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Ruud among the best of the world! (Where’s Ed??)

October 29th, 2008 | By: Jan | 14 Comments »

Ruud auditions for the sequel to the Hulk: “No Sar?? Don’t make me hungry, you won’t like me when I’m hungryyyyYYYYY!!!!!!”

While the Dutch behemoth Feyenoord keeps plodding along in the domestic competition (see http://eredivisie.theoffside.com for breaking news!!) and Van Gol successor Huntelaar found the net twice, it’s our boys abroad who keep the fire going for us Oranje fans.

One former (and possibly future) Oranje striker is part of the Elite. The FIFA has picked 23 players and nominated them World Player of the Year 2008. Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is the only Dutch player nominated.

Which begs the question: which FIFA official decided to omit Edwin van der Sar??? He won the CL, he won the title in England, he excelled in the EC2008…. I mean…. Geez…

But still, the powers that be know better than us mere mortals, so on with it.

Spain seems to be the leader in the group, with six players from the EC-winner. All team managers and captains are allowed to vote. In the beginning of December a shortlist of three will be presented and mid January the winner will be published.

C Ronaldo has booked his flight to Zurich already, hoping he won’t take a dive .

This is the list:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Deco (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Steven Gerrard (England), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Kaká (Brasil), Frank Lampard (England), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Franck Ribéry (France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), John Terry (England), Fernando Torres (Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Nederland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

Interesting to see Terry, Ribery, Drogba and Adebayor…

I’d say Edwin van der Sar deserves a spot before these four… Even if I was Portuguese, French, Italian or German I’d say that…

Tags: Ballack, Cesc, Gerrard, Holland, Kaka, Nistelrooy, Oranje, Real Madrid, Ruud, Sar, Van Gol, Villa, World Cup 2010

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Comments

By Jacques | October 29th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Are you sure you are not the same Germany blog Jan?

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 29th, 2008 at 7:50 pm

bring back “horsey-face”

deco??? fabregas??? buffon??? lampard??? wtf
no wesley and no sar, why?

Posted from United States

By Jan | October 29th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Jacques, I am sure . I am not he. It would be not done to write for the Oranje AND the Germany blog… Sorry. But why the question? Do we have the same writing style?

As for Cesc, I can see why he’s in there. He’s the best passer in the game. Period. But Lampard, Buffon, Deco…yeah…I don’t know…

By ian | October 29th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

van persie hada goal two assists ans set up a nasri breakaway later put in by adebayor

By Bart | October 29th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Who decided on having Adebayor, Terry, Buffon, Lampard, Aguero (who is that anyway) , Ballack, Eto’o , Ribery, Deco in this list. They haven’t done anything last year. Seriously this list is crap.

Posted from Canada

By finnster01 | October 29th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

What on earth is Fat Lampard doing on this list? And John Terry, what did he do other than miss the most important penalty of his life? Ballack was injured half the year. Drogba?, he only got himself in trouble besides being injured also.

This is a seriously flawed list. No EVDS as Jan and M-O and others points out? Disgrace. I was ging to give them the benefit of the doubt for just randomly picking names to fill the hat up, but this is beyond ridiculous. How can you miss EVDS in his finest season perhaps ever?

Unfortunately, Cristiano Divaldo can make space for the trophy on top of the mantlepiece. They won’t need landing gear on the plane he’s taking to Zurich, that’s for sure. As much as I dislike the guy (and Man U), I have to be honest and say nobody has deserved it more. He was simply absolutely outstanding last season, and has the trophy’s to show for it too.

By Carlos | October 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

Finn I dislike him (Porto Bella Diva) very much too just like Rooney but still have to say that if I had to choose a winger in my team of world beaters I’d have to include him. By the way thats winger not Win gerr! which he is too

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | October 30th, 2008 at 3:37 am

And if Sar was on the list? Would you still pick Divaldo?

By Alex | October 30th, 2008 at 3:54 am

this isn’t a world footballer of the year trophy, they just named 23 of the biggest names in football, Buffon achieved nothing htis year, same for Deco, Terry, Drogba, Ribery, Lampard, Why are there even english players in this list. But also Zlatan hasn’t really excelled overall. They better change this in the future, a alist of 10-15 players is more then enough to decide who really is the best in a certain season.

Posted from Netherlands

By Best Player | October 30th, 2008 at 5:34 am

Hmm-Van der Sar has indeed been vital to United’s successes in recent years but I have to say that the team merely needed a top-notch goalkeeper to start winning trophies. But that doesn’t make Van der Sar worthy of Best Player in the World status. He’s simply not in the class of a Casillas or a Buffon or a Cech. For me he’s a rung below.

By Alex | October 30th, 2008 at 5:52 am

offtopic, Boulahrouz at Stuttgart is entirely back from injury, played the full 90 minutes against HSV, they lost 2-0 through a penalty caused and a through Gomez deflected shot from Mathijsen, sent Lehmann completely the wrong way. But Boulah played a solid match. Let’s hope we’ll have Bouma back aswell before our next qualifiers.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | October 30th, 2008 at 5:53 am

that doesn’t make sense, it was a shot from Mathijsen, deflected by Gomez,

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | October 30th, 2008 at 9:47 am

@Alex – you’re absolutely right, it’s not a footballer of the year award, it’s a big name competition. We’ve seen the same thing in previous years where players who were injured for the majority of the season still make it on the list (I remember this happening with Henry from before). They certainly don’t look at just the previous year’s performance… but what can you expect from a joke of an organization like FIFA.

Completely agree with everyone who says that Sar should be on the list. Won the EPL and the CL and was important for both. Not to mention his outstanding summer at the Euros…

Also agree with Finnster, I think Ronaldo has the trophy locked up. I don’t like him, but he did play a heck of a season last year.

Posted from Canada

By Miguel Rosado | October 31st, 2008 at 3:16 pm

This is the year of the Dutch.

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