FIFA Ballon d'Or 2012 Shortlist

According to Goal.com, the 3 Ballon d'Or finalists will be announced on the 29th of November 2012. Nonetheless, what's the point of having a 23 man shortlist if only 3 make the final list. Some of these footballers know for a fact that they will not be one of the 3 finalists, and that's just sad. Nevertheless, I bet everyone has an idea of what the final list will look like.

In alphabetical order, here's the 23-man shortlist:

Andrea Pirlo

Andrés Iniesta

Cristiano Ronaldo

 Didier Drogba

Gerard Piqué

Gianluigi Buffon

Iker Casillas

Karim Benzema

Lionel Messi

Manuel Neuer

Mario Balotelli

Mesut Özil

Neymar 

Radamel Falcao

Robin van Persie

Sergio Agüero

Sergio Busquets

Sergio Ramos

Wayne Rooney

Xabi Alonso

Xavi Hernández

 Yaya Touré

Zlatan Ibrahimović

I can't help but wonder:

§      Have the 3 finalists of the prestigious award become a cliché?

§      Will we see the same finalists as last year?

§      Will the third finalist be different this time around?

I hope this year will be different because, besides the usual 2 finalists, a few other footballers are making their mark in the world.

According to me, only 8 footballers from this list are worthy of such an honour:

Andrés Iniesta

Iniesta has been a extraordinary in midfield, for both Barcelona and Spain. Iniesta played his part to win Euro 2012 with Spain, and was voted best player of Euro 2012. He shows the same skills for Barcelona as an attacking midfielder, getting himself in front of goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo

As skipper of Portugal, CR7 lead his team from the front, scoring a brace twice for Portugal during Euro 2012, and taking his team to the semi-finals. At Real Madrid, he scored 46 goals and played a major role in helping Real Madrid lift the La Liga title and aid them in their race for the Champions League title which ended in the semi-finals.

Iker Casillas

For the past 10 years, Casillas has been at the top of Spanish football. He has been an exceptional leader, as captain of both Real Madrid and Spain. With him in front of goal, Madrid won La Liga and Spain won Euro 2012.

Lionel Messi

Barcelona only won Copa del Rey this year, however Messi has been scoring goals and breaking records at the same time. He has won Ballon d'Or three times. He's good for Argentina, but not as impressive as he has been for Barcelona. Messi has played an important role in helping Argentina in the South American FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Radamel Falcao

With a nickname like El Tigre, Falcao has proved his worth as a forward for both Athletico Madrid and Colombia. Lately, he's been the only footballer put in the same league as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Falcao has been scoring goals a lot like Ferenc Puskás of Hungary. He's also grabbed the attention of big European clubs who want to sign him during the next transfer window.

Xabi Alonso

Xabi has played a vital role in the success of both Real Madrid and Spain, at midfield. Madrid won La Liga and Spain won Euro 2012. Alonso determines the pace of the game. His outstanding performance was when Spain played against France in the Euro 2012 quarter-final, he scored twice, and it was his 100th cap.

Xavi Hernandez

Xavi has played the most league matches for Barcelona, and won the most titles too. This midfielder has been part of the game for a long time, however, he still has the ability to make Barcelona and Spain win major titles.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimovic ended the 2011/12 season as the top goal scorer of Serie A. He scored 28 goals for AC Milan, before leaving for the French League as a Paris Saint-Germain player. Ibrahimovic was also a key player for Sweden during Euro 2012, with quite a remarkable volley he scored against France. He has been the name on people's lips, a goal scoring machine for both PSG and Sweden.

These statistics and facts sound amazing but after reading this article, Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta or Casillas - The Clasico that decides the 2012 Fifa Ballon d'Or winner, I get the feeling the winner of Ballon d'Or will come from La Liga. I just don't get it. What about all the other leagues; Barclays Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, French League etc?

LUIS SUAREZ

Hand of God? Hand of Devil!

During the 2010 Soccer World Cup Luis Suarez decided to play goalkeeper for Uruguay, against Ghana. This man is multi-talented, he has the ability to transition from striker to goalkeeper within minutes. But I don't understand how, because Fernando Muslera was in front of goal, so Uruguay had two goalkeepers?



In a press conference Suarez said, “The 'Hand of God' now belongs to me. Mine is the real 'Hand Of God'. I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper so it was worth it."

Really? Doesn't this young man know that he cannot go around stealing people's self-acquired titles; he has to find his own. So, not only does he steal Ghana's chance for a goal, he steals identities too!

Since he received a straight red for his act of unfair play, he automatically got a one match ban.

FIFA's Fair Play Code states: "Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure".

Cannibal of Ajax

During his Ajax Amsterdam days, in November 2010, the infamous Luis Suarez bit PSV Eindhoven footballer Otman Bakkal in their Dutch clash. What disturbed me the most, was Suarez' response to the incident.

This is what he had to say ... "No, I do not regret what happened. Normally I always keep calm but I didn't... I'm a little tired. This week I had to travel a lot."

Is this what he expected the media to say ... "It's okay Suarez, you bit Bakkal because you were tired and had travelled a lot ... Maybe we should bite you too because we're tired, we travelled a lot and now we have to sit here and listen to your pathetic excuse for being a cannibal."

Suarez wasn't booked for his cannibal tendencies, but he served a seven match ban for it.

Is Suarez a KKK member?

Suarez strikes again ... This time, it was racist comments towards Patrice Evra after a defensive tackle on the Liverpool striker. Racist words were thrown at the Senegalese French man ... Words I'd rather not repeat because they bring tears to my eyes.

Well, the FA did some investigating and the ruling was final, Suarez served an 8 match ban and was fined $62,000.

 

Then the Scousers go and do this … including Kenny Dalglish (what kind of surname is Dalglish anyway?)

For those who like/love Suarez, did you ever stop and think about what this did to Evra?

If this doesn’t pull at your heart strings, then I guess you don’t love football as much as you say you do.

Evra: I had to shake hands with Suarez on such an emotional day at Anfield

Suarez In Wrong Profession

The way I see it, Suarez should've grown up to be a professional diver. Suarez came under scrutiny after he dived against Stoke City at Anfield. Since this little stunt, social media have produced a few funny pictures that make fun of him.

I must admit, when I saw each and every one of these pictures, I laughed so hard, that tears came streaming down my face.

It's interesting how when a footballer does something out of the ordinary, we tend to recall a moment in time when another footballer did the same thing. However, Suarez will have these four stunts and a few others that will come to mind in the future.

Honestly, the way I see it, Luis Suarez has brought the game into disrepute. Most would refer to him as a cheater, a racist, a diver and a cannibal. Who in their right mind would do the things this man has done ? When I wrote this blog I sighed so much that I ran out of sighs ... That's not even possible, but when it comes to Suarez, I guess anything is possible. This is not even half of what he’s done, I’ve barely scratched the surface, but if I dig deeper, I’ll end up ‘hating’ this man. (While I was compiling this entry, besides the sighing and the tears from the funny pictures, I cried. I cried because how can one man be capable of ‘killing the beautiful game’?)

There are more scandals to come from Suarez, more bans, more fines ... However, it seems these bans and fines don't change Suarez's attitude to fair play ... How about he gets banned for life? Not many would agree with that, but why keep people who trash football?

I guess when it comes to Luis Suarez, its best to let people draw their own conclusions about him.

Man United legend Paddy Crerand says on MUTV “you wouldn’t get fed up of punching Luis Suarez”

“Suarez is killing the beautiful game!” Stoke winger Kightly joins queue to hammer Liverpool star

Just take a look at this:

http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/10/10/Luis-Suarez-Moments.aspx