The difficult part of being a goalkeeper in regard to individual awards is that there is only a limited scope to what a shot stopper can do on the pitch: he prevents the ball going into the goal and he passes it to his teammates. Do these two things and you will rise high in the profession. Neuer will never be the type of goalkeeper to make 10 saves in a game, with bayern, he might only have to make one. But he can be relied on comfortably to do that. He has conceded only one goal in 13 matches in the bundesliga this season and has kept a stunning 28 clean sheets in 2014 as a whole.

Opposition players are expected to come off second best in a duel with the 28 year old. His ability to reach low on either side is unmatched by any goalkeeper in the world, while his anticipatory instincts are so finely honed that it is difficult to beat him one-on-one. Also in the fundamental goal keeping category, he comes out on top.

The recipient of the ballon d'or should be outstanding in his position and have huge success behind him. Ronaldo has that. By his own standards, the Portuguese has had a fine year, but in terms of excellence, he was outperfomed by neuer. Neuer was the corner stone of bayerns wins in the league, and the DFB pokal last season, he was also the man to thank for Germany's world cup win.

Neuer will play just as well in 2015 and continue his one man revolution in the position of goalkeeper. That team honour which went to the german team in 2014 ought to be enough for one of their party to earn the ballon d'or. As their sole nominee in the final three, Neuer deserves to be the first goalkeeper to win the award in 50 years..


Who is with me?

I am!
I also think the others should be tired of ascending the podium to receive the award, especially Messi!
This doesn't take anything away from Neuer though. He has the quality to win it.
I want him to win it!
#okyes
#okwinner
#okthanks






#okbye

I am too.
In as much as i'll like The Coach of the year to be given to Joachim Loew.

I am not with you, but seeing as there are no defenders in the final shortlist, then I humbly reserve my comment.

Hmmmm. Nice article. Let me write my own Response/rejoinder:


[b]Manuel Neuer's stats in the bundesliga are quite flattering. However if one considers the quality of the bundesliga and how poor it is generally, then one can't be surprised by these stats. The bundesliga is a one team league. Dortmund, which normally challenges for the league title has been indescribable in the league this season. The gulf in quality is so huge that every weekend, Bayern simply stroll past opponents with Neuer doing very little. While his contributions should not be downplayed, It is still fanciful to suggest that Bayern munich won the league and cup last season because of Neuer. Arjen Robben can lay more claim to that than Neuer.

In the same vein, a close and indepth look into the performance of Germany at the world cup will reveal that Neuer again though solid, was not the x factor in Germany winning the cup. Players like Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos, Phillip lahm had a bigger role in the world cup win than Neuer. In fact , Mexico's Ochoa and Costa Rica's Keylor Navas were better keepers and had more hand in their countries' progress at the world cup than Neuer. Who can forget Ochoa singlehandedly winning Mexico a very vital point against Brazil making uncountable jaw dropping saves.

The best place to really compare and scrutinize the players is thus the champions league. Neuer has been hard to beat in the league this season but has already conceded 4 goals in the champions league. When Bayern Munich came up against Real Madrid last season in the champions league semi finals, Bayern Munich lost by a whooping 5 goals to nil aggregate scoreline with Neuer conceding 5 goals and Ronaldo scoring two against him including a last minute under the wall free kick humiliation. This shows that when Neuer finally faced quality opposition, the likes of which he wasn't facing in the league, he was shown to be ordinary.
On the hand, Ronaldo was influential across board. Real Madrid did not win the league last season but Ronaldo was individually astounding. He emerged joint top scorer across europe, winning the golden boot and smashed the record for goals scored in a single champions league campaign winning the LA decima.


I'll end with this poser : if you replace Neuer last season with an ordinary keeper, Bayern Munich would surely still have won the bundesliga and Germany would most likely have still won the world cup. If you replace Ronaldo last season with an ordinary striker, Real would surely have been very far down the league table, and they surely WOULD NOT have won LA decima. Ronaldo was better than Neuer individually and also impact wise last season and deserves the crown.[/b]

akinsadeez:
Hmmmm. Nice article. Let me write my own Response/rejoinder:


[b]Manuel Neuer's stats in the bundesliga are quite flattering. However if one considers the quality of the bundesliga and how poor it is generally, then one can't be surprised by these stats. The bundesliga is a one team league. Dortmund, which normally challenges for the league title has been indescribable in the league this season. The gulf in quality is so huge that every weekend, Bayern simply stroll past opponents with Neuer doing very little. While his contributions should not be downplayed, It is still fanciful to suggest that Bayern munich won the league and cup last season because of Neuer. Arjen Robben can lay more claim to that than Neuer.

In the same vein, a close and indepth look into the performance of Germany at the world cup will reveal that Neuer again though solid, was not the x factor in Germany winning the cup. Players like Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos, Phillip lahm had a bigger role in the world cup win than Neuer. In fact , Mexico's Ochoa and Costa Rica's Keylor Navas were better keepers and had more hand in their countries' progress at the world cup than Neuer. Who can forget Ochoa singlehandedly winning Mexico a very vital point against Brazil making uncountable jaw dropping saves.

The best place to really compare and scrutinize the players is thus the champions league. Neuer has been hard to beat in the league this season but has already conceded 4 goals in the champions league. When Bayern Munich came up against Real Madrid last season in the champions league semi finals, Bayern Munich lost by a whooping 5 goals to nil aggregate scoreline with Neuer conceding 5 goals and Ronaldo scoring two against him including a last minute under the wall free kick humiliation. This shows that when Neuer finally faced quality opposition, the likes of which he wasn't facing in the league, he was shown to be ordinary.
On the hand, Ronaldo was influential across board. Real Madrid did not win the league last season but Ronaldo was individually astounding. He emerged joint top scorer across europe, winning the golden boot and smashed the record for goals scored in a single champions league campaign winning the LA decima.


I'll end with this poser : if you replace Neuer last season with an ordinary keeper, Bayern Munich would surely still have won the bundesliga and Germany would most likely have still won the world cup. If you replace Ronaldo last season with an ordinary striker, Real would surely have been very far down the league table, and they surely WOULD NOT have won LA decima. Ronaldo was better than Neuer individually and also impact wise last season and deserves the crown.[/b]

10000 likes for u bro ............and the last time I checked ballon d'or is won based on individual performances

OP. gaynaldo fans are gonna come for ya balls.. better change the topic

messi winnig the award in 2010 where you have an iniesta and xavi has made this award to loose some credibility and messi also winning the mvp at the last world cup has made matters worse, so FIFA has no choice than to give the award to ronaldo even though he had a bad world cup.

If the award should go any other person than Ronaldo, then FIFA itself should be banned, abi na only nff de get ban?

ronaldooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Cr7 is miles away from d rest , period .