FOOTBALL: CANNAVARO WINS THE BALLON D'OR

Congratulations Cannavaro! I don't support his win because he is now a Real Madrid player. I really went crazy looking at his perfect performance during the World Cup. You guys who follow the whole World Cup progress must have seen me giving opinions over and over again how awe I was of the captain's superb performance and how I would love him to go to Real Madrid. His flawless outstanding defending makes me go excited about cheering for a defence for the first time! Nothing got past him easily. You should have known me by now that when I praise some player, it is because he is really good, regardless of which club or country he plays for.

I do feel the voting of some players position above the other requires questioning. Well, the awards like this and the FIFA World Player of the Year award always have controversial results which we can debate over and over again. Therefore I agree that we are not always satisfied with the voted winner, first runner-up and second runner-up, especially the first and second runner-up.

A few things I get sick of:

1. I am sick of the Buffon deserved it more fans and their claims that Italy could not win the World Cup if not because of him stopping the shots for the penalty.

My answer: Most of the shots just went wide, he did not really save them, just pure luck. Who out there is to say that he will save all the shots if the captain in front of him didn't confidently prevent the offense from penetrating through?

If their arguments follow that line, I can also say that Italy don't even have chance to reach a penalty shoot-out if not because of his heroics of defending well. I can argue that Italy could have been out even earlier if the defending sucks and the defence was penetrated many times and resulted in tonnes of goals scored. The fact is the attackers, most of them, hardly get past him!

2. I am sick of the Ronaldinho and Eto'o fans who claims that these two have an outstanding season winning the La Liga and the Champions League and therefore more consistent and should win over someone who won a Serie A which was stripped later and the World Cup which is only 7 lousy matches. If Cannavaro wins it, it means that a cheater is voted to win!

My answer: There is no proof that Cannavaro is involved in the match fixing so to call him a cheater, I really have the doubt of that fact.

A World Cup is a once in every four years event which is considered the biggest and highest achievement of a footballer. The rare chance to win it against the annual league and European league+tournament is so hard. You need to reach the perfect condition during those 7 matches and rise to the occassion to be able to win it. In other words, your chances of winning is so damn slim! Many greats failed to win it and they were never on the top of the list as the best footballers of all time because of that. Simple as that!

If Ronaldinho had performed well during the World Cup, he is my best candidate to win it! He underperformed so badly in the World Cup it was like something we didn't even want to mention about the football great. I admit he is damn good but he was having a really bad form!

3. I am sick of the Thierry Henry fans who said he went to the finals of both the World Cup and the Champions League so therefore, he deserves more.

My answer: What did Henry really contribute for the World Cup? We bearly see him! Champions League I admit he was playing good throughout the whole campaign but I did not see him at the final! He was quiet, just like during the World Cup final.

4. I am sick of the Kaka fans who claims that he played really well during the World Cup

My answer: He won nothing and he shone because his team underperformed really badly!

5. I am sick of the other fans who claimed that he has better chances of winning after moving to Real Madrid.

My answer: He is voted based on his performance for the past year in the Juventus and Italy squads. It has nothing to do with what he does now in Real Madrid of that transfer. His performance is not too bad now considering his recent move.

The top 50 nominees placed, with the respective votes they gathered.

1. Cannavaro (Italy/Real Madrid) 173 votes
2. Buffon (Italy/Juventus) 124
3. Henry (France/Arsenal) 121
4. Ronaldinho (Brazil/Barcelona) 73
5. Zidane (France) 71
6. Eto'o (Cameroon/Barcellona) 67
7. Klose (Germany/Werder) 29
8. Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea) 25
9. Pirlo (Italy/Milan) 17
10. Lehmann (Germany/Arsenal) 13
11. Deco (Portugal/Barcelona) e Kakà (Brazil/Milan) 11
13. Ribery (France/Marseille) 9
14. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Manchester Utd), Gattuso (Italy/Milan) Vieira (France/Inter) 5
17. Lampard (England/Chelsea), Podolski (Germany/Bayern), Puyol (Spain/Barcelona) 320. Juninho Pernambucano (Brazil/Lyon), Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Terry (England/Chelsea), Toni (Italy/Fiorentina) e Zambrotta (Italy/Barcelona) 2
25. Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich) e Villa (Spain/Valencia) 1