Fifa party like its 2006 and Arsenal are not invited

I understand that FIFA have other priorities, you know, the small matter of the World Cup in June next year. Surely though, they have a dedicated team that watch as many as matches of clubs from around the globe. Looking at the current list of nominees however, leads me to question whether FIFA has actually watched domestic football since 2006.

These are the players who have been nominated.

If you had a pen and was asked to tick next to every name deserving to be nominated, most of them would probably received a tick even in the year 2006. Only Messi, Fabiano, Diego and perhaps Ribery would have had a question mark next to their name.

19 of the 23 named above are also nominated for the Ballon D’or. What is wrong with that you might ask? That conveys consistency in the selection process. Consistency or laziness?

Had Fifa been watching football since last year, they would have noticed these issues or reasons for which I believe their player choices are flawed.

• Essien picked up a ligament injury in September last year and wasn’t back until late February or March. How can a player missing 5 months of football be featured in this list?
• I thought Fabregas’ absence from December to April was the reason for his non selection. That argument gets squashed emphatically when the Ghanian midfielder gets selected. Even the most die hard Chelsea fan would put Cesc ahead of Essien. You just have to ask the question, who had the bigger impact for their clubs?
• Drogba and Ballack may have had outstanding games but their actions in the CL semi-final match vs Barcelona for me means they shouldn’t have been considered. I don’t know how many people watched that match but it was disgraceful.
• Similarly, no-one doubts Ronaldo’s impact. Unfortunately we saw it firsthand a couple of times in the season. The world also watched his petulance when he was substituted in a match they were winning.
• By selecting them here, FIFA are almost demonstrating that they are happy to turn a blind eye to these misdemeanours. Little do they realize such acts undermine the team on and off the field.
• I made the arguments for Fabregas and Arshavin to win the Ballon D’or and those same reasons apply here. In addition to the points made there about Arshavin, the Russian joined us at a time when expectations were high. Not only did he win the Arsenal world with his performances but he also won the football world with his sportsmanship at Portsmouth.
• Five Barcelona players (not counting Ibrahimovic) are nominated. Why stop there? Why not name the remaining members of the first XI as well?

And what about Van Persie?
The media coverage on the Dutch striker inflated several times over after his two goals against Spurs. Why has it taken so long to recognise his performances? If they and Fifa had been watching since last year they would have recalled the following…..

• Van Persie got both goals at Stamford Bridge last season in a game where we never really excelled but triumphed because of the Dutchman’s skill and persistence.
• Robin also scored an excellent goal against Liverpool just before the Christmas period.
• Who was the guy that scored the only goal in the two legs against Manchester United? You guessed it, Van Persie.

3 examples where the Dutch forward stepped up in big games. Should that not convince them, he also single handedly dragged us out of our slump before we had the luxury of Arshavin and Cesc. A world class player not only raises his game by taking it to another level but he also inspires his team to come out of a testing spell. He did this as interim captain, not an easy responsibility.

Apart from doing things right on the pitch and that includes being more disciplined, Van Persie has also shed the negative reputation that was a part of his DNA when he first joined us.

Proof of his maturity was the calmness he showed when was horrifically stamped upon by Adebayor at Eastlands this season. I wonder if the Togo forward’s desire to be on every media platform possible for right or wrong reasons when he was at Arsenal (and now), is possibly the reason Van Persie has gone so relatively unnoticed in the media until recently.

And I’ll leave you with the the fact that Adebayor was nominated in 2008. Perhaps this award should be renamed as ‘Players who the media love to write about’ award rather than what it is called at the moment.