Strange Things in 2018 FIFA Football Awards

DBasia.news – The FIFA award always raised a big debate every year. Let’s say recently, Andres Iniesta was always listed in FIFPro XI, despite the other candidates.

If it’s not controversial enough, FIFA also chose David Luiz in 2014 FIFPro. In fact, the player was part of Brasil national team when defeated by Germany with 7 goals in the World Cup.

This year, Luka Modric gained the best player award defeating Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. Meanwhile, Didier Deschamps became the best coach, better than Zinedine Zidane and Zlatko Dalic.

Now, FIFA Football Award is representing some controversial decisions. Here are four of them:

No Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne in FIFPro XI

 

Kevin De Bruyne

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Mohamed Salah is one of the three players nominated as the best player with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric. This is a good reason for him to be listed in the FIFPro XI.

Salah lost the competition with Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard in the FIFPro XI list. Indeed, Hazard and Mbappe performed great in the 2018 World Cup. However, Salah has an impressive achievement when he supported Liverpool with the goal and assist. Besides, Salah also brought The Reds to the final round of 2017-2018 Champions League.

Meanwhile, De Bruyne was the player with the highest assist in five Europe top competitions. In fact, no Manchester City player listed in the starting eleven.

The decision raised a debate. However, it’s hard to deny that Salah and De Bruyne deserve the position just like Hazard and Mbappe.

Mo Salah Won Puskas Award

 

 

Mohamed Salah

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Despite excluded in the FIFPro XI, Mo Salah achieved the Puskas Award. However, does he deserve the title?

Salah got the Puskas Award due to his goal in the match against Everton in Anfield, December 2017. Many people assumed the goals against Tottenham Hotspur in Anfield or the first goal against AS Roma were much better.

The situation reminded us of Olivier Giroud’s victory last season. In fact, Giroud’s goal just stayed in the second place under Emre Can goal in the Premier League Goal of the Season.

Besides, there are many goals harder than Salah, just like the spectacular goals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the Champions League. Or, the scorpion kick from Riley McGree.

Thibaut Courtois Best Goalkeeper, But Not Listed in FIFPro XI

 

Thibau Courtois

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In the beginning, Thibaut Courtois, Hugo Lloris, and Kasper Schmeichel become the nominee of the best goalkeeper of the year when the rest goalkeepers like David De Gea, Jan Oblak, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Allison weren’t listed.

Eventually, Courtois became the best goalkeeper thanks to his performance with Belgium national team in the 2018 World Cup.

But, the weird moment happened when FIFA announced the FIFPro XI. The goalkeeper position belonged to David De Gea, who didn’t even include in the nominee.

Daniel Alves

 

Daniel Alves

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If you think the three decisions above are confusing, this one is beyond logic. FIFA listed Dani Alves in the FIFProXI despite the ordinary season.

Dani Alves deserved the nominee of FIFPro XI for the recent years. But not this season.

Alves helped Paris Saint-Germain to their glory in France, but in Champions League level, the story was different. Besides, he didn’t support Brasil national team in the 2018 World Cup due to injury. An inclusion that should tear down if the candidate measurement to be the FIFPro XI is the performance during the World Cup.

Kyle Walker has his fantastic season with Manchester City and also Dani Carvajal for Real Madrid has better record compared to Alves. It seems like FIFA should stop making the decision based on reputation rather than performance.