Sole Neymar Nomination for Ballon D’Or Is Worrying Trend for Brazil

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 31, 2014

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When the nominations were announced for the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or earlier this week, most of the attention justifiably focused on which players could potentially break the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi stranglehold on the award. Such candidates were few and far between.

Others, meanwhile, focused on which stars had failed to earn inclusion, whether it be Arturo Vidal, Luka Modric or, most controversially, Luis Suarez. While there will always be mutterings over a couple of names, there were few objections to the inclusion of just one Brazilian in Neymar. For a country famed for the quality of its footballing stars, it is a worrying trend.

Ten years ago, in 2004, Brazil boasted an impressive seven names on the admittedly long shortlist, while the following year nine candidates came from the South American country. Indeed 2008, when the number dropped to just one, was a major anomaly given that the next two years brought a combined eight nominations.



It is a major concern, then, that since 2011 Brazil have mustered only two nominations who don't go by the name Neymar—Dani Alves in 2011, following Barcelona's Champions League win, and Thiago Silva in 2013. Over the course of four years, that is all Brazil have had to offer.

Looking at the same time period, it is not that the country has not had players winning major titles. Ramires, David Luiz, Dante, Rafinha and Marcelo have all won Champions League titles in that period, while the national team also won FIFA's Confederations Cup in 2013. The names, though, were rarely superstars within their sides and the national team success was pinned largely onto the young shoulders of Neymar.

The truth is that Brazil lacks the same level of influential player as they possessed a decade ago. While at that point the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Juninho, Adriano and Kaka were all deciding games at the very top level of the club game on a regular ba...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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