Filed under: FIFA World Cup, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Uruguay
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The MVP award seems to be an American invention, and the rest of the world clearly is still getting the hang of the idea. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, instituted its player-of-the-year award less than 20 years ago, and there’s been an official World Cup honor– the Golden Ball — since 1982. In those seven World Cups, the media selected to vote for the award has gotten it wrong more often than not. Especially recently.
In 1998, Brazil’s Ronaldo won it despite being outscored by three other players in the competition, having an awful final and not being France’s Zinedine Zidane or Lilian Thuram, both of whom played at a historically outstanding level as Les Bleus won the Cup. Four years later, karma came back to bite the bucktoothed Brazilian as German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn scooped up the trophy. Ronaldo scored eight goals, the most in a World Cup since 1974, including two against Kahn in the final.
The voters screwed it up again in 2006, giving the award to Zidane largely based on his performance against Brazil in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Italy’s Andrea Pirlo was that good in every game, masterfully pulling the strings in the Azzurri midfield and having a hand (or foot) in just about every key play for the champions.
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Mon, Jul 5, 2010
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