FIFA Announces 10 Golden Ball Finalists

Ted Lasso · Post #1 » by **Ted Lasso** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:04 pm

Mats Hummels - Good choice
Philipp Lahm - WTF?
Toni Kroos - Has had a great tournament under the radar.
Thomas Muller - Obvious
Lionel Messi - Obvious, but he could do with a bit more running.
Javier Mascherano - Has been valiant at times, but meh.
Angel di Maria - Good choice
Neymar - Another meh
Arjen Robben - Obvious
James Rodriguez - Obvious, but it's tough to give the award to someone who was only in it for 5 games.

Your toughts?

http://soccer.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar ... finalists/

Foye · Post #2 » by **Foye** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:09 pm

No Neuer? He is our best fielder this tourney. :lol:

ppedro123 · Post #3 » by **ppedro123** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:12 pm

Di Maria being there is kind of meh too

Mascherano deserves to be in the list

Enviado do meu iPhone usando o RealGM Forums

Ted Lasso · Post #4 » by **Ted Lasso** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:39 pm

Foye wrote:No Neuer? He is our best fielder this tourney.

Good call. He's been brilliant.

cgf · Post #5 » by **cgf** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:43 pm

Kroos? I love him but wtf? Lahm was at least our best midfielder for the first 4 games. But Kroos? I get he has a goal and an assist more than mesut but he's created less for us, so if you're going to pick a german playmaker it has to be ozil, although Khedira is more deserving than either.

No Garay is kind of surprising to, after Messi and Masch he's been argentina's best player IMO.

Ted Lasso · Post #6 » by **Ted Lasso** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:57 pm

Ranked by Whoscored's (obviously imperfect) player ratings for the tourney:

Code: Select all

Messi       8.77
Robben      8.44
James       8.40
Neymar      8.22
Muller      8.11
di Maria    7.84
Kroos       7.80
Hummels     7.66
Mascherano  7.65
Lahm        7.32

El Turco · Post #7 » by **El Turco** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:59 pm

where is navas?

Little Italia · Post #8 » by **Little Italia** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 6:55 am

I think it'll come down to either Messi or Muller.

If Argentina wins, Messi get's the golden ball. However, if Argentina wins but Messi fails to score while Muller does, Muller wins the golden ball.

If Germany wins, Muller get's the golden ball. If he doesn't score but Messi does, Muller will still get it.

All in all, Muller has the best shot at winning the Golden Ball.

MountainDrew · Post #9 » by **MountainDrew** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:08 am

I think it should be between Rodriguez, Muller and Robben. Obviously hope Robben gets it but he probably won't. If Argentina dont win the pens half those players arent on the list.

HeartBreaking · Post #10 » by **HeartBreaking** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:32 pm

di maria has played like garbage all tournament hopefully he doesn't return

Ascrilas · Post #11 » by **Ascrilas** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:23 pm

I think it's easy to sum it up: If Germany wins it tomorrow, Müller will get it. If Argentina wins tomorrow, Messi will get it. The rest is out of contention.
James would surely be a deserving candidate, but like others have said, it is not realistic to win the Golden Ball if you went out in quarter-final.

Concering the list itself: Di María is a joke - imo he has been poor the whole tournament. If they wanted another player from Argentina, they should've nominated Garay. Lahm is a odd choice, too - he has been average when being played in midfield. Neuer was clearly snubbed, he would've been even a legit candidate to win it. Obviously goalkeepers have their own award, but considering Kahn won it 2002, Neuer shoud've gotten a shot.

Personally, I think Müller deserves it. He has been the best German player with Neuer, and I hope he wins it. Messi will have a great chance, just because he is Messi, but I don't think he has been even one of the five best players in the tournament. (Still excellent, though, of course).

MaliBrah · Post #12 » by **MaliBrah** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 6:46 pm

neuer or muller if germany wins and messi if argentina wins.

truth18 · Post #13 » by **truth18** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:23 pm

Obviously Hummels.

Post #14 » by **ATL Boy** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:47 pm

truth18 wrote:Obviously Hummels.

No_20 · Post #15 » by **No_20** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:42 pm

Messi. Lol.

You could argue that he only had one good game in the whole tournament(Nigeria.)