Golden Blunder
I guess in a world where Steve Nash can win two straight MVP awards, Zinedine Zidane can win the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player. Let's take a look at Zidane's tournament and Fabio Cannavaro's tournament and you can decide who should have received the honor.
Zidane and France slogged through the group stage, finishing second in Group G to, ahem, Switzerland. In fact, the only group game the French won was against mighty Togo, with Zidane riding the pine after accumlulating two yellow cards in the first two matches.
In the second round and quarterfinals, Zidane turned it on. There's no arguing that. He first played a dyamic attacking-midfield against Spain, scoring a goal to ice the win, and then orchestrated an upset of Brazil, assisting on that game's only goal.
To my mind, he played well enough (though not as he had vs. Brazil) against Portugal and continued to look dangerous at times in the final, though he was unable to crack the Italian defense for the game-winner before he headbutted Materazzi.
Let's recap: Zizou began the Cup sluggishly, then turned it on through the elimination stages before finishing on a classless, humiliating note.
On the other hand, Fabio Cannavaro, who finished second in the voting, was on his game from the start. The Italian captain and central defender anchored a back line that didn't allow the opposing team to score until Zidane hit a PK in the final. Cannavaro was at once a free safety -- anticipating the play and darting about the field to win balls played over the top -- and a linebacker -- holding his ground in individual defending and running down attacker after attacker while timing his tackles so as not to foul -- all in a 5'9" body. And unlike Zidane, Cannavaro kept his head throughout the tournament, fearlessly and confidently leading the Azzurri to the ultimate prize.
As Franz Beckenbauer said, this tournament was without one overwhelming player. But certainly the man who was on his game from the start and quarterbacked the best defensive unit, in a Cup that was all about defense no less, should be regarded as the tournament's best.
By arguing for him, though, I'm taking the low road. But as a good captain should, Cannavaro took the high road, saying he's quite pleased with the trophy he did win.
Zidane and France slogged through the group stage, finishing second in Group G to, ahem, Switzerland. In fact, the only group game the French won was against mighty Togo, with Zidane riding the pine after accumlulating two yellow cards in the first two matches.
In the second round and quarterfinals, Zidane turned it on. There's no arguing that. He first played a dyamic attacking-midfield against Spain, scoring a goal to ice the win, and then orchestrated an upset of Brazil, assisting on that game's only goal.
To my mind, he played well enough (though not as he had vs. Brazil) against Portugal and continued to look dangerous at times in the final, though he was unable to crack the Italian defense for the game-winner before he headbutted Materazzi.
Let's recap: Zizou began the Cup sluggishly, then turned it on through the elimination stages before finishing on a classless, humiliating note.
On the other hand, Fabio Cannavaro, who finished second in the voting, was on his game from the start. The Italian captain and central defender anchored a back line that didn't allow the opposing team to score until Zidane hit a PK in the final. Cannavaro was at once a free safety -- anticipating the play and darting about the field to win balls played over the top -- and a linebacker -- holding his ground in individual defending and running down attacker after attacker while timing his tackles so as not to foul -- all in a 5'9" body. And unlike Zidane, Cannavaro kept his head throughout the tournament, fearlessly and confidently leading the Azzurri to the ultimate prize.
As Franz Beckenbauer said, this tournament was without one overwhelming player. But certainly the man who was on his game from the start and quarterbacked the best defensive unit, in a Cup that was all about defense no less, should be regarded as the tournament's best.
By arguing for him, though, I'm taking the low road. But as a good captain should, Cannavaro took the high road, saying he's quite pleased with the trophy he did win.
posted by jcanzo at 3:35 PM
3 Comments:
Great post! I think that Cannavaro had a superb tourney all around. Zidane did struggle in the opening stages, but I will never forget his game against Brazil. Every touch was amazing and he single handedly owned the middle for France. It was the best game I've seen any center mid play and I think he is very deserving as a golden ball winner, even though his image may be tarnished for headbutting. Cannavaro had a great tournament, but I think it helped that he was surrounded by other great defenders. I mean, Italy didn't allow a real goal all tournament. And I'm not knocking Cannavaro or Italy, because I wanted them to win, and think they were the better team, but Zindane, to do what he did at 34 years old was amazing. Cannavaro and the Italians are very strong defensively, and it was a collabrotive effort to keep the ball out of the net. Cannavaro did deserve the ball, but so did Pirlo and Grosso, both great defenders for Italy. It's very tough to give the MVP to a defender. We've seen it in basketball with Ben Wallace. I think Cannavaro makes a great case and is well deserving, but Zidane is a midfield guru.
Very true that Cannavaro had plenty of quality around him, but the same can be said for Zidane in France's midfield. Without Makelele and Viera to hold the middle of the park, Zidane wouldn't have been able to take as many chances going forward. But you're right that supporting players are always factored into these types of awards and that probably hurt Fabio. Also, defense will always be less sexy than offense but...it is also said that defense wins championships. I think what we're finding here is that both were deserving of the award, depending on what factors (defense vs. offense, supporting cast, whole tournament of work vs. fewer but better great performances) you place the most emphasis on.
Very true that Cannavaro had plenty of quality around him, but the same can be said for Zidane in France's midfield. Without Makelele and Viera to hold the middle of the park, Zidane wouldn't have been able to take as many chances going forward. But you're right that supporting players are always factored into these types of awards and that probably hurt Fabio. Also, defense will always be less sexy than offense but...it is also said that defense wins championships. I think what we're finding here is that both were deserving of the award, depending on what factors (defense vs. offense, supporting cast, whole tournament of work vs. fewer but better great performances) you place the most emphasis on.
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