As we are heading towards the end of Brazilian world cup, FIFA has announced the list of ten players who could win the player of the tournament aka Golden Ball award for the 2014 world cup. The list is obviously headed by four German players along with Argentina who has three players representing their country. Mats Hummels, one of the Germans in the list, has netted two goals: against Portugal and France while Kroos, another one, is now a household name in Brazil for his hammering performance in the semifinal with Brazil. Other notable Germans in the list are last world cup’s Golden Boot award winner Thomas Muller who had a hat trick in the match with Portugal this time and skipper Philipp Lahm who has been a finest think tank for the Germans in this FIFA event. For Argentina, Angel Di Maria and Messi both are in good form to win Player of the Tournament award. Other players who could make it into the final ten are Neymar, Arjen Robben, and James Rodriguez for their distinctive shows in the Brazilian event.
Over the years, this award has gained lots of appreciation for its strict selection process of nominations and then the winner, though, the procedure is straightforward without any confusing voting and all that: FIFA’s Technical Study Group does the thorough research on each and every player playing in the world cup and then compiles the list of ten players who have been impressive in the whole event. Winner will be chosen after the world cup final on Sunday.
It would be premature to predict who will be the Player of the Tournament but there are two players who are the front runners for this prestigious title and they are German Toni Kroos and Argentinean Messi, though Barca striker have had a bad Spanish season last year.
Meanwhile, FIFA has finalized Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli to mentor the final game on Sunday ruling out rumors that an Asian referee could be called upon to mentor the final match between Germany and Argentina. Jim Boyce, chairman of the FIFA’s refereeing committee, assured Rizzoli is the best candidate for the job hence governing body chose him over other names considering the importance of the game. Though, Rizzoli’s name for the Sunday’s game is almost final but FIFA has not announced it officially, i.e., the news is confirmed only by FIFA’s head of refereeing Massimo Busacca. Italian referee has been a part of three matches in Brazil world cup so far and two of them involved Argentina.