The shortlist for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner has been announced by FIFA. Not too surprisingly, Spain have a trio of stars in the mix, and their opponents in the Final, Holland, have two. The Golden Ball is given to the best player of the tournament, and it will throw open the doors of discussion as to who really is deserving of the award. With several high profile stars failing to shine, such as England’s Wayne Rooney, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and the Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, the accolade will more than likely go to one of the Spaniards. It is hard to argue with the inclusion of David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta in the list, as all three have been hugely influential, and while Argentina’s Lionel Messi is in the list of ten, his lack of goals at the tournament will probably put him out of the running, despite putting in some fantastic performances in the group stages.
Holland have Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben up for the award, with Sneijder carrying on his awesome form from Inter Milan to his country. Compatriot Arjen Robben has provided a major injection of pace and creativity into the Dutch side after managing to recover from a hamstring injury picked up prior to South Africa 2010. Both are dynamic players, and much of the success of the Netherlands can be put down to those two. Germany are represented by Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger, with the latter being one of the hardest working and influential players at the tournament. He would fully be deserving of the award, and making up the list of ten nominees is Uruguay’s Diego Forlan and Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan. The great Zinedine Zidane picked up the accolade at Germany 2006, so there are big footsteps to follow in.
Most of the nominations are really nothing more than a recognition of good work at the World Cup Finals, while the winner is likely only to come from Sneijder, Xavi, Villa and Iniesta. Sneijder and Villa both have five goals each in the tournament, and the World Cup Final will also be a personal showdown for the Golden Boot (the tournament’s top goal scorer) between the two. They will be the front runners, but probably the most deserving will be Spanish midfielder Xavi. A lot of his work goes unnoticed, but he pulls all of the strings for Spain, and without them they would not be the same. It would cap a fantastic couple of years for him after picking up the equivalent award at the 2008 European Championships.
List of World Cup Golden Ball nominees: David Villa (ESP), Xavi (ESP), Andres Iniesta (ESP) Wesley Snider (NED), Arjen Robben (NED), Bastian Schweinsteiger (GER), Mesut Ozil (GER), Diego Forlan (URU), Asamoah Gyan (GHA), Lionel Messi (ARG).
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