Golden Ball, Messi and Maradona

Harvesting Success: six nominees for the prestigious golden ball award is recognition to the amazing season that Barça had last year. Even though only six players made the list this is the work of the whole team; names such as Busquets, Pique, or Alves were responsible for making their team mates better. The result is none other than five titles in the year 2009 which make it perhaps the best year in the club’s history. Of all the names there are two that will definitely make the top three; Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta. These two players were decisive all season long. Iniesta even played injured in the final against Manchester United and was the man who gave Eto’o the pass in the first goal in that final. Messi on the other hand had, up until now, his best year as a football player; everything that he did was spot on; and add to that the fact that he didn’t have any muscular injury and the results speak for themselves: goals, good games and titles. Off all the nominees Messi seems to be the obvious choice and he will get this and the FIFA world player as well. It would be very strange if it happens but the three finalists should be Messi; Iniesta and Xavi.


Messi's Debate: Barça’s version of Messi seems to be a lot different from Argentina’s version. In Barcelona, Messi is a player who can decide any game at any time like he did in the Champion’s League against Shaktar or like he did in La Liga against Numancia. In Argentina, however, the same player seems lost and every action in which he participates ends up with the rival team getting the ball back. Casual fans look at this and point directly at the player; saying that he either lacks of motivation or doesn’t understand the game of his national team; however, analysts of the game all agree that this situation is not as simple as it look. In Barcelona, there is a coach that has established a well defined style and philosophy from both a physical and mental point of view. In Argentina the situation is different. Diego Maradona is without a doubt in the top 3 best players of all time (to some even the first) but being a good player don’t always mean to be a good coach. Maradona has not established even an idea of what his team should play. He works a lot the psychological aspects of the game, which is very important, but he lacks of technical understanding which results in players being lost in the field like Messi. Another important aspect to have in mind is that it is not the same to get passes from Xavi and Iniesta than from Mascherano and Veron, this is not a knock on the talent of the two Argentineans because they are very good, but Iniesta and Xavi are simply among the best in the world, if not the best, at organizing the game.


Maradona Should be Fired: before explaining why he should be fired let’s look at his accomplishments as a coach which should also be taken into consideration. First of all, he got the team and led them to earn a spot in 2010’s world cup in South Africa; regardless of the poor image his team shows in every game he got the job done and result oriented critics will say that this is what matters. He also got the team united which is fundamental for any aspirations to do great things; a coach that doesn’t create a sentiment of unity in the team and doesn’t work the team’s psychology is missing on a crucial aspect of the game. However, we are talking about Argentina; an instant favourite in any tournament with players like Mascherano, Messi, Higuain; to expect “just to win” is an unacceptable mediocre mentality of a small team and not a former world champion. Argentina, just like Brazil, Spain, Italy is expected not only to win but to offer an display of good game as it happens to clubs like Real Madrid, Boca Juniors, Barcelona etc. But perhaps the worst of Maradona doesn’t come with anything related to the game or the team but to his shameful declarations after qualifying to the world cup in which he express vulgarities towards members of the media. From a man driven by passion rather than logic it is not a surprise but the fact that the AFA allows this to happen is something that damage the prestigious image of the “beautiful game”. Watching Diego behave and watching Guardiola act is like day and night; they are completely different.

First Impressions

Warming Up: six rounds of La Liga have been played and the sensations cannot be any better for Barça; the team is still a bit rusty from the summer but every game it is a steps in the right direction and the results are proof of that as the team have gotten all the points played. The summer question of Ibrahimovic adaptation to the team has disappeared thanks to the outstanding beginning of the season of the Swedish striker. Five goals in his first five games is a statistic that allows the fans to dream. Whether he can maintain that level or not is another story in which many variables has to be considered such as injuries; fatigue; pressure etc. but at this time nobody doubts of his quality. It is also good to see that Zlatan has not only scored goals but also given assistances as well as participate in the defensive game which is something that many of us could not see happening when he signed with Barça.

All Pieces Feat: Guardiola showed doubters that he had an eye to see talent and the guts to give those players an opportunity to shine. Busquets, Pique, Bojan are examples of this (although Bojan’s presence on the team was Frank Rijkaard’s call) and this season is no different. Even though the squad is short, something Guardiola himself mentioned, he decided that it was not going to be a problem; instead he has transformed this situation into an opportunity and once again has given the chance to future talents such as Jefren Suarez or Pedro Rodrigues; the latter has become officially a member of the first team and has responded with goals to the coach’s confidence. To this day, Pedro has been the only member of the team that has scored in all competitions with a goal in both supercups tournaments and a winning goal against Almeria. Guardiola doesn’t call somebody he has any doubts and that’s why Martin Caceres went to Juventus and why Henrique went to Racing instead of returning to Barça. The merit of this team is not on any single player but on the fact that every member is capable of making the starting eleven at any point.

Margin of Improvement: to say that the team has started very well is one thing but they are far from being perfect or at least as good as last year’s team. Pep knows this and has been working on the control of the game. For instance; against Atletico De Madrid the team won 5-2 but in reality the game was a poor display at many times; once they were winning they did not control the game and it could have cost Barça some more goals. Another area that needs improvement and perhaps a new name is the left wing. Henry is showing that age affects anybody and the 32 year old French man seems as though he will not be able to keep up with the team. At the moment he’s injured for at least ten more days and with a player like Pedro on fire it is not so difficult to think about Henry staying on the bench more frequently. Overall, the team needs a lot of improvement but it is working at a pace which seems to invite fans to another great season and rivals to fear the team. Time will tell.