FIFA’s Controversial 2003 Player Award
I ceased to be fascinated by the FIFA World Player Of The Year award three years ago when Zinedine Zidane, and not Luis Figo was voted best.
I ceased to be fascinated by the FIFA World Player Of The Year award three years ago when Zinedine Zidane, and not Luis Figo was voted best. The following year, Figo, who had been ordinary, won the award. The year he had deserved it, he missed out. When he did not deserve, he won it.
The situation then was not helped by an outlandish FIFA poll to select the century’s best footballer. From that experience, I was not alarmed by the absurd verdict on the world's best player of 2003. It would have been a colossal shock if Thierry Henry, my pick of FIFA’s three candidates, had been crowned. May be he will be favourite next year.
First and fore most, none of the three has done more than Czech star midfielder Pavel Nedved, arguably Europe’s finest player this year. Czech Republic or Juventus, the hard running Nedved has been awesome either side of the summer.
And while Henry’s credentials in 2003, both for club and country, mean he is an automatic choice in a top three list that should have included Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Nedved, I highly doubt if the same could be said of the winner Zinedine Zidane, by far the best player of this generation, and his Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo.
Zidane and Ronaldo were part of the Madrid team humiliated by a Nedved inspired Juventus in the semi-final of this year’s Champions League.
A careless foul in that game saw him suspended for the final in Manchester, where his absence allowed AC Milan to lift the trophy in lottery form after 120 barren minutes.
It is an argument that may never be resolved, but Juventus know the European Cup, and probably the Intercontinental title contested for on Sunday, would be in their cabinet if Nedved had played at Old Trafford.
For country, he guided Czech Republic to automatic qualification for Euro 2004 at the expense of Netherlands.
Madrid might have recovered to snatch the Spanish league title from the jaws of Real Sociedad, with Ronaldo second top scorer behind Dutch striker Roy Makaay, but Juventus, for whom Nedved ran the show, won the title at a canter.
Zidane’s season, by his classic standards, was a quiet one. His only winner’s medal was a Spanish Championship. Coach Jacques Santini preferred to leave him out of the much - vilified Confederations Cup, which was won by France with Henry named the tournament's outstanding player.
Van Nistelrooy’s dazzling of form returned the English premiership trophy to Old Trafford and saved Netherlands from missing out on another big tournament after that shock World Cup failure. The prolific Dutchman finished as Champions League top scorer with a record 12 goals, surpassing his own 10-goal record, en route to scoring a season high 44 goals in all competitions.
A prominent problem in the method employed by FIFA - where national coaches all over the globe cast their votes - is some individuals regularly come up with daft picks.
Coaches from nations like Barbados, Cape Verde Islands, Kazakhstan, Tonga, Cuba and Myanmar get a chance to vote the world’s top player!
Bahamas’ Gary White is convinced Brad Friedel is the best in the world while India’s Stephen Constantine preferred Fernando Morientes as his main man. Fiji’s Esala Masi made the list of Solomon Islands manager Matai Vave. Masi, a alien even for the keenest football follower, is a Fiji striker.
In other instances, some technical brains consistently demonstrate their weakness for big personalities over footballing talent and achievement.
The more glamourous a player, the greater his chances of success.
A David Beckham or Ronaldo would be favoured ahead of a player like Michael Ballack. The decision to award Zidane was not based on such a mindset but rather on the coaches’ inability to show they can weigh and judge.
Spain’s Ignacio Saez Ruez went for Zidane because, like many people elsewhere, he is delighted by the magical skills of the balding Frenchman.
The poll however is not conducted to give a chance to coaches to select their dream players. If that was the case, then Zidane would win the award every year.
AC Milan’s Gennaro Gattuso blasted the award and was bemused by the decision of the coach of Caribbean islands Turks and Caicos to vote for him ahead Nedved. Said Gattuso, “If the prize is going to be handed out solely on the basis of talent, then Diego Maradona should have won it every single year he was playing.â€
Germany’s Rudi Voeller was astute in going for Nedved. So was Brazil’s Parreria for Nistelrooy and France’s Jacques Santini for Maldini.
I wonder what other type of football Henry should have played to be recognised by FIFA.
Not until FIFA abandons the current system shall the world body select a perfect shortlist, and vote a worthy winner with minimal controversy.
marknaman@yahoo.com
The situation then was not helped by an outlandish FIFA poll to select the century’s best footballer. From that experience, I was not alarmed by the absurd verdict on the world's best player of 2003. It would have been a colossal shock if Thierry Henry, my pick of FIFA’s three candidates, had been crowned. May be he will be favourite next year.
First and fore most, none of the three has done more than Czech star midfielder Pavel Nedved, arguably Europe’s finest player this year. Czech Republic or Juventus, the hard running Nedved has been awesome either side of the summer.
And while Henry’s credentials in 2003, both for club and country, mean he is an automatic choice in a top three list that should have included Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Nedved, I highly doubt if the same could be said of the winner Zinedine Zidane, by far the best player of this generation, and his Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo.
Zidane and Ronaldo were part of the Madrid team humiliated by a Nedved inspired Juventus in the semi-final of this year’s Champions League.
A careless foul in that game saw him suspended for the final in Manchester, where his absence allowed AC Milan to lift the trophy in lottery form after 120 barren minutes.
It is an argument that may never be resolved, but Juventus know the European Cup, and probably the Intercontinental title contested for on Sunday, would be in their cabinet if Nedved had played at Old Trafford.
For country, he guided Czech Republic to automatic qualification for Euro 2004 at the expense of Netherlands.
Madrid might have recovered to snatch the Spanish league title from the jaws of Real Sociedad, with Ronaldo second top scorer behind Dutch striker Roy Makaay, but Juventus, for whom Nedved ran the show, won the title at a canter.
Zidane’s season, by his classic standards, was a quiet one. His only winner’s medal was a Spanish Championship. Coach Jacques Santini preferred to leave him out of the much - vilified Confederations Cup, which was won by France with Henry named the tournament's outstanding player.
Van Nistelrooy’s dazzling of form returned the English premiership trophy to Old Trafford and saved Netherlands from missing out on another big tournament after that shock World Cup failure. The prolific Dutchman finished as Champions League top scorer with a record 12 goals, surpassing his own 10-goal record, en route to scoring a season high 44 goals in all competitions.
A prominent problem in the method employed by FIFA - where national coaches all over the globe cast their votes - is some individuals regularly come up with daft picks.
Coaches from nations like Barbados, Cape Verde Islands, Kazakhstan, Tonga, Cuba and Myanmar get a chance to vote the world’s top player!
Bahamas’ Gary White is convinced Brad Friedel is the best in the world while India’s Stephen Constantine preferred Fernando Morientes as his main man. Fiji’s Esala Masi made the list of Solomon Islands manager Matai Vave. Masi, a alien even for the keenest football follower, is a Fiji striker.
In other instances, some technical brains consistently demonstrate their weakness for big personalities over footballing talent and achievement.
The more glamourous a player, the greater his chances of success.
A David Beckham or Ronaldo would be favoured ahead of a player like Michael Ballack. The decision to award Zidane was not based on such a mindset but rather on the coaches’ inability to show they can weigh and judge.
Spain’s Ignacio Saez Ruez went for Zidane because, like many people elsewhere, he is delighted by the magical skills of the balding Frenchman.
The poll however is not conducted to give a chance to coaches to select their dream players. If that was the case, then Zidane would win the award every year.
AC Milan’s Gennaro Gattuso blasted the award and was bemused by the decision of the coach of Caribbean islands Turks and Caicos to vote for him ahead Nedved. Said Gattuso, “If the prize is going to be handed out solely on the basis of talent, then Diego Maradona should have won it every single year he was playing.â€
Germany’s Rudi Voeller was astute in going for Nedved. So was Brazil’s Parreria for Nistelrooy and France’s Jacques Santini for Maldini.
I wonder what other type of football Henry should have played to be recognised by FIFA.
Not until FIFA abandons the current system shall the world body select a perfect shortlist, and vote a worthy winner with minimal controversy.
marknaman@yahoo.com