No offense taken and I do admit that I don't know that much about
futbol. I am definitely not hardcore enough to be following Eredivisie league players but from watching this entertaining world cup, you can't tell me that Messi was not key for Argentina's run.
An argument could be made that, if Messi and Robben were to switch places, what would the world think?
Ummm not sure what your point is here. Both would still be the best on either team but who cares...
Could Robben have single-handedly dove his way to the cup final playing for Argentina?
No.
Would Netherlands have went all the way if Messi was their star striker?
No.
From a casual point of view as a
casual soccer fan and watching this world cup, I would have to say Messi was the best player and most important to the team.
Rodriguez was great too but he couldn't push his team out of the 1st round. I would think team results played a factor into deciding the Golden Ball too. Messi didn't score in any of the knockout stages, but his presence alone almost willed them to the trophy?
You're comparing a Columbian team with mostly average players to a stacked Argentinian team. Yes yes I know, the media was generally saying Messi lacked support in offense. Argentina had a world class defense behind Messi. They won most of their games because of this defense, not because they had a killer offense that banged in 2-4 goals per game. Mascherano to me was the best player on Argentina in both of their final knockout games. If not for his last ditch tack on Robben we would have seen another all European final.
soccer - Jiffier gifs through HTML5 Video Conversion.
The majority of pundits and knowledgeable soccer fans agree that James was the stand out player of the tournament. The only reason why Columbia even had a sniff of passing the quarters was due to his brilliance. He showed up in all games even in that last game when Brazil basically kicked him any chance they had.
Messi didn't score in any of the knock out stage games because he was simply marked out of them. Top teams know the blueprint to stop him. We've witnessed this with Barcelona this year as well.[/B]