The Ballon d'Or | An Outsider's Perspective

The Ballon d’Or is, perhaps, one of the best events to christen the publication of my first ever “soccer” post. As a newcomer to the soccer world, I certainly lack the years of experience that many lifetime fans and professional analysts boast. But if ever there was a time to start, the Ballon d’Or might as well be the topic.

This season (2014-2015) is the first real season that I have paid attention to professional soccer (or any soccer for that matter), but a series of snowball events mostly involving living near my brother Dallin now has me avidly following the world’s most popular sport. Three months ago, I didn’t even know what the Ballon d’Or was, and Monday I was so intrigued, I had to follow the live feed at work.

The entire ceremony is fascinating—it’s like the Academy Awards for the football world. The categories are both understandable (best player, best coach) and fun (best goal, World XI). To be named the best in any category at the Ballon d’Or is an incredible feat—to be the best at the most popular sport in the world? You can’t really top that.

FIFPRO World XI

The World XI was, perhaps, the most exciting event for me to follow. I think the best player and best coach were pretty obvious this year, but best player in each position was a big unknown and really fun to see. Knowing that Neuer probably wasn’t going to win the Ballon d’Or this year (more on that later) was softened by his appointment as keeper in the World XI. And the appointment is well-deserved. Of course each of these awards is ultimately opinion-based, but Neuer is, without a doubt, the greatest keeper in the sport today. I’d say he’s the greatest ever, but my working knowledge of the soccer world extends back seven months so I am not qualified to make such a claim. The man is a master both in the box and in the midfield. And honestly, he’d probably be scoring goals in Bundesliga 2.

Courtois made reserve keeper which is also exciting, as he, too, is one of the best and it’s great to see a Chelsea player on the pitch.

Once again, I don’t really know anything about last season, but to have two Brazilians on the World XI defense seems interesting. To quote Goal.com’s Paul Macdonald, “I'm sure there's some German forwards who might have something to say about those two Brazilian selections...” Granted, Silva was noticeably absent from Brazil’s 7-1 record-setting loss to Germany and PSG had a great season in France. But with as much clout as the World Cup has on Ballon d’Or results and Brazil only posting one clean sheet the entire tournament (two without Marcelo’s slip), at the very least, Luiz’ inclusion seems interesting.

Otherwise, I was thrilled (albeit not surprised) to see Robben at the top with Ronaldo and Messi. Considering Ronaldo’s and Messi’s Ballon d’Or nominations (and the fact that they’re incredible footballers), they were a given, but Robben is a well-deserving forward and hands-down one of my favorite players to watch.

Puskás Goal

Puskás Goal was another fun event. Who doesn’t like to watch amazing goals? The outcome, however, was more puzzling to me than the appointment of both Brazilians on the World XI. My vote was Roche, Van Persie, and Rodriguez in that order. I thought Van Persie might take it over Roche, simply because Van Persie’s was in the World Cup and I’m sure that defender/keeper skill and the stress level of the game probably play a part in selection. But to have Rodriguez over Van Persie and Roche was surprising to me.

I am not debating the skill level of the goal, nor do I even have a slight insight into the difficulty of a chest touch and volley into the back of the net from outside the 18. The goal is incredible and the nomination is well deserved. But to beat Stephanie’s three-touch, over-the-shoulder, 270 spin, volley into the back of the net? And the Flying Dutchman? At full sprint, Van Persie received a pass from 70 yards (there should be a passing and/or assist award as well and Blind deserves a nomination there) and, dove-headed it into goal. Whew. I would have put my money on either of those goals over Rodriguez's.

Just because each of these goals are insane, here you go (in the order I picked them):

Ballon d'Or and World Coach

The last two events, as stated earlier, were more or less a given for me. Based on what I know of last season, Messi didn’t really win much with Barca and although he did take his team to the World Cup championship, his World Cup performance wasn’t necessarily spectacular. He’s an amazing player, but so is Ronaldo and Ronaldo won the Champions League and set the single-season league-scoring record, beat Ibrahimovich to put Portugal in the World Cup finals, and won the Copa del Rey (I assume people care about that).

His speech was lukewarm. I haven't been around long enough to see for myself if there's any backing to those who criticize Ronaldo for being conceited--I'd like to think the naysayers are just being critical and jealous, but leaving out Messi and Neuer from his speech doesn't help his argument. I did think the yell was a bit strange, if not a bit forced...

Since football is a striker’s game, I didn’t expect Neuer to win. Really, any keeper making it to the top 3 is a feat in and of itself. No one will argue a keeper’s value, but how often do you Youtube “amazing saves?” No, everyone’s interested in amazing goals. A keeper would probably have to win the World Cup and get a triple to have a chance at winning the Ballon d’Or. And have none of the same teammates do the same.

Joachim Low deserved best coach, no argument. Germany has a team, not a couple of stars. Of course the talent on the team is a large part of the team’s success, but to be able to harness the talent, suppress the egos, and create a team where everyone contributes and works together and there are no obvious stars or slackers is a mark of a World Coach of the Year.

The most notable mention of the entire ceremony, however, is Messi’s red tux. #classy