The Swiss footballing chie said it was incorrect to give the Argentina forwar the award in retrospect, despite his goalscoring heroics in group stage Fifa president Sepp Blatter does not believe Lionel Me deserved the World Cup Golden Ball award for bein the best player at the tournament. Quite a few eyebrows were raised when the Argentina forward was handed the award after his team were beaten in the final, despite having had relatively little impact compared to team- mates and opponents since the group stage - where he had unquestionably starred had finished. Blatter, who has said in th past that he thought Germany goalkeeper Manu Neuer had earned the accolade, slammed the award process only a few hours after Messi was nam among the 23-man shortlist for the Fifa Ballon dOr . I think the decision to giv Messi the Golden Ball was incorrect, he told reporter at a press event in Moscow Russia, as he inspected preparations for the next World Cup. I was surprised when I received the committee’s decision. They told me the had only looked at 10 of th players who took part in th final. Messi has won the Ballon dOr four times in his care although in the past 18 months his stock has fallen somewhat, despite still bei considered one of the greatest players in the worl A silverware-free season in 2013-14 with Barcelona - aside from the Supercopa, which came longer than 12 months ago - and a failure skipper Argentina to World Cup glory makes a Ballon dOr 2014 victory unlikely, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Arj Robben and Neuer among the more favoured.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 22:31:09 +0000