100 Greatest Footballers of This Century
It was the ridicule Roy Hodgson received for nominating Javier Mascherano, Phillip Lahm and Manuel Neuer for the Ballon D'Or recently that prompted me to think in depth about this. How odd that, in a World Cup year, it should seem strange that he, an international manager, would highlight three people whose influence on the World Cup final and throughout the tournament was so evidently massive. Is football really so shallow that it can't see past the glory boys? Well, yes, judging by the history of Ballon D'Or (or World Player of the Year as it was) Top 3s. It's almost all attackers or attacking midfielders. The only defensive players in the Top 3 in the last 25 years are Roberto Carlos, Oliver Kahn, Manuel Neuer and Fabio Cannavaro, with Cannavaro the only one to win. Rugby's equivalent award is the opposite, going out of its way to tell us that the real stars of the game are not those prancing, point-scoring backs, but the big lumps upfront whom the casual rug