Lukas Podolski Named Best Young Player at 2006 World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t receive the award, because in spite of leading the score for almost all the time, suddently, overnight (wednesday to thursday) and by some strange twist of fate, everybody voted AGAINST Cristiano Ronaldo.

Again, envy is something bad…

Thanks to all the dutch and english. In 2 years from now, I’ll rejoyce in seeing your teams be beatten by somebody else other, and weaker, than Portugal.

Shocking!!!!!!!!!! Outrageous!!!

That Ronaldo or Messi were not the chosen ones is a complete and utter farce.

Podolski was if anything a big disappointment in this world cup. After signing for Bayern Munich before the tournament i was quite excited to see what he would bring but after the tournament i struggle to see what he’ll bring to the Bundesliga champions.
It is truly baffling that the choice for the young player of the tournament came to Podolski. I guess Germany just had to have an award to show for the tournament. Let’s just hope that a similar farce does not take place with the big guys award as well.

It had nothing to do with the twist of fate you talk about.

The top six players voted for went to a panel of 14 fifa directors. They had to pick one from Podolski, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Valencia and Tranquilo Barnetta. The voting on the fifa website just determind who the 6 players are. So he would of won regardless of the votes if fifa picked him.

i am very very dissapointed i feel that Christiano Ronaldo was the best and he should have received the award

Ronaldo ? This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QSHB-AQZ1E ronaldo ?

And what about ribery ?

Ribery is too old to be “best young player” (23) but I am happy Ronaldo was not named… What is incredible is that he is a good player, but he certainly is a better diver. A shame for football.

Messi didn’t get enough game time, and C. Ronaldo’s non-sporting on-field antics were probably viewed rather negatively by those with votes. While Podolski wasn’t universially brilliant, he’s a worthy winner, IMO. Congrats to him.

“style, charisma, fair play and appetite for the game, as well as pure technical skill.” Well C Ronaldo gets major points off on the fair play and he may have appetite for the game, but he is a disgrace to the game so NOT HIM. I personally think Messi was great, but Argentina got knocked out too early… its a shame, I was sure Argentina would have been in until at least the semi, but I guess it was bad luck meeting the hosts.

Cristiano Ronaldo still has some 3 more World Cups in his legs, to shine more than some others who cannot tolerate what HE can do, and others CANNOT… Some of the ones who put him down today, will suport him tomorrow.

If he’s unsporting, what about van Persie and Robben? OK… Don’t even bother to answer…

OMG that is the best YOUTUBE clip ever! I want this to be shown before every manchester game until they cut him

This is ludacris. Luis Valencia kills the competition in the popular vote and then they hand the award to Podolski of all people. If not Valencia, Ronaldo, Fabregas, and Messi, should have won this award before Podolski. Like Ricardo said, I guess the Germans had to walk away with something for being such great hosts. Let’s be real everyone. Podolski was quite average. Yeah he scored three goals which were all setup by Klose. He squandered opportunity after opportunity in each game. It’s hard to fathom that Fifa still gave him this award.

Valencia had 90,000 more votes than second place Ronaldo. He had 271,000 more votes than Podolski!

great video clip.how can anyone defend c.ronaldo. What kind of role model is he? Kids at the local park will be flopping to the ground when they know they can’t get to the ball. shameful

That was iindeed a great clip put together from the game. You don’t get enough of a chance to really break down the game, during the game, and here in the US there are no shows that actually talk about it. We just end the game and then go show women’s curling from 2 years ago.

During the game I thought maybe the ref missed some stuff but after looking at the replays it really is pathetic how much they flopped. Fight for the ball you stupid weenies!

Rooney may have purposely, accidentally, whatever, stepped on Carvalho but the ref should have whistled the play dead before he ever got to that point. He was working hard to get the ball and they were tugging and kicking him. Kudos to Rooney on that play and they need to card those retard divers.

Hi Chris. If you live in a glass house, don’t through stones. Van Persie and Robben and van der Vaart are much worse.

c’mon – c. ronaldo can’t be an option when fair play is a factor – he cheats and cries. yes, he can perform, but doesn’t always come through and when he fails he cheats, dives, cries, begs and is outraged with the refs for not giving him questionable calls because he has more natural talent. if he used that talent to command respect on the field the way great players do, he might deserved it.

podolski has skill and does have some flashes of great play. as a complete player (and as a young player), most coaches would prefer a kid with skills, heart and discipline to a whiny diva.

great choice, fifa!

don’t think that proverb really applies but…you’re welcome to your opinion regarding the dutch youngsters. I’m sure we could all name players that will do whatever it takes to give their team the advantage. There has always been some degree of embellishment in the sport, however; in all the years I have been addicted to this game, I have never seen such antics from one player. Such an intentionally lack of gamesmanship. In my country there is such competition for the sportsfans time, and I have tried to open their eyes to the beautiful game, all of this diving, acting and desire to get fellow players carded is making it hard for the diehard fans to stick around, much less attract new fans. The game at the local level is fine, there are more people enrolled in soccer in canada than there is in hockey. It’s on the world wide level, the tournements that change is required. Just my opinion.

Its amazing that the one country, who more than any other, owed its sole world Cup triumph to refereeing errors should be the one to hold forth and lecture the rest of us on the evils of cheating and refereeing incompetence.

Can anybody imagine the reaction if England lost a world cup final to Argentina by a goal that did not cross the line, that never was – the sheer bedlam and hysteria that would explode around our heads. In the 1966 Quarter final between Argentina and England, Argentina had to play with 10 men because the Referee sent off the Argentine captain Rattin (in a match where English fouls doubled Argentine ones) because he ‘ did not like the look on his face’ and because Rattin was allegedly insulting a referee who later on admitted to not understanding a word of Spanish.

Imagine the English reaction if Beckham had been sent off for abusing, in English, a referee who later admitted to not speaking or understanding a word of it.

The English are the spoilt, petulant and inadequate children of international football. Not once in 40 years of mediocrity have they ever admitted to loosing a tournament game because they played a better side, not once have they ever had the grace to congratulate their conquerors, there is always an excuse, always a whinge, always a hate figure to divert attention from their lack of any real ability to play good football. English football is a joke. The English now hate the Portuguese not because of their so called antics, but because the Iberians who they would rather patronise have cleaned the floor with them three times now in the last 6 years, Euro 2000, Euro 2004 and now this world cup – what a record. Portugal have produced Figo, a former world player of the year, respected throughout the game who has led his country, a small modest south European nation to the last 4 of at least 3 competitions, England have produced David Beckham, better known for his hair not playing style, who has led his country, one of the richest in the world, from one underachievement to the other.

Portugal have Ronaldo, a a fine winger with pace, trickery and above all courage, England have Rooney, a one trick pony (all he ever does is try and shoot from outside the box or barge his way through it) overrated and over hyped. Ronaldo will achieve great things in Spain, Rooney will spend the rest of his days bullying the likes of Charlton and Bolton and striving for red cards in major tournaments when confronted with good defenders (who can pocket mediocre and overrated strikers), so all the post match talk will not be about how average he really is but how ‘’his temperament let the great genius down’.

Then again he is also very likely to end up in prison. Lets face it he does look like a convict.

congrats to herr blink above for the most irrelevant response here..an excuse to continue some ancient anti-english grudge. This blog is about an award..whats rooney got to do with it? Would have gone for Lahm myself, but if Ronaldo had won would have probably stopped watching anything organised by FIFA. Delighted he didn’t get it, it would have been a travesty.

Fair play is part of the criteria to give a player this award.

Ronaldo failed miserably in this area. Maybe Podolski was not the best, but Ronaldo certainly did not deserve it.

Yeah I think he deserved it over ronaldo. Can anybody tell me how many goals eah player had in the tourney. All this talk about ronaldo, but what did he really do thats so great in this tourney. also, what is a cap.

“That and accusations that Ronaldo faked injury and simulated fouls likely cost the talented winger the World Cup award.”
“Osieck conceded that Ronaldo lost marks on the “Fair Play” factor, and that his overall contribution to the World Cup was not as great as Podolski.”
“This award is not an award to the best and most talented player, but to the (young) player who delivered the best performance in the tournament,”
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5765286?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=194

This is a joke. Podolsky was booked in the 2nd minute against argentina and 3 minutes later he did another foul even more violent than the first one. of course, the ref did not dare to send him off. and he didn’t behave in a very ‘fair play’ fashion tapping on the referee’s back when the referee sent out with a very harsh red card to a swede in the second round match.
please.

It would have gone to either fabregas or valencia.

Yup,though Ronaldo is very high on talentn tricks(!!!!!!!!)…but is not that conducive to the team …did he made ne move which finished off with a goal? he show all the tricks n drills…but all to show off..what use are your skills if u can’t score or atleast produce a scoring opportunity..as does Zidane, Ronaldo should learn from this great artist how to use your art for the better of your team….

Go Podolski (and team), Go! With Klinsmann at the helm, Germany will be WC champs in 2010!

Valencia deserved it, and not just because of the votes. FIFA had to give Germany something I guess.

Congratulations, Lukas. You deserve it. I cannot see anyone giving this award to a good young player who is backed by a cheating team and disgruntled loser. That’s why you got it because you were on the team that played fair all the way, during and after the games. All the other posts here that speak against your winning, are coming from just another bunch of jealous, envious people.

Oh, all you jealeous people.. What’s up with that?

OK. Podolski was booked vs. ARG and
was not booked again 3min later. And whats the point? ….yawn..
I prefer a plain foul, than a pathetic Dive.

Thak you, dubfire. This is the first time that I was laughing my head of during this Cup. Hilarious, awesome. How can Portugal still deny they are diving. What else do they need to see, a puddle going with the diver?

Hey Tomas Blink, your posting is irrelevant. Why English say nothing after England loses to Germany or Brasil? because these teams play fair.
Portugal and Argentina on the other side are cheaters, everyone knows that. Look at Maradona, C Ronaldo, others.

As far as C. Ronaldo goes for best young player, as far as I am concerned he should not be even nominated. You know why he was nominated? Because there are lot of Portuguese, Argentinians, and others out there who voted for him. And such people have no respect for fair play, because they have different philosophy and moral values. Anything is good for them if it brings result, so stealing, killing, telling lies all is acceptable to them, as long as it serves their purpose.
Disgusting…

Great choice. Podolski should shine even more in Euro 2008 and in WC 2010.

Brits ran a disgusting effort to overthrow C. Rolando. As of 7/5 he was leading the vote with 27% second place of Luis Valencia following 2ith 25% then after this e-mail:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/06/national_emergency/

Luis Valencia got over 100,000 votes overnight (gee I wonder from which country and he hasn’t been playing for a while)

I guess FIFA must have caught the scam – it would have been too obvious to give the award to Valencia.

MS. Catenacio,

Nice theory abotu British conspiracy. Better listen to comments here, everyone hates cheaters and divers, but I guess it is ok for you because you are Italian?

Anyway, FIFA decides who is the best player, and the only reason ROnaldo was submitted at all, because there are many people in the world who dont care about fair play, and have no moral values at all.

Caro sgr. Footbal fan
Not a “theory” – the same story was reported by bbc and many other Brit media on 7/5. I guess you consider it not “cheating” when 100,000 Brits wake up on the day before voting closing and all of sudden decided that the guy who they last saw 10 days ago was the best player. Almost make Rooney a smart and nice guy compared to where he came from…
It’s also an insult to Podolski and Valencia, who I am sure are good players but they need not to be pawns on destroying Ronaldo game.

Ms. Catenaccio
The winner of the vote is NOT automatically the winner of the award! The puplic voted only for 3
finalists. Fifa added the other 3 and decided who will be awarded.
So, that national emergency campaign was as stupid as you can get.. You must vote for three others to make sure that Ronaldo is the out!
And what do we learn? The Brits have not worldclass cheating skills. The Champions are others!

Ms. Catenaccio — Brits are entitled to their opinions, just like you.

Podolski’s a diver too.

there’s no wc-compilation of podolski til now, but he had some brilliant performances, when he played in germanies 2nd league for cologne, two seasons ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8swbfs_6v1c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5gHMJ27lGw

@The Balls of Summer
if u think that..another..yawn..
Podolski is actually Best Young Player at 2006 World Cup.
FIFA awarded him without consulting you, a real shame!

I thought Frank Ribery was more hard-done-by to miss out than Ronaldo. He actually creates goals, instead of just producing 20 stepovers then losing the ball.

Fouls suffered list – Fifa source:
Figo 23, Luca 23, C.Ronaldo 21,… Podolsky 15, Zidane 14,… Beckham 5!
By the way, Podolsky commited 14 fouls. Ronaldo 6.
Yeah, Figo and Ronaldo asking «wow, are we the trouble makers???» Get a grip brits. Too bad only good players and coaches in premiership are french, portuguese or from elsewhere. No more Brian Robson or Glenn Hoddle, too bad… stay with cricket :-)

methinks the judges were sufficienlty impressed by ronaldo’s talents but thought his gamesmanship did not merit him being a new player. must say he plays like an old hand.

In fact, C.Ronaldo’s not a new player. I mean, everybody knows him. And what about Podolwhat? This was the prize for the best young unknown player in the WC. Tomorrow there wil be a interesting duel: Podolksky vs C.Ronaldo. Anyway, I prefer to have C.Ronaldo in my team rather than Podolsky. I think Man United too. But he should leave premiership and play in a more interesting Liga like spain or italy. I mean, look at the last champions league. Liverpool and Man United were trashed uh by a portuguese team uh Benfica… uh there’s also the best english coach there uh looks like he’s portuguese uh uh

Figo 23, Luca 23, C.Ronaldo 21

What’s this – World Cup’s biggest divers competition?

Top 3 suffered fouls:

Figo 23, Luca 23, C.Ronaldo 21:

According to FIFA referees this was WC’s biggest competition on taken down creative players when we cannot play by the rules…

I think you’ll find that most of those fouls were given incorrectly because they dived.
Like I said – top 3 divers.
There should be a clampdown on diving because nobody wants to see cheating. I’d rather lose than cheat.

Of course. They dived. The referees’re really stupid…

By the way, Joe Cole was the fourth on that list. He suffered 18 fouls. Like Figo and C.Ronaldo he dived most of them I supposed or with Cole the referees didnt make mistakes? :-)

did you ever played football? Is it so easy to stay on your foot when a big catterpilar like Rooney comes to you? Specially when you’re a speedy player like C.Ronaldo. I mean the referees must be really stupid.

Why would I care about Joe Cole. I’m French.

This tournament has seen the highest number of yellow and red cards ever and most of them have been riddiculous. We have also seen many instances of players conning referess into giving fouls or booking players and asking for other player to be yellow carded sent off.
We see far to many dives and not enough football which is why we have so many cards and high statstic for fouls. This is the kind of disgusting play we need to ban. Players should be booked for asking for another player to be booked and sent off for diving. Then we would see less.

Did you notice that Gillette is the biggest word on the trophy? Disgusting. If the trophy is a keeper Podolski should have the sponsor’s name, uh, shaved off.

Yeah Ben, should be like volleyball… or golf… :-) but I agree, to much arguing on the pitch, to less football. Its’ FIFA 21st century football. We need new rules maybe to protect creative football and avoid hard defensive tactics. Have to say that forgot last match I was really enthusiastic about the players skills and the overall game… remember Brazil 1982 dream team, Zico, Socrates, Falcão…

Ronaldo didnt get it just because… hes a retard.

well I am extremely dissapointed with this WC to be honest. The spirit of the game lays in ruins! nowdays alot of the teams will do anything to win rather than supply the countless fans around the world with top class football, don’t get me wrong the atmosphere is still great but not as good as past world cups as I have heard so many controversial stories etc…
The cheating and diving will have to be sorted even if the replays are watched after the game by referees, then they can have solid ground of disaplinary action.
just one more sentence from me… Honour In Defeat Is Greater than Victory in Deceit!

I hope by WC 2010 we will have fair entertaining games again!

FIFA are corrupt…..the refs are all open to bribes its so obvious now!
sort it out FIFA!

Hm. I’m pretty neutral on this whole thing but I have to say Podolski did have a couple good dives and harsh tackles against Italy. I was pulling for Messi, but I guess lack of playing time was the factor there.

Podolski won because he is from Germany. They have to give the host something.

Oh, and football-fan? Congratulations on a spectacularly racist comment.

I couldn’t agree with some guys above more.Good thing they didn’t pick C.Ronaldo. Just look at his facial expression and behavior after he failed to score, pretty dreadful.Podolski got the Best Young Player prize in 2006 WC,that’s fabulous indeed. His talent,determination and courage deserve that prize.

Talk about sour loser. If that’s not cheating. What is?
…and I’m refering to the conspiracy by the Englishmen overthrowing Ronaldo to be the Best Young player in this World Cup.

Thats the best choice by FIFA

i think the obvious reason why ronaldo wasnt chosen its becuz of his bad behaviour during the tournament.there was the rooney controversey,then the winking at the benches after that,and his faking injuries.so yeah.poldi definitely deserves it

Podolski(Prinz Poldi) is the best. and he’s a future star. i’m sure he is the one who will kiss the world cup trophy in 2010. only has to wait for 4 years .

I think you are right about Christiano Ronaldo, he is an amaizing player but I contradict you about about the trophy because the difference between him and podolsky is the fact that he played a one man show and lost a lot of chances due to this, on the other hand podolsky was a great assist especially with Miroslave Klose. So not only did he show personal skills, he also showed better presence in the team. Therefore he does deserve the trophy.
And by the way it is Gillette for men we are talking about and not for women so who cares about leg shaving? :)

By the way you guys are not objective, if your country is playing doesn’t mean the players are the best. My country isn’t playing and maybe it is he last country in football, but at least I see the game from a different perspective. Figo, C.Ronaldo, Klose, Podolsky, Nedved, Buffon, T. Henry, Cameronezi, ….. there are just too many Good players and surprisingly they belong to different countries. So Podolsky was elected and that’s it. He is the mannnn :)

i think what justapointofview said is tru bc they gave a few fouls to something that didnt even happen. but im happy for podolski getting the best young player of 2006. i think he really diserved it. and im not just sayin this bc i like him.

Hello, I think Podolski is very young and best player. I like his technic and I see he is enjoy every game. Well, he is differnt with christiano ronaldo. He is emotional and because of that he got trouble with Rooney

I think that Podolski deserved this award. Although I do agree that he did not really stand out after the quarter-finals, I think he played really well at the initial stages. He really shone when he scored the goals in the quarter-finals. It’s a great start to his footballing career, and he definately has the potential to be a fabulous footballer.Perhaps, in time to come, you might just agree.
I do agree on Christiano Ronaldo playing well. I did not really like him as first as I thought he was really conceited and stuff. But I must say I’m really impressed when he played in the match Portugal vs France. Although many people booed him ridiculously every time he gains posession, he still kept up the fighting spirit and played beautifully.I definately applaud him for the courage and faith he showed.
I think many nominated young players have all worked hard and tried their best, so it must have been quite difficult to choose among these elite.
Overall, though, Podolski was a great choice- certainly he proves o be a source of inspiration for many. Congrats Podolski! You rock.

I am so glad tha Lukas Podolski won the award. He showed great talent and skill on the field during the tournament, i hope he keeps goign with his professional career

Podoloski won because he had more goals than Ronaldo, more playing time, no cards and was more sportsmen-like.
Ronaldo lost the award because he hot dogs around the field with ultimately nothing coming of it, played less time and was a complete dink to his club teamate Rooney.
PS – For thos who don’t know who Podoloski is, keep in mind there are “soccer” leagues outside MLS.

podolski is the best