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Who will win the 2014 FIFA Ballon d`Or?

Posted December. 19, 2014 07:44,   

한국어

It is a duel of spears and a shield.

The FIFA has announced the three finalists for its 2014 Ballon d`Or. Awarded to the best individual football player for the past year, Cristiano Ronaldo, 29, who plays for Real Madrid, and Lionel Messi, 27, FC Barcelona, made the shortlist as expected. The third was goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, 28, who plays for Bayern Munich.

Many soccer fans may believe that it is a two-way race between Ronaldo and Messi. Yet goalkeeper Neuer did not score goals, but has been world-best in stopping them. Just looking at contribution to his team as well as performance at World Cup and league games, Neuer is more likely to pass Messi to compete with Ronaldo for the prize.

Ronaldo is the hottest striker of the 2014-2015 season, having scored as many as 25 goals in the 2014 Spanish Primera Liga. It is a 10-goal lead over the English Premiere League’s 15 (Sergio Aguero of the Manchester City), and Germany’s Bundesliga with 12 (Alexander Meier of Eintracht Frankfurt). This season alone, Ronaldo has already scored 32 goals, with five goals in the UEFA Champions League and two goals in Cup tournaments. Messi in the Primera Liga is running second with 13 goals, which is 22 goals behind Ronaldo.

At this rate, Ronaldo is in good shape to easily pass Messi’s record of the most goals scored in one league in one season (50 goals) and the most in one season (68 goals).

Neuer is competitive, too. In 16 matches in Germany’s Bundesliga this season, he has allowed just three goals against his team. His perfect defense in 13 matches is a new record in the Bundesliga. Due to his stellar goalkeeping, his team, Bayern Munich, is the only team in the European leagues with no lost game this season. The star goal keeper in the 2014 Brazil World Cup permitted no goal on his watch in seven matches, leading Germany to victory.

With a powerful kick and talent on the ball, unusual for a goalkeeper, Neuer is characterized by being able to participate in team defense moves. Contrary to average goalies who just defend goal, Neuer is said to have changed the role of the goalkeeper.

In particular, one of the reasons Neuer is steadily mentioned as a contender for the FIFA Ballon d`Or is his position as goalkeeper and that he is from the German leagues. Ballon d`Or had been shared by Ronaldo (2 times) and Messi (4 times) before the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d`Or were merged in 2010. Ronaldo and Messi are both from Spanish leagues. Since Lev Yashin of Dynamo Moscow won in 1963, no other goalie has claimed the prize, which also supports Neuer’s winning the award.

According to Neuer, “Ronaldo and Messi have scored more than I have. It is highly unusual that a goalkeeper, who cannot score many goals, is the object of interest.” The winner of the 2014 FIFA Ballon d`Or will be announced on January 13, 2015, Korean time.