sportsczy wrote:I bet you he finishes second behind Messi.  I'm calling it here.  Since there are a lot of international voters...  Messi will get his.  Copa America is such a joke with how its organized; but it is what it is.

Benzema literally carries Real Madrid.  He was also very good in the Euro  and dominant in this tournament.

Calling it now.  karim 2nd.

I don't see it but we'll wait and find out.

The problem is with the people who don't think Messi should win is that they rally behind a different candidate every few months.

At the start of the year it was Lewa, then when Chelsea won the CL it was Kante, then when Italy won Euros it was Jorginho, now that France has won Nations League (lol) they are trying to rally behind Benz.

Messi is always going to win the award if the competition can't rally behind one direct competitor.

How can you call it Covid America then do propaganda for the nations league which is an exhibition tournament. At least Copa America has a 100 year history and is regarded as the third most prestigious international trophy behind the WC and Euros. Players cry when they win or lose the tournament. Who shed tears over the Nations League?

It has less prestige than the confederations cup did and no one was using it to back their arguments. Portugal won in 2019 and no one said CR should win because of that. The nations league is even less prestigious than the Olympics ffs.

This copa america only happened because CONMEBOL insisted on it. They wanted the CA to fall in the same year as the Euros from here on out, which was the main reason for this copa america was supposed to happen 1 year after the last one.

Then you add that covid is still very much a huge problem in South America. If I recall most teams just wanted it cancelled and wait for the next edition (2024) which seemed like the most logical thing to do. But again, CONMENOL insisted. Most teams fielded a much weaker of their squads instead of the 2 countries I mentioned.

Don't get it twisted I vouch for Benz because he is consistently been great for Real and now for France. But personally, I think he won't. Your right the nation's league shouldn't and doesn't mean a thing. I think Lewa will take it or some Chelsea player will

It's a shame that Benz attacking partners went from a GOAT to walking trash cans like Vini and Hazard. Let's hope this year is different

Do you think the average journalist who votes on this is going to remember there's an asterisk next to that Copa America?

I honestly don't. In fact, it is more likely they will remember the images that went viral of Messi collecting the Golden boot, MVP, and lifting Argentina's first trophy since 1993. Random players who had no affiliation with Barca/Argentina were sharing those pictures too.

So it's because of that I think he'll win. His only competition is Jorginho, but Jorginho is only there because he was the only player present on both Italy and Chelsea. He doesn't have enough individual quality to sway enough votes in his favour.

Even if he did his votes will get split with the different names people have already brought up. Recent history shows that when there's no clear favorite for the award the winner usually goes to the one with the most memorable moment. We are in the social media era after all. So when it comes down to it I just see these voters remembering Messi lifting the Copa America ahead of other moments. We'll wait and find out November 29 to see if I'm right though.

fuck it, Messi will win and haters will cry... im here for it

Even the regular non football French (which is extremely high considering most in the nation do not watch football regularly) population still has a grudge against Benzema based on the news, interesting to see how this pans out, well the Ballon d'or, the bar is way too high for just stats padding in the dying Lol Liga, Madrid need to win the CL for him to be even considered.

They are giving two Balon D Ors this year, one for 2020 and one for 2021.

2020 will be Lewandowski and 2021 will be Messi.

Harmonica wrote:

Myesyats wrote:Messi is always the best in whoscored ratings. Wonder why he doesnt have 13 balon dors yet then.

He should've if it was based on quantity of performance during the year.

the meds ye forgot to take tonight

Mamad wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:It's a glorified friendly. Even the players are not taking it seriously.

It is frankly stupid to compare it in any way to the Copa America. Seriously, this comment by itself should disqualify you from discussing football for a month.

Trust me they took it 100% seriously. did you even watch the games?

Honestly coming here reading opinions from people like you gives me a headache. how dumb can you be about the sport you like.

Yeah, I watched the games, and the level of intensity compared to the Euros was a significant downgrade, and so was the level of emotional connection. Italy's players would have been in tears if they lost to Spain in the Euros.

Your post about this "competition", which is analogous to the community shield in club football, being somehow equal to the Copa America is honestly one of the most stupid comments on this site, and that's saying a lot.

For the record, Benzema absolutely deserves a Ballon d'Or from a general performance perspective, but like Ibra before him, probably wouldn't get it because of the usual monster performance by Messi, who has the added advantage of not having a trophy-less year.

Players like Jorginho, while extremely pivotal to their team, would never get this award because they rarely have highlight moments. Even similar players who could have realistically competed in that position (Xavi and Pirlo) for one where much flashier than him, and they could never compete for the award with statistical anomalies like Messi and CR. Only reason Modric got it was because it was a relatively barren year trophy-wise for both players.

Lord Spencer wrote:

Mamad wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:It's a glorified friendly. Even the players are not taking it seriously.

It is frankly stupid to compare it in any way to the Copa America. Seriously, this comment by itself should disqualify you from discussing football for a month.

Trust me they took it 100% seriously. did you even watch the games?

Honestly coming here reading opinions from people like you gives me a headache. how dumb can you be about the sport you like.

Yeah, I watched the games, and the level of intensity compared to the Euros was a significant downgrade, and so was the level of emotional connection. Italy's players would have been in tears if they lost to Spain in the Euros.

Your post about this "competition", which is analogous to the community shield in club football, being somehow equal to the Copa America is honestly one of the most stupid comments on this site, and that's saying a lot.

France beat Croatia, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium and Spain to win Nations league. all of which took it very very seriously.

Compared to likes of Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay etc... which Argentina faced.

A competition being old does not make it better or more important. yeah maybe for people of Argentina but the quality of competition is not relevant to how old the competition is.

You all acting like Copa America is as important as World cup or Euro's lmao. it's nowhere near. it is not that important. but hey Messi and Ronaldo fanboys want you to believe every competition they win is something special. like last year, Barca won the Copa and acted as if they have won the CL.

What does Ronaldo and Messi have to do with the quality or prestige of international tournaments?

Of course winning the Copa America is better than the Nations League ffs

It's not about which one is better. it's about not dismissing Nations league completely. saying it's a friendly cup just because it's new.

Mamad wrote:It's not about which one is better. it's about not dismissing Nations league completely. saying it's a friendly cup just because it's new.

It's a competition developed for the sole purpose of eliminating or reducing friendly international matches in weeks without any qualification games. It has some limited impact in qualification for the Euros and the WC, but that's it. Imagine the Spanish press if they lost the final of the Euros to a goal like that

This is why, if you actually compare the matches themselves to the Euros, the level of intensity and emotional connection is just not there. True, these players are professionals, and they will always try to win these games, especially after the group stage where the teams stop experimenting.

In contrast, the Copa, like the WC and the Euros, means something more to the players, and the level of effort and intensity they put in the line is evidence of that. Sure, the Copa is not the same level as the WC and Euros, but it is next in line.

Nation's League has actually been very competitive from what I've seen.  Teams are playing extremely hard.

Sure, the Euro and World Cup are more important as of now (world cup will always be; I think the Euro is going to be replaced by the nation's league tbh).  But this is no joke.  You can tell by the physical impact the teams are bringing to games.  Also, media coverage has been immense (at least in France). It's elite, no doubt.

The Euro and World Cup were also new at one point... until they weren't.

As time goes the more I just realize most ppl has only black n white, n not much in between Anyway, I think all them favourites are there for a reason, all have had their amazing run of forms. Regarding the star power factor, it was also important until Modric won it, hes not much of a star at all, but becos he was so good for those few years with Real winning 3 CLs while others dropped off, it finally went to a deserving non star player.

But this yr I dont think any of those players like Kante, Jorginho would have much if any over Messi. They won things but werent always the standout guy, especially Kante whos been out too much. Messi had been great for Barca as usual even though we didnt come close to winning anything.

Lewand winning it would be for the simple fact to make up for last yr, but I think it would be a bit weird. Benzema is unlucky not having won anything too until this Nations League which is prolly weighted a little less. Dont forget after the win Mbappe also have risen up his odds a bit

Finally Im guessing personal career (which is stated in the awards description I think) n popularity n likability to the journalists n fellow professionals is a bit of factor also?

The nation league games were highly competitive imo nothing like some glorified friendly, the teams were going for it at this point, so the level wasn't subpar lots of physicality and skill.

On the case of benzema chances they should be fairly slim, I don't think the nation league cuts it but it helps to get him top 3, with factoring his overall play, imo he has hard task winning major trophies with the injuries and form of the team last season, he carried and almost won the league and got to the CL semi, he performed at an elite level individually, if he was taking penalties his number would be more impressive to sway votes, is what it is him winning now would be good, cause he needs some individual rewards before he hangs it up.

Ok it is not Euro or WC but Nations League >>>> Confederations Cup

Nations league is a glorified friendly , no argument about it.

Benzema while performing great will have to actually take Madrid to a trophy to be in the contention let alone win it.

Which trophy madrid has a chance of winning ? None. Benzema is no one man player, he performs when the team performance is at least average . He is no prime CR /messi who can just pop and score 3 when madrid/barca is playing absolutely shit and second best. Hence Madrid are not going to win anything and neither B the ballomdor.

Don't know about that. Madrid have played way below average last season and Benzema was still performing at a high level. The only thing against Benz is his trophy collection for Madrid since last season, but I can't blame him for that

Madrid has been absolutely meh many times past 2-3 seasons and the only thing saving us was Benzema.

i would argue this about France too past 2 games. Benzema scored two brilliant goals out of nothing when they most needed it.

Nations League was created for making more money from friendlies, it's a friendly cup. And they tried to hide the fact, by giving one Euro place. Which is pointless in current Euro's anyway with 24 teams. And compared to lady football in Euro's, Copa is war of men, with corrupted referees allowing butchering, awful pitches and Brazilian officials.

Adit wrote:Nations league is a glorified friendly , no argument about it.

Benzema while performing great will have to actually take Madrid to a trophy to be in the contention let alone win it.

Which trophy madrid has a chance of winning ? None. Benzema is no one man player, he performs when the team performance is at least average . He is no prime CR /messi who can just pop and score 3 when madrid/barca is playing absolutely shit and second best. Hence Madrid are not going to win anything and neither B the ballomdor.

Madrid wouldn't even qualify for the CL last year (and maybe even this year) if not for Benzema's clutch performances. Easily the best player in the league last year behind the incomparable Messi, and would instantly make any team much better if he goes there.

Harmonica wrote:Nations League was created for making more money from friendlies, it's a friendly cup. And they tried to hide the fact, by giving one Euro place. Which is pointless in current Euro's anyway with 24 teams. And compared to lady football in Euro's, Copa is war of men, with corrupted referees allowing butchering, awful pitches and Brazilian officials.

Oh, come off it.

Compared to the Euros, the Copa is a farmer's competition. There is a reason a South American team did not win the WC for the past four WCs, and won't win it soon.

Outdated tactics, extreme play-acting, and a rot style of play. "War of men", more like a neanderthal sport.

Lord Spencer wrote:

Harmonica wrote:Nations League was created for making more money from friendlies, it's a friendly cup. And they tried to hide the fact, by giving one Euro place. Which is pointless in current Euro's anyway with 24 teams. And compared to lady football in Euro's, Copa is war of men, with corrupted referees allowing butchering, awful pitches and Brazilian officials.

Oh, come off it.

Compared to the Euros, the Copa is a farmer's competition. There is a reason a South American team did not win the WC for the past four WCs, and won't win it soon.

Outdated tactics, extreme play-acting, and a rot style of play. "War of men", more like a neanderthal sport.

Brazil is the most successful team in the World Cup. Last three World Cup's Uefa has had 40 teams, about half making to the knock-out stage. In stark comparison Conmebol entered with 15 teams, and only one failed to advance to ko-stage.

Copa and Euro are pretty equal on top 5 teams, but the style is different. Where as in Europe players are protected and game is more skillful, in Conmebol referees are protected and the game is much more physical.

COPA is historical and all and always will be but comparing it to Euros is a joke. I remember watching the COPA this time and the level of football itself was just shocking. European football has zoomed way ahead of South American and saying otherwise is just memeing.

That being said Benzema would not be an exciting win for the Ballon d'Or but a deserved one.

Real one who deserves it is Robert Lewandowski, who has been just absurdly prolific but wont win it, sadly.