Messi wins 2015 Ballon D'Or, his fifth in his career

[ASHOOR]

Messi won the 2015 Ballon D'Or aware (Fifa player of the year award) , with Cristiano Ronaldo coming second and Neymar third.


Messi now has 5 (2009,2010,2011,2012, 2015) , the most ever, while CR7 has 3 (2008, 2013, 2014) . Neymar is relatively new to this and is the first time finishing top 3. Hopefully he will take it all next year.

ASHOOR

 

[ASHOOR]

Ok so we are exactly 2.5 years ago from the next World Cup, yet Messi wins another BDO! When the last WC ended, I was thrilled to see Messi fall short. And then I thought: he is already showing signs of slowing down. By the time the next World Cup comes, he will be turning 31. There would be no way he would be effective enough to finally lead Argentina to its first wc in decades.

While I still believe that to be the case, I don't think messi will have slowed down that much by 2018. Just look at his stats with Barcelona of late. He is scoring and assisting as if he is at his peak. Mind you, some will argue and say that he is as effective thanks to his amazing teammates (Neymar, Suarez, Iniesta, Alves, Rakitic etc.)

Now let us look at the Argentina NT and where its main players will be by 2018. Their two best players after Messi, Aguero and Di Maria, will also be in their 30s just like Messi. I don't see the likes of Tevez and Higuain coming back. And unlike Brazil, they don't have a lot of promising young talent (someone correct me if I am wrong?)

Which brings us to the main question? Does Messi and Argentina have a good chance of winning the next World Cup, knowing most of their players will be past their prime? Heck, a lot of agree that Argentina was lucky to even reach the final given the opponents they had to face.

This would be Messi's 4th World Cup. By 2022 he will be 35 and I would be shocked if he is still part of the team, though stranger things have happened in soccer. How many chances can you be given to win something? Actually, deep inside, I want him to come back at 35 to give it another try to win a WC and still fail. Would that not be a record? 5 WCs and not able to win any? lol

What are your thoughts? Should we be worried about Messi in 2018? I know it is another 2.5 years and a lot could change till then, but then again a lot of us thought in 2010 that by 2014 Messi would hardly have any impact!



Ashoor

 

[Cascade]

Why no awards to Benzema? A lot of the times, he has outplayed Ronaldo (the supposed greatest soccer player of our time). I'd say Benzema should've taken the 2nd spot instead. He's usually very unappreciated and underrated. 

 

[Bronit Omta]

Why no awards to Benzema? A lot of the times, he has outplayed Ronaldo (the supposed greatest soccer player of our time). I'd say Benzema should've taken the 2nd spot instead. He's usually very unappreciated and underrated.

Suarez did better than Benzema and Ronaldo tbh and should've been in the nominations, imagine how biased it would've looked with all three Barcelona players going for the Balon D'Or.

 

[Cascade]

Suarez did better than Benzema and Ronaldo tbh and should've been in the nominations, imagine how biased it would've looked with all three Barcelona players going for the Balon D'Or.

Suarez is also good.

They're just over-appreciating Messi, Ronaldo & Neymar a lot. Lol. Other soccer players need an honorable mention. 

 

[ASHOOR]

WOW first time I see Neon talk sport, nice to see :thumbsup:

Need more people on the sports forum, we now have 3 or 4, hope we get more. Come on, Assyrians love sports and soccer, so there should be more here. In the past, we had so many, and had entire threads dedicated to the EPL and CL.

ASHOOR

 

[Cascade]

WOW first time I see Neon talk sport, nice to see :thumbsup:

Need more people on the sports forum, we now have 3 or 4, hope we get more. Come on, Assyrians love sports and soccer, so there should be more here. In the past, we had so many, and had entire threads dedicated to the EPL and CL.

ASHOOR

I'm a closet soccer fan. Lol.

Nah, I know some aspects of soccer. Use to be a good player when I was a preteen. Lost interest in it quickly though (and became lazy).

Nowadays, I may watch soccer games at times on TV -- It's the most entertaining sport out there btw. I do know some of the soccer players and I tend to critique them.