Thursday, November 7, 2013
A look at FIFA's 2013 World player list-Yaya Toure named in the 23 men shortlist
It’s no news that Ivorian and Man-City midfielder, Yaya Toure is the only African player in FIFA’s
23-men shortlist for the World’s Footballer of the year award, however, the one question on the mind of most Africans is whether or not this is due to Africa’s
current state of football, or is FIFA blind to the array of talents in African
football today?
Do not get this wrong,
Africa is slowly getting back to its glory days in football, and yes, we do
have some talented players, but the first question still stands, what is going
on with the current state of Football in Africa? I was going to name some
players but let’s face, there aren't any these days and FIFA actually
did a great job by including Yaya Toure on the list following his recent performance. The
previous nine list have featured African players like Chelsea’s Samuel Eto’o,
and former Blues Drogba 8 times each, while Michael Essien was nominated 4
times.
The World Cup is around the
corner and the qualifiers are coming up nicely with the African giants making
their marks and working their way to Brazil 2014. In the last World Cup which
was held in South Africa 2010, there were all in all, 6 African sides
representing the continent and Ghana was the only side to go beyond the first
round of the tournament. Depressing as this sounds, there is still a lot of
potential in African football regardless of the fact that the African super
star players are aging and very soon there will be a strong need for a new
Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Adebayor, Essien and even Yaya Toure.
Relentless, Africa will be
back to its usual self, and with players like Nigeria’s Emenike, Victor
Moses, Demba ba and not to forget New Chelsea signing Bertrand Traore who was
described by Manager Mourinho as a "great talent", the African dream
is still very much alive.
Looking back, in the history
of the very prestigious Ballon d’Or, only two African players have ever
finished in the top three of the world player of the year list – George Weah
won it in 1995 and was runner-up the following year, while Eto’o was third in
2005.
The 23 men short list in
line for the 2013 Ballon d’Or 2013 was drawn up by football experts
from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France
Football. The list of ten coaches has also been drawn up by the
Committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s World Cup and by the FIFA
Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France
Football.
Here is
a look-see at the nominees for 2014 Ballon d’Or award-23 men (in
alphabetical order) in contention for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013:
Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson
Cavani (Uruguay), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Eden
Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp
Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas
Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil
(Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben
(Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago
Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands),
Xavi (Spain).
This year, no African team
coach made the short list of coaches, one coach who should have made this list
is Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi for all his efforts and achievement in this
year. In winning the African Cup of Nations, Keshi demonstrated strength and
bravery by building a semi fresh team made mostly of home based players and
some of the international players, bringing new light into Nigerian football as
well as discovering and restoring new talent.
The following 10 coaches (in
alphabetical order, first nationality and then team) are in contention for
the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football 2013:
Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Paris
Saint-Germain FC/Real Madrid CF), Rafael Benítez (Spain/Chelsea FC/SSC Napoli),
Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team),
Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC former coach), Jupp Heynckes
(Germany/FC Bayern München former coach), Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia
Dortmund), José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF/Chelsea FC), Luiz Felipe
Scolari (Brazil/Brazil national team), Arsène Wenger (France/Arsenal FC).
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hmmm, well i can mention one name that should be on the list, maybe even Gyan from ghana.
ReplyDeletedon't mind fifa
ReplyDeletewell Africa has a lot of work to do
ReplyDeletewell Africa has a lot of work to do
ReplyDelete