La Liga Dominates FIFA Team of the Year

[8vFTW]

Here it is...

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

What does this tell us? Is our league garbage? Or have they got it wrong and who would you replace? Not sure about Marcelo and Pique. Be temped to replace those with Baines (Everton) and Silva (PSG).

[robmlufc]

Suprised Neymar didn't get in I guess but Falcao has been looking fairly good. Barcas attack is the best form of defense style perhaps flatters their defenders a bit, Pique is useful at getting forward!

Alves and Ramos would be the players I would look at replacing there.

[obob]

No it just tells you it's a load of bks. How is RVP not in there, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Baines, Cashley. Not to mention half of Borussia Dortmund.

Unless you play for Real or Barca you don't have a chance of winning any of these stty awards. Messi could do bugger all for a whole year and he would still win.

Basically Real and Barca players have been winning it since Zidane played for Juve.

[GTO-3R]

All it shows is the massive bias towards Barca and RM. load of bks..

[Spanna]

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Most of those being the best players in the Spanish national Euro 2012 winning team and /or Real Madrid's league dominating team. This leaves Messi, Falcao and Alves.

Messi has had an undeniably incredible season.
Falcao has scored an insane amount of goals, including 5 in one game recenelty and carried Atletico Madrid above Real so far this season.
Dani Alves is one you might question as to what he's achieved last year, but he's the best right wing back in the World, he gets a lot of assists and goals from the position and is an ever present in a dominating Barca team.

I think it says that this group of players dominate their league and in international football that no one else gets a look in. I think if Drogba stayed in the Prem/Europe and continued to score goals he'd be in it for his performances earlier in the year.

I think it says more about their league than ours. Two teams dominate and even teams a few places from them can't even put up a fight.

[obob]

Spanna said:

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Most of those being the best players in the Spanish national Euro 2012 winning team and /or Real Madrid's league dominating team. This leaves Messi, Falcao and Alves.

Messi has had an undeniably incredible season.
Falcao has scored an insane amount of goals, including 5 in one game recenelty and carried Atletico Madrid above Real so far this season.
Dani Alves is one you might question as to what he's achieved last year, but he's the best right wing back in the World, he gets a lot of assists and goals from the position and is an ever present in a dominating Barca team.

I think it says that this group of players dominate their league and in international football that no one else gets a look in. I think if Drogba stayed in the Prem/Europe and continued to score goals he'd be in it for his performances earlier in the year.

I think it says more about their league than ours. Two teams dominate and even teams a few places from them can't even put up a fight.

So no RVP, who scored 66 goals over the last one and a half seasons in the EPL over Falcao who scored slightly less in a much less competitive league. Marcelo is pretty poor whereas Baines is a LOT better and has been playing a lot better than Marcelo over the last couple of seasons. No Vincent Kompany? Who helped his team to the Premiership title with an excellent defensive record. No Joe Hart who did the same, no Yaya Toure who was absoultely unstoppable. No one from Dortmund, not even Mats Hummels?

[warnerj]

The spanish league was bound to dominate as they have the previous years.

Dani Alves is a joke of a right back and have no idea how he got in the team, No Pirlo either, unbeaten Juventus season and got them to the finals of the Euros.

[robmlufc]

Who would people drop Toure for? I would say Xavi, Iniesta and Messi come as a package

[Cheib]

warnerj said:

No Pirlo either, unbeaten Juventus season and got them to the finals of the Euros.

+1 Pirlo's the big omission. I would say RVP is hard done by but nobody else in the PL.

End of the say Real and Barca are the two biggest clubs in the world whatever SAF or anyone else at Old Trafford might tell you....so a bit like Ferrari in F1 they carry the clout with FIFA/UEFA.

[London424]

Casillas, the best goal keeper in the world...who can't get a game?

[MrMagoo]

To those who think its a load of bks I ask you, how often do you watch La Liga? Because I watch it regularly and I have to say in terms of quality and technicality, La Liga are light years ahead of every top league in the world. I don't think the premier league is as dominant as it once was. We have the reputation and unpredictability in the our league but there's players in La Liga who would get into the best teams in England. No contest in terms of talent.

And IMHO Athletico Madrid would give both Manchester clubs a run for their money for any championship. Don't be fooled by Barca and Real dominating the competition. There the two best teams in the world and by a big margin (Barca espichially) Most teams in La Liga would put up a good fight againts any prem team.

[warnerj]

I watch La Liga on a regualr basis, Sat & Sun wouldnt be the same without it. I have to agree that technically La liga is better but I would say the EPL overall is the better league for entertainment value.

As proved over the last few years in Europe the EPL isnt the dominant force it was a few years back, yes Chelsea won the champions league last year but Man City cant get through the groups stages.

Over the season I couldnt see Athletico Madrid finishing in the top four. When Falcao leaves Madrid they will just become another average La liga team fighting for a champions league spot with the likes of Valencia and Sevilla.

[Spanna]

obob said:

So no RVP, who scored 66 goals over the last one and a half seasons in the EPL over Falcao who scored slightly less in a much less competitive league. Marcelo is pretty poor whereas Baines is a LOT better and has been playing a lot better than Marcelo over the last couple of seasons. No Vincent Kompany? Who helped his team to the Premiership title with an excellent defensive record. No Joe Hart who did the same, no Yaya Toure who was absoultely unstoppable. No one from Dortmund, not even Mats Hummels?

I don't disagree, but World Team of the Year works from January to December. They performed incredibly to reach the Prem title, but those players hadn't competed well in much else. Hart in Euros? Not great. Kompany? Failed to qualify. Yaya Toure lost the final in Africa Cup of Nations and they've all done poorly in the Champs league.

Unfortunately they choose these players not just on performances though. Rooney was shortlisted in last years one mainly because he'd played and scored in the Champs League Final, he weren't that great the rest of the year. This will also be why Pirlo didn't get in one of the CM positions, because Xabi and Xavi WON the Euros and Xavi made it further in the Champs league despite Pirlo winning the Serie A. Pirlo certainly deserved to be in there.

It is biased, I'd choose RVP over Falcao for my squad every day and definitely have Baines as my left back. Ramos is a good player, but there's plenty of CB's I'd choose over him for reliabilty, Mats Hummels being one of them, Thiago Silva, Chielinni etc.

[franki68]

No issue with it except the defence and keeper,The guy at bayern is the best keeper in the world by a huge margin,and if you look at Madrid and barca and identify weaknesses it is in defence ,I wouldn't have any of those in an ideal back 4.

[obob]

MrMagoo said:

To those who think its a load of bks I ask you, how often do you watch La Liga? Because I watch it regularly and I have to say in terms of quality and technicality, La Liga are light years ahead of every top league in the world. I don't think the premier league is as dominant as it once was. We have the reputation and unpredictability in the our league but there's players in La Liga who would get into the best teams in England. No contest in terms of talent.

And IMHO Athletico Madrid would give both Manchester clubs a run for their money for any championship. Don't be fooled by Barca and Real dominating the competition. There the two best teams in the world and by a big margin (Barca espichially) Most teams in La Liga would put up a good fight againts any prem team.

I watch loads of it, so when did Real last make it to the champions league final? And how many times have Barca made it there recently compared to say Chelsea or Man Utd?

2007 - Milan and Liverpool
2008 - Chelsea and Man Utd
2009 - Barca and Man Utd
2010 - Inter and Bayern
2011 - Barca and Man Utd
2012 - Chelsea and Bayern

So where is this dominance? 2 finals for Barca, 2 for Man Utd, 2 for Chelsea and 2 for Bayern.

[franki68]

Anyone watching real this season cannot possibly think they are the 2nd best team in the world,well they can but they would be wrong.

[im]

It's just a continuation of the Southern European/Latin bias that has become entrenched and is often spoken about off-the-record.

If you look at the winners of the previous Ballon D'or you'll find only 3 players who weren't either playing in the Italian/Spanish leagues or weren't themselves Latinos have won it in the last 31 years.

I don't know why we give the awards such credance over here...frankly I just ignore them nowadays.

[DukeDickson]

London424 said:

Casillas, the best goal keeper in the world...who can't get a game?

He hasn't started the last couple of games for unspecified 'technical reasons' (and got on after 5 mins in the last game due to his understudy being total pony).

Those technical reasons don't actually have anything to do with form, more Maureen's suspicious nature & acceptance that he won't be at RM next year (meaning he can chance dropping Casillas). This has been bubbling for some time now.

[robmlufc]

im said:

It's just a continuation of the Southern European/Latin bias that has become entrenched and is often spoken about off-the-record.

If you look at the winners of the previous Ballon D'or you'll find only 3 players who weren't either playing in the Italian/Spanish leagues or weren't themselves Latinos have won it in the last 31 years.

I don't know why we give the awards such credance over here...frankly I just ignore them nowadays.

Thats right, because Darren Bent and Stuart Downing are actually better than them in the other leagues.

[Amirhussain]

GTO-3R said:

All it shows is the massive bias towards Barca and RM. load of bks..

+1.EPL is the best league in the world