I want the community and those who remember what happened in football that season to give their opinion. Let me remind you that football year ended with 2 principal stories : FC Barcelona winning La Liga and the champions league, and Italy claiming the world cup. According to some analysts, my Idol you know big Samuel Eto'o was the best player in the world that season, which means he was above Dinho, Zidane, Henry and even the italians world champions. If there is something sure, Dinho and Eto'o were the best players of the club back then : Dinho the magician and Samu the most decisive player. Concerning Eto'o, I want to remind people that season he won as individual awards : AFCON's golden boot, pichichi trophy, assist leader in the champions, goalscorer and MVP in the final in Paris. He was at the pinacle of his art. Also, nowadays people tend to forget that season he was considered as the best player of the team by his teammates, his coach, president Laporta, Johan Cruyff the honour's president, Txiki and even some other great coaches, great players who were candidating for the award too and even the socios. That's some of the praises he got :
Dinho : It would be great if Eto'o win the ballon d'or, he deserves it and he's my friend.
El brasileño Ronaldinho de Assis, ganador del Balón de Oro el año pasado y uno de los candidatos a...
www.europapress.es
Xavi and Villa : Eto'o should win the ballon d'or
Si el premio lo decidieran sus compañeros de profesión, Samuel Eto'o tendría muchos números para ganar el Balón de Oro. El delantero camerunés no para de cosechar elogios por su sensacional trayectoria con el FC Barcelona. Los últimos le han llegado hoy de dos futbolistas con los que coincidirá...
amp.sport.es
Belletti : Now, Eto'o has to win the ballon d'or, he deserves it
La candidatura de Samuel Eto'o al Balón de Oro recibió el apoyo de su compañero Juliano Belletti, que considera que el camerunés ha hecho méritos suficientes para llevarse el galardón
www.sport.es
Giuly : In my opinion, for the ballon d'or, Eto'o is number 1 and Ronaldinho number 2
Giuly: El Balón de Oro se lo merecía Etoo Ludovic Giuly, jugador del Barcelona, mostró su sorpresa porque el Balón de Oro haya recaído en el defensa del Real Madrid Fabio Cannavaro. Cannavaro es un buen jugador que ha ganado la Copa del Mundo pero, en mi opinión, este año Samuel (Etoo) debería...
www.elmundo.es
Eto'o : Rijkaard deserves a ballon d'or
Eto'o pide un ''Balón de Oro'' para Frank Rijkaard.
as.com
Joan Laporta : I hope Eto'o to win the ballon d'or
Joan Laporta, presidente del Barcelona, se mostró hoy convencido de que el delantero Samuel Eto'o aún puede aspirar a ganar el Balón de Oro, y dest...
www.20minutos.es
Johan Cruyff : Eto'o showed throughout the season he deserves the ballon d'or.
El ex jugador y ex entrenador del FC Barcelona, Johan Cruyff, se unió ayer a los partidarios de que el delantero camerunés del Barça, Samuel Eto'o, se haga este año con el 'Balón de Oro'.
www.sport.es
Not to mention great names like Henry, Zidane, Juninho, Drogba, Vieira, Villa, Anelka, Djorkaeff and great coaches as Wenger, Deschamps, Gerard Houiller, Guy Roux all claiming Eto'o as favourite for the award.
At the end he ended at the 6th position on the ranking, because of marketing and probably racism too. His lack of hype throughout the season compared to his opponents cost him the award. Ballon d'or is the most successful marketing.
Now guys I need your opinion about it, personally Cannavaro was a good defender but didn't deserve it, and no italian deserve because it was a collective success without a big star carrying up the team. I also wanted by this thread to give back Eto'o the praise and recognition he deserves because people nowadays tend to do shameful comparisons because as cameroonian he lacks that hype to put him and his carreer on the light. I think to get all those praises playing in the same team than freaking Ronaldinho, you sure have to be a freaking legend.
