Messi wins third straight Ballon d'Or

Updated January 10, 2012 07:11:08

Lionel Messi was on Tuesday morning awarded the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or at a star-studded ceremony in Zurich, the third consecutive year that he has won the prestigious award for the world's outstanding footballer.

The 24-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward finished ahead of his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca team-mate Xavi.

"It's a great personal pleasure for me," Messi said.

"It's the third time I've won it. It's just an amazing honour. I want to thank everyone that's been involved with me - my team-mates, trainers, physios, the coach (Pep Guardiola) and everyone at Barcelona.

"I'd also like to thank the Argentina national team as well."

Messi becomes only the second player, after current UEFA president Michel Platini, to win the award for three consecutive years.

He also joins Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten as the only men to have won the prize on three occasions.

"I want to share this honour with my team-mate, Xavi," added Messi, who then addressed his club-mate in the audience at the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala.

"He deserves it, too. I want to share it with you, because you deserve it as much as me. It's a pleasure to be here alongside him and to play with him."

The award was formed when the Ballon d'Or merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2010 and is voted for by national team coaches and captains, as well as a panel of football journalists selected by France Football magazine.

Messi was the strong favourite to retain his prize after a year in which he inspired his club to five trophies, including the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and a third consecutive La Liga title.

He scored twice, including a memorable solo goal at the Bernabeu, as Barca beat old enemies Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals and he was also on target from long range in the 3-1 defeat of Manchester United in the final at Wembley.

This season he has scored his 200th goal for Barcelona and is closing in on Cesar Rodriguez's all-time record of 235 goals for the club.

Barcelona was given further reason to celebrate when Guardiola was named FIFA Coach of the Year.

The 40-year-old former Barcelona and Spain midfielder had been nominated alongside Madrid's Jose Mourinho - winner last year after guiding Inter Milan to three trophies including the Champions League - and Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.

"I want to dedicate this award to the thousands of people who, through more than a hundred years, have worked for FC Barcelona and helped develop one of the best clubs in the world," Guardiola said.

The blow was softened for Ferguson by the FIFA Presidential Award, which was presented to him by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in recognition of his 25 years of service in the Old Trafford dug-out.

"I've been a lucky manager to have such great players from the word go right through to today," the 70-year-old Scot said.

"What makes United such a special club, from our past right up to the present day, is that they have always retained the courage to play and the courage to win."

Barca boasted five players in the FIFPro XI for 2011, with Dani Alves, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta selected alongside Xavi and Messi.

Madrid had four representatives - Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Ronaldo - while Manchester United pair Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney completed the line-up.

Messi and Rooney missed out on the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of 2011, which was awarded to Santos forward Neymar for a remarkable solo goal that he scored in a Brazilian league game against Flamengo.

Japanese midfielder Homare Sawa claimed the women's equivalent of the Ballon d'Or, after she won the Golden Boot for top scorer and the Golden Ball for player of the tournament as Japan secured its first ever women's World Cup title in Germany.

Marta of Brazil and United States striker Abby Wambach were also nominated.

Japan coach Norio Sasaki was named Women's Coach of the Year, ahead of France coach Bruno Bini and the USA's Swedish coach Pia Sundhage.

AFP

Tags: sport, soccer, switzerland

First posted January 10, 2012 07:01:34

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Roar hit with third straight defeat

Updated December 15, 2011 07:51:29

Under pressure after Brisbane Roar's third consecutive loss, coach Ange Postecoglou is refusing to contemplate changing the style the defending A-League champions play.

Wellington Phoenix notched up their third successive win at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium on Wednesday with a 2-0 triumph over a Roar side which up until 10 days ago was unbeaten.

A first-half strike from forward Paul Ifill set up the victory, while an 81st minute goal from Nick Ward sealed the Phoenix's fourth win of the season in front of a disappointing crowd of 4,628.

The Roar desperately needed a win after losses to Sydney and Melbourne Heart ended a 36-match winning streak.

Against the Phoenix they controlled possession with a measured passing game, but looked short of ideas in the attacking third.

Postecoglou is not pushing the panic button, emphasising afterwards that he intends to stick with his game plan regardless of the way results fall.

"We're going to play this way come hell or high water," he said.

"People are going to be very disappointed if they expect to see us change."

The Roar, missing playmaker Thomas Broich, captain Matt Smith and Brazilian Henrique, could not capitalise on the few chances they created, but Postecoglou is confident his team are playing with the right approach.

"All along we've said we were about playing the game a certain way. We're on that journey, and we'll continue on that journey for however long it takes us, good or bad."

Postecoglou described Wednesday's result as disappointing, but added he was not at all unhappy with the way the team played.

"I thought we played some good football. We took the game to the opposition but we just could not capitalise on the chances we had."

In contrast, the Phoenix's speed on the counterattack created plenty of opportunities, two of which they finished in style.

The first goal came in the 27th minute when Ifill latched on to a sweet through-ball from Ward, turned Roar defender Matthew Jurmann inside out then left Michael Theoklitos sprawling with a deflected right-foot finish which looped over the goalkeeper's head.

In the 81st minute and down to a standstill with his problem groin, Ifill still managed to slip an inch-perfect pass to an unmarked Ward, who was left one-on-one with Theoklitos and coolly slid the ball home.

The rub of the green favoured the Phoenix - a deflection certainly helped Ifill - but Postecoglou said that was no reason to change the Roar's approach.

"Those things aren't going to change what we do - far from it. It just gives me further resolve to go down this path," he said.

"I'm kind of curious to see where it will take us, you know.

"Hopefully not 36 losses in a row. If it does, it'll be some journey for us but I doubt that very much.

"I think things'll turn around very quickly results-wise."

Phoenix: 2 (P Ifill 27', N Ward 81')

Roar: 0

AAP

Tags: sport, soccer, a-league, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, new-zealand

First posted December 14, 2011 19:41:21

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Heart make it two straight

Updated November 18, 2011 23:19:35

A horror week for Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg was made worse by a frustrating 2-1 loss on Friday night as Melbourne Heart enjoyed back-to-back wins.

Bleiberg arrived at Skilled Park looking for positives after a week in which he copped a $5,000 fine and suspended one-match ban from Football Federation Australia for comments made after a November 6 game.

Adding insult to injury, his team sat dead last on the A-League ladder.

Just when Bleiberg thought things could not get worse, Gold Coast slumped to its third straight loss for the first time in club history in front of just 4,031 fans who booed at full-time.

In contrast, Heart coach John van 't Schip was smiling after a solid start to a daunting run of four away games in five weeks.

The fact they did it without Olyroos representatives Mate Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Jason Hoffman would have made van 't Schip even happier.

"I thought it would be the bounce-back game for the Gold Coast but it didn't happen," a solemn Bleiberg said.

"We are hurting but it can't get worse.

"The only thing that we can do is work harder and better."

Palmer put the heat on the squad before the kick-off by vowing to make "changes" in the January transfer window.

Bleiberg said he would again reassess his options in his young squad as he looks to counter the loss of Olyroos James Brown and Dylan McGowan and Ben Halloran (knee).

Meanwhile, van 't Schip was full of praise for his team after the gritty win.

"I think we have played better games than this evening and didn't get the points that we thought we deserved," he said.

A mid-week pep talk by captain Michael Thwaite and a pre-match directive to "step up" by billionaire owner Clive Palmer did not seem to have any affect as United trailed 1-0 by half-time thanks to Matt Thompson's fourth-minute strike.

But whatever Bleiberg said at the break worked as Gold Coast came alive in the second half.

United finally broke through in the 63rd minute when Maceo Rigters was felled outside the box and Peter Jungschlager's penalty kick went through the defensive wall and past a wrong-footed Clint Bolton.

But the deadlock did not last long - in the 68th minute Jonatan Germano pounced on a clever Thompson chip and cheekily lobbed the ball over keeper Glen Moss to score.

The visitors should have had the result in their keeping by half-time if not for poor finishing - Maycon being the worst culprit.

His biggest gaffe came in the 20th minute when his header at point-blank range sailed over the cross bar.

Not that United did not have its first-half chances - Dutch import Rigters was dangerous throughout but also unlucky.

His scorching 12th-minute effort burst through keeper Bolton's hands - only to ricochet off the crossbar.

Melbourne Heart: 2 (M Thompson 4', J Germano 68')

Gold Coast United: 1 (P Jungschlager 63')

AAP

Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, robina-4226, qld, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted November 18, 2011 22:09:17

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