JOACHIM LOW BELIEVES that Philipp Lahm deserves to be considered as the best player of the past decade for his Bayern Munich and Germany accomplishments.
The last seven Ballon d’Or have been won by Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014) and Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) with the Real Madrid and Barcelona consistently being pitted against each other when the matter of who is the best on the planet is discussed.
Despite Lahm never having won the Ballon d’Or — or even being among the final three for the award – Low thinks that his 2014 World Cup-winning captain deserves to be considered as the greatest footballer of the past 10 years.
“Away from the Ballon d’Or there should be a player of the decade that Fifa should choose sometime soon,” he told reporters at the Zurich ceremony on Monday. “They should consider Philipp Lahm for this award.
“He has performed outstandingly in three World Cups – 2006, 2010 and 2014 – where he twice helped Germany to the semi-finals, then last summer he lifted the trophy. For me, he is the best player of the past decade.”
Low voted for Ballon d’Or 2014 finalist Manuel Neuer as his No.1 selection, with his now-retired skipper Lahm in second and new international captain Bastian Schweinsteiger in third, and the Germany coach admitted he was gutted his goalkeeper did not win.
“From my perspective, I’m obviously a bit disappointed for Manuel,” he added. “He brought in a brand new type of goalkeeping method at the World Cup. This has never happened before, it was something unique.
“Neuer is of course the best goalkeeper in the world. On the other hand, it must be said, Ronaldo and Messi are two outstanding players who bag 50-60 goals every season. Honestly, all three of the players deserved to win the award.”
Low himself was voted as Fifa’s World Coach of the Year for his role in guiding Germany to their first World Cup since 1990, defeating Argentina in extra-time in the Maracana final.
You’d have to say that Pat’s currently are the best team in the LOI & if they can win their last 3 matches then they might even nick the league.
Bohs may be the most P.C. team in football, but they’re dicing with the drop.
@Gerry Kelly: If Kenny was appointed a month earlier they’d be top.
@Comments Section Closed: still pathetic for Bohs to even contemplate finishing 9th with their set up and finances.
@An tEoghanach: we’ll finish 8th which is nowhere near good enough as you stated but that’s a sign of how competitive its been. There are no easy games in this league. Who’d of tought Dundalk would be relegated… Yes they had financial struggles but still had a squad good enough finish in a better position. Drogheda have Rovers Shels and a local derby in their remaining 3 but will win the playoff and stay up. Galway while not likely can still win the league from 5th if others slip up which just proves again how competitive its been… and with Cork coming back up, its going to be similar next year as well so everyone is going to have to get their shit together
Sligo Rovers ran rings around Derry tonight but only came away with a draw. We still have a chance to get Top 4!
C’ mon The Bit ‘O Red!!!
Why are they saying in the article about Derry City game tonight that it’s out of their hands but if my maths are right if they win their last 3 games they win it as they play Shels in the last game
The run Kenny has Pats on at the moment is something else. After the failure in the Irish job you can’t deny him as a coach he gets his players playing. Winning games there going to be contending next season. The league has been great so many teams involved with the final few games. Would love Shels to hold on but not sure if they will. They need to get a win asap. Give them some form for the remaining games
Kenny doing incredible things. Getting his reputation firmly back on track. The rest of the league will be worrying about what Pats will do next season
Tough watch in Dalyer tonight. Pats were on top but the red card was the killer blow. You could see how effectively they used the extra man to create space. It’s been a long season!