which I felt the need to analyze and voice my opinion a bit for those "new found" football fans who have successfully decreased my social media time due to my attempts to avoid reading the "various expert" opinions and post game analysis, which seek to raise my blood pressure to a dangerous level of instability. I of course am no expert myself, but do think my credibility is a bit higher than those who tune in to watch a few games every 4 years. I apologize in advance for grammatical errors as I have not written an article such as this in a little over two years.

Last Gasp Sam-aras and the "supression" of African Teams

The injury time decision by referee Vera of Ecuador was met my opposition by scores of "football fans" who at first glance felt Georgios had play acted in the dying stages to earn the spot kick. The unlucky culprit was Giovanni Sio who made a lazy attempt to throw Samaras off his shot by placing his leg in the path of Samaras's strike (clear goal-scoring opportunity) causing the striker to clip his own leg an subsequently fall down with claims of a foul. Rightly so, as being a striker myself, would have claimed the same as Sio made no attempt to play the ball, and caught the Greek on his swing, a foul anywhere on the pitch.

I have linked this incident, as seen in the title to claims in the aftermath of the incident to the continued suppression of African teams by FIFA and their referee's due to the matter of "race". I don't think I need to touch too much into this, as this is obviously a touchy subject for some, but in my humble opinion it is unfair to blame the continuous shortcomings of the African teams on the world stage on the refs and FIFA. Reference to the Suarez handball against Ghana came up to my surprise. Said incident was dealt with correctly, as a penalty was given, player was red carded and banned, and Ghana's fate was left in their own hands. Not much more could have been done within the rules of the game and although unfortunate for the Ghanaians and in the current world cup, the Ivory Coast no true football fan can blame FIFA for the non progression of African teams. I myself can cast blame on the inexperience (lazy extra time tackle in the box), infighting within the teams (namely Cameroon and Ghana) and various Football federations and the desire for most players of these teams to showcase their individual performance for hopes of being offered contracts at bigger clubs rather than work as a team, to me are the main reasons we have yet to bear witness to an African team in the final.
(I would like to point out this holds true for many teams, and is not limited to just African teams, however in my opinion aided in the downfall and poor performance of Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast.)

Rise of Concacaf Pedigree
 Costa Rica, Mexico and USA have shown the World that Concacaf teams are no longer to be considered the "beat up on" teams in the groups. The surprise package of the tournament, Costa Rica, who managed to beat the odds and top the group which held the likes of Uruaguay, England and Italy, all previous World Cup Winners, and surge to the Quater Finals losing on penalties, only sought to strengthen the rise in ability of Concacaf nations, and seemingly brought a sense of "unity" among the supporters from the region. I found myself cheering on the likes of Mexico and Costa Rica who I normally would not wish to see progress due to rivalry with my own Nation of Trinidad. I however had mixed emotions with the USA as they are a team I really never had a fondness for but had to concede after their dramatic loss to Belgium that  they did the region proud and have grown into a world force not to be taken lightly.

Water Breaks, shaving cream technology and the officials

Many football fans, myself included have been against the institution of the "water-break" imposed for certain matches in this years World Cup. Rightly so, as football has been played for over 100 years, in conditions exactly as what is being experience in Brazil and has survived without the need for additional water breaks just before the half time period. However, although not a fan of it, I do understand the need for it, as the temperatures partnered with the humidity levels for the matches it was used in saw a risk of dangerous levels of dehydration and fatigue for those players not accustomed to the climate in Brazil. If a player suffered a heat stroke on the field during a match we would all be screaming that the there should have been measures in place to assist and ensure the players physical safety. Many persons have argued that this water break serves to give an advantage for the European teams who are not accustomed to the climate, however this is not the case. The same opportunity has been given to the other team in the match, much in the same way in cold climates, players are allowed to wear long sleeves, gloves, beanies if need be. To me, if water breaks are to be taken away in such conditions, then why not ban the use of gloves and thermal clothing. food for thought.

On that note however, we have seen the successful and welcome use of the "shaving cream" or magic foam and goal line technology which has benefited the game greatly. Change sometimes is good for the sport.

The Neymar assassination

 Or so Social media would make it seem, with posts of such passion at the loss of Neymar through injury has had me searching to find out if his career had somehow been cut short by a very common knee to the back. Obviously Neymar is the darling of Brazil, and with 97% of Trinidadians adopting Brazil as their second nationality for the month long tournament his loss came as a shock, and was met with anger and despair. It truly is a loss for the football community, as we will not be able to see him showcase his talents for the remainder of the tournament, and obviously no one im sure wished that he would be ruled out in such cruel fashion, however the witch hunt underway for Zuniga (the offender) I believe is overboard and unwarranted. Maybe Zuniga's challenge was a little more intentional than he let on, but by no means do I think he truly meant to damage Neymar to that extent. As such, tackles 10 times worse, and 100 times more intentional happen every game and is no surprise to the regular football viewer. Many of these incidents are met with little to no punishment and this incident to me should not be treated differently just because its Neymar. apparent investigations by FIFA into the incident are unwarranted, and unfair due to the thousands of worse challenges that take place every season.That being said, hope he gets well as he is definitely going to be one of the greatest players ever to wear the Brazil strip.

Caravans, Wagons and Buses
In closing, I must applaud the new levels of wagon-ism witnessed during this World Cup where I have seen with my own eyes Portuguese supporters of 4 years ago, donning the blue of Italy at the start of the tournament, and subsequently changing to the orange of Holland halfway through. I have witnessed avid Barcelona and Spain fans who claim to have supported "since birth" become quiet for a day or two with the elimination of their beloved team, before emerging wearing the yellow of Brazil whilst name dropping players of old who they may have heard pop up in conversation to prove they are true fans.
Nothing wrong with this of course, and I may receive some stick and comments asking whats wrong with supporting a team that is likely to win, and the fact of the matter nothing is. Whats wrong is when these "fans" claim to be supporting for years, and drop wikipedia searched facts in an attempt to highlight their "knowledge" and true patriotism for their club/country.

All in all, a long ramble yes, but just shed some light on some of the hot topics of debate, and put in my two cents for the purpose of debate and friendly banter.