Lionel Messi Wins 2014 World Cup Golden Ball for 'Best Player' but Falls Short to Germany, See All Awards Winners Including Manuel Neuer and James Rodriguez

 

Lionel Messi Wins 2014 World Cup Golden Ball for 'Best Player' but Falls Short to Germany, See All Awards Winners Including Manuel Neuer and James Rodriguez

Lionel Messi had a strong 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament and lead his Argentina squad to the championship final against Germany. In the end though, he couldn't get his team the win as they came up short in the final losing 1-0. Despite the loss, Messi was the Golden Ball for 'best player' in the tournament. He looked dejected after the loss when accepting the award. This was most likely his last chance to win a World Cup at age 27 and be thought of in Argentina on the level of Diego Maradona. 

Messi had good numbers in the tournament, scored four goals, all of them in the group stage. He also a had a beautiful assist to Angel di Maria against Switzerland for the match winner. However, many thought that James Rodriguez of Colombia and Arjen Robben of Holland were more deserving of the Golden Ball award. If voters prefer to name someone from a team that reached the final, then Thomas Muller, Philipp Lahm or Javier Mascherano could have been appropriate selections as well.

"I would have gone with James Rodriguez," Rio Ferdinand, the former England captain, said on BBC. "He has played that exciting, attacking football and he has been trying to hurt the opposition. Messi has had some magic moments but you want them consistently."

"There will be no charity for Messi," predicted Alejandro Moreno, the ESPN analyst. "Yes, he's driven this team to the final. But to me, in order to win hearts of Argentine people, he had to carry this trophy home. He would always fall short to Maradona. But if he had won, at least he would be in the same room with Maradona."

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella came to Messi's defense in the post-game interviews saying, "Messi was a fundamental factor for getting us where we are today. I believe he is already in the pantheon of greats. He was there before the tournament and he's been there for a while. Sabella continued, "I think he deserved the Golden Ball. He played an extraordinary World Cup."

 

The 2014 World Cup Award Winners were:

Golden Ball: Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Golden Glove: Manuel Neuer (Germany)

Golden Boot: James Rodriguez (Colombia) 

Young Player Award: Paul Pogba (France) 

FIFA Fair Play Award: Colombia

 

 

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