World Football: Heroes of 2010

The highs and lows of 2010 have been extreme to put it mildly. From gun toting separatists in Africa last January to an Octopus called Paul in June and possibly the greatest team of all time in November, 2010 has been a year to remember, or forget depending upon which team you follow.


Here, we look at some of the heroes of the last 12 months. Some stories have been covered by every media outlet under the sun and some have just slipped past their mighty radars.

However, each and every one is just as important as each other as they thread a careful weave through the labyrinthine tapestry that is the footballing year of 2010.

January’s Hero: Andres Iniesta

Most people on the list are there because of instances in 2010’s calendar year, not Andres Iniesta though.
Nine months on from Iniesta firing Barcelona into the Champions League final with a late winner against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge we have what is now known in the Catalan capital as “The Iniesta Generation.”

To put it mildly, Iniesta’s goal seemed to the main catalyst for a month of “celebrating.” The strike on May 2 was the first magical moment of a month that will last in many a Barca fans dreams…

They then went on to win La Liga and the Champions League.

While little Lionel Messi may have been the inspiration behind an incredible season, it would seem that Iniesta has become the inspiration for something entirely different…

A survey in the Catalan capital has revealed that birth rates are currently experiencing a 45 percent increase.
And strangely enough, it was around nine months since those monumental games took place…

February’s Hero: Glen Whelan

The vibrations from Ryan Shawcross’ bone juddering tackle on Aaron Ramsey still linger. Indeed, the promising midfielder has only just returned to action in a loan move to Nottingham Forest and as we stand it remains unclear as to whether he will get back into the Arsenal team in the near future.

On the night in question, Shawcross dived in recklessly and prematurely ended the Welsh youngster’s season. It was obvious to everyone watching that Ramsey was in some distress, some of his team mates namely captain Cesc Fabregas and the experienced Sol Campbell just roared at the referee, some even vomited, some just became involved in handbags type pushing with Stoke players.

The only man on the pitch to keep his cool during the entire maelstrom that followed was Stoke’s Glen Whelan.

The Irish midfielder immediately went over to Ramsey and comforted him while the medical team ran on.
It made a big impact on the budding Arsenal star as he singled Whelan out for special praise a few days later.

March’s Hero: Gergely Rudolf

Gergely Rudolf recently signed a four year deal with Genoa after leaving Debrechen on a free transfer. The highly rated 25-year-old striker was scouted by many teams from major leagues and could have gone for a lucrative transfer fee that his club could barely afford to do without.

April’s Hero: Jose Mourinho

April was the month that “the interpreter” came back to haunt his old club.
Over the two legs of their Champions League Semi Final tie against Barcelona, Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho showed that organisation and superb defence can and will out shine flamboyant superstars if given half a chance.

Inter raced into a 3-1 lead after the first leg in Milan with a supreme performance where they attacked and defended at precisely the right moments throughout the match. Then in the return leg in Barcelona they were cruelly reduced to ten men when Thiago Motta was wrongly adjudged to have elbowed Segi Busquets.
The resulting ten men behind the ball was a lesson in defending for the ages.

In the end it was a night where the right team went through but the aftermath of the game left a distinctly bad taste in the mouth.

May’s Hero: Shane Duffy

The 18-year-old Everton centre half was playing for an Irish developmental side when he clashed with the opposing goalkeeper following a corner.

Unbeknownst to anyone watching, Duffy had severely lacerated his kidney and was mere moments away from death. The FAI’s team surgeon came on expecting to treat the player for being winded but noticed that his blood pressure was dangerously low and immediately called an ambulance.

Duffy had lost over half of his body’s blood through the injury.

Following a number of operations, Duffy was expected to be out of action for over a year as his body recovered and few thought that he would ever return to the game.

However, the prodigious defender played a friendly for Everton against Sligo Rovers in August, just three months after incurring an injury that few people ever fully recover from.

The incident was described as “a freak injury and one we might never see in another 100 years of medicine…”

June’s Hero: Diego Maradona

You either loved him or you hated him but there is little doubt that Argentina were one of the great, if not only, entertaining teams of the early stages of the World Cup in South Africa.

Be he running over reporters that he did not see or cursing at television interviewers the entire football world tuned in to see Diego self destruct.

Instead, Argentina were good. They entertained and Maradona kicked every ball on the side line like he was playing the very match himself.

In the end his wild exuberance was overcome and cruelly exposed by German tactics but up until that stage they were almost everybody’s favourite team.

July’s Hero: Andres Iniesta

Two mentions in one year and neither for his phenomenal exploits on the football pitch!
Andres Iniesta gets a second mention in the 2010 hero list for his beautiful gesture following his World Cup winning goal.

On scoring, he wheeled away and took off his shirt revealing a message to the friends and family of Daniel Jarque, “Dani Jarque is always with us.”

Jarque, Iniesta’s best friend, died in August 2009 of Sudden Death Syndrome while training with Espanyol in Italy.

The goal was a just ending to a match that was almost destroyed by Holland’s shameful tactics and it was fitting that it was scored by Iniesta.

Augusts’ Hero: Craig Bellamy

The much maligned Welsh striker has had his fair share of ups and downs in football but even he must have been shocked at the speed he was drummed out at Manchester City at.

Particularly when you consider that he was easily the Citizen’s most influential player in the 2009/10 season.
City refused to do business with clubs that wanted him (Spurs, Villa, and Everton) and so poor Craig found himself being loaned out to Championship side Cardiff City.

On his first press conference for Dave Jones side, every journalist waited with baited breath to hear the fireworks go off.

But a very dignified Bellamy chose his words carefully and said that he understood what City had done and that his time at the club was an enjoyable one and that he had no ill feeling towards Roberto Mancini.

September’s Hero: The Champions League

The Cup with the big ears returned with a bang in September and washed away all those bad memories of the World Cup in one fell swoop.

Attacking football was the name of the day as teams actually went out to beat each other, unlike in South Africa.

During the first round of games in the World Cup group stages in South Africa, only 25 goals were scored across 16 matches.

Compare this to the Champions League this week, where an astonishing 44 goals were scored across 16 games.

Overall, there were 145 goals scored in the entire World Cup of 64 matches, an average of 2.26 goals per game.

The Champions League average sits at 2.75 goals per game at the moment, only half a goal per game in the difference.

But in terms of entertainment, enjoyment, and sheer enterprise, the club competition outstrips its senior counterpart in every way.

October’s Hero: Gareth Bale

Another Welshman and another flyer. The Tottenham Hotspur left sided midfielder has had an incredible 2010.

He only broke into the Spurs first XI in January because Benoit Assou-Ekotto was suspended and since then he hasn’t looked back.

His superb season probably hit its highest point in October when he scored a fantastic hat trick against Inter Milan at the San Siro in what was certainly one of the best individual performances of the calendar year.

He followed that impressive performance up two weeks later at White Hart Lane as the Champions League’s most exciting team literally tore Inter Milan apart.

November’s Hero: Barcelona

Pep Guardiola’s current Barcelona side are now what many people are calling the greatest team of all time.
Most certainly there has never been a team that play as attractive a brand of football.
 
November was an incredible month for football lovers everywhere, but particularly Barcelona football lovers.
The month didn’t start in the greatest of fashion as La Blaugrana eked out a 1-1 draw away to FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, but from there they did not look back.

Over the next 22 days they beat: Getafe 3-1 (a), Cueta 5-1 (h), Villareal 3-1 (h), Almeria 8-0 (a), Panathinikos 3-0 (a) before they destroyed their long time rivals Real Madrid 5-0 at the Nou Camp in what many feel is the greatest team performance of all time.

December’s Hero: Juan Roman Riquelme

At one stage in his career, Juan Roman Riquelme was regarded by many as the world’s best midfielder. Every team of stature in the game either tracked him or offered him riches beyond imagination to tempt him away from his beloved Villareal.

Now, at 32, the playmaker known as “the Lazy Magician” has returned to his homeland to play for Boca Juniors.

Since 2007 he has easily been the standout player in South America, guiding Boca to the Copa Libertadores in 2007, the Argentinian Primera Division Title in 2008, and the Recopa Sudamerica in 2008. He has also claimed individual honours during the same period so it came as no surprise to see big European sides begin to hover around Riquelme as 2009 drew to an end.

To fend off obvious bids for afar, Boca made Riquelme one of their highest paid players and gave him a new four year deal worth $5 million.

Then Riquelme got injured.

This season he only played one and a half games in the Apetura as he was out injured and in a show of good faith to Boca Juniors he refused to accept payment while he was out injured.

A nice touch from one of the games great professionals.

Craig Bellamy Inspired Manchester City Run Riot In 4-2 Win Over Suicidal Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

A Craig Bellamy inspired Manchester City team ran riot against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge today as Roberto Mancini's men hammered the nine men Blues 4-1. Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan had shown that the Blues were beatable midweek, but City ripped them apart.

The Pensioners contributed to their own downfall as much as City's good play, making school boy errors that were beyond belief, as well as two players getting sent off for the most ridiculous of challenges.

The first half was a pretty turgid affair with Chelsea dominating play and Henrique Hilario was little more than a spectator in the error ridden half.

It could be summed up perfectly by Didier Drogba rising to meet a deep cross from the left. He missed the ball but managed to clash heads with Pablo Zabaleta before striking the terrified Micah Richards under the chin with a knee, leaving all three players on the ground in a heap.

Frank Lampard's contribution was negligible before he ran onto Joe Cole's perfectly weighted pass to fire home and give the Blues a deserved lead.

Despite the poor game on show, Chelsea's dominance had to show at some stage. The lack of ambition and deep lying defence of City gave all the impetus to the Blues and the goal came as no surprise.

Mere minutes later and City were unbelievably level. The goal was a real shocker and Carlo Ancellotti will be fuming as to how easy his Chelsea team made it for Tevez to score.

Chelsea were on the attack, Joe Cole's shot was weak and was deflected out to Lampard who was beaten to the ball by Richards who hoofed the ball clear. Under no pressure what-so-ever, Jon Obi-Mikel decided to head the ball back to his 'keeper from the halfway line...

John Terry then made an absolute mess of his clearance as Carlo Tevez raced onto the ball. He then scuffed his shot that seemed to throw Hilario off as the ball bobbled slowly into the net.

It was a terrible sequence of errors culminating in Petr Cech's awful mistake. The great Czech is badly missed and if this is an example of Hilario, the next four weeks could make for dismal viewing for Chelsea fans.

All of a sudden Manchester City were in the game and they almost took the lead on the stroke of halftime after Jolean Lescott's header glided just wide of the far post.

In the space of four minutes the game had flip flopped and Chelsea were now the ones hanging on. Changes had to be made at half time. John Terry was having another nightmare, while Florent Malouda was anonymous.

The second half kicked off without either manager making a change and it was City who took the game to their title challenging hosts.

John Terry receiving a yellow card for tripping Adam Johnson while the ex-Middlesbrough man was in full flight.

The interviews for Fabio Capello's England team were progressing well for Gareth Barry who was beginning to get on top of the poor Lampard and it was his beautiful ball down the left that released Craig Bellamy for City's second goal.

The Welsh flyer flew onto the ball like a bat out of hell while Jon Obi-Mikel strangely chose to run beside him rather than make a challenge. Bellamy made it into the box past the young Nigerian and scored after another dreadful positioning error by the 'keeper.

Chelsea were rattled and had no answers to City's penetration or pace so they decided to try and kick their way back into the game. A flurry of yellow cards followed before Carlo Tevez and John Terry clashed in the corner following a through ball.

It was a sign that teh usually calm Terry was completely off his game and that Tevez had managed to get under his skin.

Every time Terry had the ball the energetic Argentinian was at his heels and when Tevez was in possession, his low centre of gravity was causing the England and Chelsea captain all sorts of problems.

Frustration began to seep into every Chelsea player and they challenged the referee on every decision and made a whole series of niggling tackles.

Sensing that the game was there for the taking, Mancini made a change and brought Shawn Wright-Phillips on to further expose Malouda at left full. Moments later, Michael Ballack picked up his first yellow card of the day after screaming at the referee following his decision to give City a kick out. It was gross unprofessionalism from the German captain who seemed to have let the occasion get to him.

By this stage Ancellotti had managed to see that his team were having a bad day at the office and he made a couple of substitutions in an effort to turn the tide back to his team.

To no avail, a rampant Gareth Barry raced into the box and was upended by Juliano Belletti in a dreadfully mistimed challenge, leaving the referee with no choice but to award the penalty and send the ex-Barcelona player off.

Tevez stepped up and smashed the ball home, leaving Chelsea with an insurmountable mountain to climb at 3-1.

Wayne Bridge then made way for Roque Santa Cruz, the ex-Chelsea player was cheered off by every City fan and a few Chelsea fans and it is somewhat disappointing that so many of the home teams fans chose to boo him as his left the field of play.

Insult was added to injury when Michael Ballack picked up his marching orders after an absolutely ridiculous challenge. Knowing he was on a yellow card, all the German international had to do was jockey the ball, instead he launched himself into a challenge he was never going to win. A deserved red card, and a big let down for his team.

City then added a fourth as Wright-Phillips found the rampant Bellamy unmarked in the box and the Welsh striker stroked the ball home to make it 4-1.

Frank Lampard did manage to find the net through a penalty to reduce the deficit but it was litlle more than a consolation goal.

All talk of Mancini facing a dressing room uprising will be put to bed this week, but the Italian's job still rides on City finishing fourth.

For Chelsea this game is a watershed moment. Carlo Ancellotti will be forced to call a team meeting on Monday and certain players could be forced to face a few home truths.

Since all the affair scandal hit the newspapers John Terry's form has been abysmal, and the Blues captain is one of the worst offenders in this current downward slide.

Yuri Zhirkov needs to be fast tracked off the treatment table and Alex now deserves a chance at centre half more than ever. There is nothing that can be done about Cech's injury so Ancellotti will have to make do with Hilario over the next month. But the odds of winning all three trophies have lengthened considerably.

The invention of Deco and the resistance of Essien are both badly missed, and it is a damning statistic, that only Lampard has really contributed anything from midfield this season.

Luckily for Ancellotti and Chelsea they have no Premier League match next weekend and certain players could be rested or dropped to give them the symbolic kick in the behind they need.

The Blues season is now threatening to implode, and it has very little to do with matters on the pitch.

The first real test of Carlo Ancellotti's Chelsea career.

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