Odds and Ends to Fill Our Downtime

December 6th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 6 Comments »

Since there is nothing going on in the NT season in December, here are a few odds and ends about our players to fill these cold, dark days. We’ve touched on some of these over on the Offside Main Page, but some of you don’t read that (although you should.) And in this blog I can present them with a bit of French flavor.

First, look! It’s Nicolas Anelka! Scoring another goal for Chelsea, this one against his old team of Bolton:

Second, this is only tangentially related to France, but I was kind of touched by it. Remember Antonio Puerta, the Sevilla player who collapsed and died so tragically last year? There was a somewhat eerie almost-replay at the stadium, with the player who collapses being Moriera of FK Partizan. Fortunately this one had a much happier ending and the player seems to be fine, but what touched me about this video is how many Sevilla players are gathered around trying to help, because they are damned that this is going to happen to them again. And leading the pack is our very own Julien Escudé.

Next, Franck Ribéry is not happy about the Ballon d’Or voting, or more specifically about the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of the Ballon d’Or voting. Cristiano Ronaldo finished first, as expected, with 446 points. Lionel Messi was second with 281, Fernando Torres third with 179. Franck? Sixteenth, with 7. Yes, seven. Here’s what he had to say, and I’m inclined to agree with him despite the fact that it sounds a bit…um…big-headed.

“Frankly, I am disappointed by my ranking. I should have deserved better. Last year, I finished seventh having played six months for Marseille and six months at Bayern, without having won any titles. Here, I am 16th in the list at the end of a massive season with Bayern. We were champions of Germany, won the national cup and reached the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup. I also picked up a number of individual awards, for example the best player in the Bundesliga. I achieved something amazing but you have to accept the verdict.”

I have a few more tidbits (something about Yoann Gourcuff stripping down to his black bikini undies on the pitch, perhaps?) but that can wait for a later time.

Tags: Euro 2008, Franck Ribery, Julien Escudé, Nicolas Anelka

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Comments

By Best Player | December 7th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Ribery is a very fine player but he has a way to go before he’ll get more votes for Best Player in the World. More specifically, he’s going to have to lead Bayern to more success or go to a bigger team. Let’s face it – the top three vote-getters for the Ballon d’Or came from Big Clubs…

By Jean Pierre | December 7th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

i think ribery will be ranked higher if France plays better again like ages ago [bye]. and 16th is not that bad and he should not be so big-headed, he should make a joke of it like he always does.
btw whats up with gourcuff??*cries*? i thought he is zidanish and has a shy-persona ‘mysterious’ and doesnot ‘want to reveal too much’

Posted from Netherlands

By gaston | December 7th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

best player : are you saying bayern munich is not big club. what does it not have that other clubs have.

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | December 11th, 2008 at 9:18 am

Best Player, Ribery said he deserves a higher ranking, NOT to be voted the Best Player in the world. It’s very simple. These awards are given to players playing in only three countries: Spain, Italy, England. And usually just Spain or Italy. Other leagues are ignored by the world media. These awards are voted by people (journalists, players, etc.) who actually pay little attention to most football around the world, they just pay attention to the big names and leagues and that’s it. Ribery definitely deserves a higher ranking. He achieved a LOT last season in one of the world’s biggest leagues, in Europe’s most populous country. But if you play in Germany, you’re ignored.

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | December 11th, 2008 at 9:20 am

And Bayern Munich is one of the world’s biggest clubs, you obviously don’t know football if you don’t know that. They’ve won the European cup 4 times, the UEFA cup once and the European Cup Winners Cup once.

Posted from United States

By grace | December 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am

ok so i am a BIG soccer fan adn when i read the my teacher was makeing do a report on a country i picked france and i looked at there soccer team then i read for this web site that they were going to trade a really good player i had to say somthing i really can not say too much b/c i really only seen them play five times but i think that they shounld not trade jeremy menze call me crazy but he is like me favorit player and i still going to do my report on hi!

Posted from United States

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