FIFA World Cup 2014 !

[Storm]

ok, I will bite

winning goal in group phase game 1
winning goal (in injury time!) vs Iran in game 2
2 goals vs Nigeria
topping the group and getting easier team in rd 2 because of this.,
rd of 16, pass for the match winning goal.
QF - good game vs Belgium
SF - quiet game compared to earlier matches but still crucial first penalty in shoot-out
Final - ok game, 1/2 great passes but not finished and missed a couple of chances as well.

What else was he supposed to do? Yes I know he has done much more for his club, but it was not to be for his national team...who else would you choose? Please do not say Robben or even worse....Muller!

[steveaki13]

Btw please someone explain me, what Messi did, to get FIFA WC player award

I'm a big Messi fan, but he did not deserve the award.

Mind you Forlan in 2010 got 5 goals but only finished 4th and Zidane in 2006 after 3 goals (2 Pens) and headbutting someone in the Final.

So its not unusual for someone to win it who was not the best player.

I personally think Rodriguez should have got it. 5 games, scored in all 5 and scored 6 goals and 2 assists and probably got the best goal of the tournament.

[gadjo_dilo]

ok, I will bite

winning goal in group phase game 1
winning goal (in injury time!) vs Iran in game 2
2 goals vs Nigeria
topping the group and getting easier team in rd 2 because of this.,
rd of 16, pass for the match winning goal.
QF - good game vs Belgium
SF - quiet game compared to earlier matches but still crucial first penalty in shoot-out
Final - ok game, 1/2 great passes but not finished and missed a couple of chances as well.

What else was he supposed to do? Yes I know he has done much more for his club, but it was not to be for his national team...who else would you choose? Please do not say Robben or even worse....Muller!

Ok, I'll not say Robben but the Diver. He did more than Messi. Not to mention he played two sports -football and diving-in one

[steveaki13]

ok, I will bite

winning goal in group phase game 1
winning goal (in injury time!) vs Iran in game 2
2 goals vs Nigeria
topping the group and getting easier team in rd 2 because of this.,
rd of 16, pass for the match winning goal.
QF - good game vs Belgium
SF - quiet game compared to earlier matches but still crucial first penalty in shoot-out
Final - ok game, 1/2 great passes but not finished and missed a couple of chances as well.

What else was he supposed to do? Yes I know he has done much more for his club, but it was not to be for his national team...who else would you choose? Please do not say Robben or even worse....Muller!

I agree Storm.

Let me go through some stuff.

Messi played a good tournament. AS you point out he was key until his quiet game v Netherlands. I am sure in the final he picked up a niggle.

Generally Messi gets too much grief. People expect the insane performance levels of 2010-2012 for Barca, but thats not on. He is truthfully not at that level anymore or at the moment and yet people act as though he is a disgrace. Where as most players would be happy with that world cup.

Also he has been under immense pressure for 4 years, he has been looked at by all Barca & Argentina fans as the player who no matter how bad the team is should win each game single handed. Thats just impossible. He is not a God.

All in all people are slagging Messi off, but why cant they leave him alone. He is a great player that is not in his best condition or form at the moment.


Plus he appears ill in some way. Vomitting every match and lacking any great fitness. I personally think he is just running on emotional, mental and physical empty.

Lets hope he feels better and finds his very best form again. I love the guy and think he actually did pretty well considering his form.

All this comparing to Maradonna is BS. You cannot compare players of different times and people seem to bash him with that rather than enjoy his career.

[gadjo_dilo]

Steve you're right but he was just average, why was he considered the player of the tournament? Last night he ran and passed less than any of his colleagues. He played ok in the group but it was against Iran. Nigeria and Bosnia, hardly football superpowers.
After 20 years nobody will remember this WC as the WC of Messi. But people still remember that the WC 82 was of Paolo Rossi, 86 of Maradona, 70 of Pele, 78 of Kempes, etc.

[steveaki13]

Steve you're right but he was just average, why was he considered the player of the tournament? Last night he ran and passed less than any of his colleagues. He played ok in the group but it was against Iran. Nigeria and Bosnia, hardly football superpowers.
After 20 years nobody will remember this WC as the WC of Messi. But people still remember that the WC 82 was of Paolo Rossi, 86 of Maradona, 70 of Pele, 78 of Kempes, etc.

I know he wasn't player of the tournament that was wrong IMO too.

However Messi is just in poor form. There's nothing that can be done. People shouldn't say he has never been very good. Thats just a lie. When he was at his peak in 2009-2012 he was unbelievable.

Yet people seem to forget that because he was in a dip in form for 2 crucial games. That doesn't undo what he has achieved as a player.

[pino]

Messi got the award because he's Messi and play for Barca. Rodriquez deserved more period.

[janneppi]

IMO, Neuer should been warded the best player, or atleast been nominated. Rodriquez maybe for best striker.

[steveaki13]

Messi got the award because he's Messi and play for Barca. Rodriquez deserved more period.

thats what I said, but so many seem to blame Messi. Where's the logic. Blame Blatter and his mates.

Not you Pino, just people generally on social media and press seem to pummelling Messi right now. Generally seems to tad unfair. He didnt choose himself as Golden Ball winner and he was in poor form. its one of those things.

It doesn't diminish his previous achievements. but thats what I have seen, people saying "well he was never that good really" and IMO thats nonsense.

[steveaki13]

I know the subject and World Cup is over, but I thought this was a nice piece which says alot in my opinion.

• The great paradox that will unfairly define Lionel Messi
  by Jen Evelyn | Posted on Monday, July 14th, 2014
  
  
  Lionel Messi’s Argentina came closer to a World Cup title on Sunday than they have been in the last 24 years. The only minutes they were behind in the tournament were the seven minutes after Mario Götze’s goal at extra time, in the final. The sight of Messi walking past the World Cup trophy with an empty glare in his eyes will stay in the collective memory of the world of football, and paradoxically, unfairly, define him.
  
  
  Messi didn’t win on Sunday, and the feel remains that he can’t ever really win anyway. In the World Cup, he didn’t fight against any player of his time, not against any team. He fought against a myth.
  
  
  That myth is the great paradox that could end up defining Messi. That myth is called Diego Maradona. With a win in the World Cup, many would have been ready to put Messi to where Maradona is – to the cloud of immortality that time has sweetened.
  
  
  But the reality is that Messi should be there with or without a World Cup. The reason he isn’t, is because the myth he was supposed to match was not of this World.
  
  
  When you think of Maradona, you think of his goal against England. You think of the images of him lifting the World Cup. Even if you never lived in his era, that’s what the world around you has fed you. The idea of a perfect player who won on his own. The idea of the mythical God-figure who never failed. A bit of a rough-edged footballing rockstar who was forgiven for all his flaws because he was and is Maradona.
  
  
  That’s because when we think of Maradona, or Pelé for the matter, we see the icing on the cake, not the entire cake itself. We see the documentaries and highlight-reels of their greatest matches, their greatest goals. We don’t see their failures. Their matches aren’t on the Internet, maybe except for the greatest ones. The historical ones. From Messi, we see everything.
  
  
  In the last years it’s been easier to get bored of Messi’s brilliance because it’s fed to us in larger doses. It’s been fed to us every weekend, and after that, we’ve been able to go back for more, see it all again on the web. With no more than a click.
  
  
  The bad matches are within that click too. The bad matches that Diego Maradona and Pelé played, too, but that the legend doesn’t remember. How many, in the modern day, can say that they saw Maradona as much as they see Messi now? Every weekend, with his club, with his country, throughout the year? Would the legend be different if Maradona lived in Messi’s era? Would the collective memory trace of his career be different, if it contained every single match? Was he ever – as great as his peak was – ever as consistently mind-blowing as Messi at his best has been?
  
  
  And that’s the great paradox of Messi that he will never overcome. We see more of him. We see all of him. All of his goals, all of his solo-goals, all of his countless moments of genius. From Barcelona, and yes, from the international matches too. Because of that, he should be the most celebrated footballer of our time. Those moments – one could argue – put him on par with the corresponding moments of Maradona. I would go as far as saying that Messi has more of those moments than Maradona.
  
  
  But still, in the day and age when we see every single match Messi plays, when we can celebrate his moments of heavenly brilliance over and over again, the collective will judge him by the seven games he played in Brazil. More radically, by the final he played in Rio De Janeiro. The final he lost.
  
  
  Messi is in a place that none of us can really imagine. The media is on his skin like the defender that man-marks him and kicks him a bit too hard, just to kick him again because the man refuses to fall down. Perhaps the greatest and most radical example of the myth is that Messi has faced enormous criticism because he doesn’t run as much as the rest on the pitch. Maradona, on the other hand, used cocaine, and at the end of his career, had quite a belly to show for a wild lifestyle. That only made his legend stronger.
  
  
  That’s why Messi is the most criticized player that has ever touched a football. It doesn’t matter what he does, there’s always a but. Even when he lead his team to the final, there was the “yeah, but”. “He didn’t score in the knockout matches”. As if the collective was already preparing an excuse in case he happened to win. There would still have been a “yeah, but”.
  
  
  And when you look at what Messi has achieved whilst being the most criticized player in the world, it’s mind-boggling. Six La Ligas, three Champions Leagues, two Club World Cups, Olympic Gold, Under-20 World Cup, four Ballons d’Or, three European Golden Shoes. Add to that the goalscoring records, the amount of assists, and he’s achieved more than anyone, except for the one thing that will forever define him: the World Cup.
  
  
  The seven games in the midst of hundreds will define him.
  
  
  When he hangs up his boots one day, or maybe only decades later, we’ll really understand. We’ll live decades, realizing that no one quite matches what he did. Then we’ll look at the Youtube clips and documentaries made of him, and say “goodness, he was amazing. He scored more than anyone. He won more than anyone.” And maybe then the collective will realize that they won’t see a greater player in their lifetime.
  
  
  For what he has done in an era that is organized, largely defensive and more tactical than perhaps in the decades before, Messi is quite possibly the greatest player of all times. But because he failed to replicate a myth, he might never get the place in history that he deserves. And that’s simply unfair, but shouldn’t stop us from celebrating his greatness today.
  
  
  By Jen Evelyn – Follow @JenFCB