Inside Sport

Spain trio make Golden Ball shortlist


https://forum.insidesport.com.au/Topic773331.aspx

By sydneycroatia58 - 9 Jul 2010 10:44 PM

Quote:
[size=6]Spain trio make Golden Ball shortlist [/size]

Three Spain players have been named on the 10-man shortlist for the 2010 World Cup Golden Ball award - given to the player of the tournament.

Striker David Villa is joined by midfield pair Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Fellow finalists the Netherlands have Wesley Sneijder, who like Villa has five goals, and Arjen Robben listed.

Germany duo Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil, Argentina's Lionel Messi, Uruguay's Diego Forlan and Ghana's Asamoah Gyan are the other contenders.

Meanwhile, Germany's Thomas Mueller is among three candidates on the shortlist for the best young player at the World Cup.

Andre Ayew of Ghana and Mexico's Giovani dos Santos are also in contention.

Mueller scored four goals in Germany's run to the semi-finals but was suspended for the 1-0 defeat to Spain.

Football's world governing body Fifa will announce the winners for both awards following Sunday's World Cup final.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8804708.stm


Villa for mine but if Sneijeder leads the Ditch to a win on Monday than I'd say him.
By afromanGT - 11 Jul 2010 9:38 PM

Bryan wrote:
afromanGT wrote:
Sneijder and Ozil are the obvious choices. They've both had excellent cups. But Ozil was made to look very ordinairy against Spain without Muller beside him.

I think the bigger talking point is that three spanish players have been nominated despite them playing pretty mediocre football.

Edited by afromanGT: 10/7/2010 11:29:36 PM

I don't think villa, iniesta or xavi have played mediocre overall, they just haven't stood out like some of the players on this list. I think it shows how great this spanish team really is, whether they win or lose the world cup.

Edited by Bryan: 11/7/2010 05:59:08 PM

Villa has been quality, but Xavi and Iniesta haven't been that great IMO.

Forlan's played well, but he's played more minutes than any other player in the cup IIRC. So he's had plenty of chance to score. That said, every time he has the ball he looks like scoring. He's just in great form at the moment and hopefully he can bring it back to Atletico next season.