Who is a true World best player?

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) will name the best player on the planet in January 2013.

Lionel Messi,Cristiano Ronaldo and Andreas Iniesta are the three best players for the year 2012. The trio made the shortlist after the initial 100 players were enumerated some few months ago.

For a player to be regarded as the best in the World, such a footballer should have contributed to success of his club and country. In a World cup year, the best player of the tournament should be the likely winner of the FIFA Ballon d'or award.

Continental tournaments like European Championship, 'Copa America', Asian games, African Nations Cup and CONCACAF Gold cup should also be considered before the world's best player will be chosen.

In 2012, Spain defended the European Chamionship in Ukraine and Poland after a 4-0 thumping of Italy in the final. Andreas Iniesta was HIGHLY instrumental to the success of the reigning World and European champions. The Spaniard was also a vital part of the Barcelona team that won the Spanish Kings Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a couple of goals for Portugal at Euro 2012 and his country lost to Spain on penalties after a barren draw. Ronaldo also helped Real Madrid to capture the La Liga for the first time in four years.
Although the Madrid star has been in poor form with regards to FIFA 2014 World cup qualifiers.

Lionel Messi has win the previous three editions of the FIFA award. His country(Argentina) didn't play any continental tournament in 2012. Messi scored a lot of goals for Barcelona, but that wasn't enough for them to win the UEFA Champions League.

A player like Didier Drogba single-handedly won the UEFA Champions League for Chelsea. He also propelled Cote d' Ivoire to the final of African Cup of Nations 2012. Drogba ensured Chelsea defeated Liverpool to win the FA cup. His goals were enough to deny the Teranga Lions a spot at South Africa 2013.

If the criteria for the FIFA shortlist is purely based on the performance of players for club and country, then Drogba,Iniesta and Ronaldo should have made the final three.

Reality
Spain's Iniesta deserves the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'or award. UEFA has already named as the best player in Europe for the year 2012. Since Messi is playing for Barcelona in the same continent, there is NO reason why captains and coaches of national teams should vote for him ahead of Iniesta.

From the crew at Chat Soccer, ANDREAS INIESTA is our WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2012.

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North Korea sets new record at Japan 2012

North Korea produced a stunninbg result when they hammered Argentina 9-0 on Thursday. The Japan 2012 compettion had witnessed 4-0 wins by USA and Germany before this latest record breaking win. The 2006 winners scored seven goals in the first half before they added two more goals after the interval. A draw will be enough for the Koreans to advance to the last eight. Kim Un Hwa scored five goals in the match. She also scored a goal against Norway in her first game. The Asians defiled the hit weather and went ahead to humiliate their South American counterparts that look unorganized throughout the match.

Kim Un Hwa

Ghana mauled by USA at FIFA under 20 women's World cup

Ghana's under 20 women team were battered 4-0 by the USA on Monday. The Americans showcased their superiority over Africa's second representative at the on going FIFA under 20 World cup in Japan. USA's Maya Hayes scored a hat trick on a day Leon of Canada equalled her record in Canada's 6-0 thrashing of Argentina in another match that was played on the same day. USA took full control of the match throughout the game and the Ghanaians were unable to match the former champions in any department of the game. The attacking flare of the Americans was too great to be ignored.

Meanwhile, defending champions defeated China by four goals to nil to share the top spot of group D with the USA. The Germans are now unbeaten in their last seven matches dating back from the 2010 edition which they won in Berlin. 

FIFA under 20 Women's World Cup preview

This year's FIFA under 20 women tournament commences in Japan on Sunday. The biennial football tournament was inaugurated in 2004 by the world governing body, FIFA. Germany are the defending champions after their 2-0 win over Nigeria in 2010. Nigeria became the first African team to parade a team in the final of any Women tournament on the global scene. The city of Miyagi will host the opening ceremony of the sixteen team tournament. Japan will square up against Mexico on the opening day at 7.20pm local time (10.20 UTC) on Sunday 19th August,2012.
The city of Miyagi was badly affected by the earth quake that occurred in March,2011. The Japanese people will have the opportunity to prove to the world that they can overcome major disasters and re-group to achieve greatness. The host nation's senior team are the reigning World champions. They also finished as silver medalists after a 2-1 defeat to USA at the London 2012 Olympics. The under 20 side have never gone beyond the quarter finals of previous editions. In 2011, Japan were crowned as the Asian under 19 champions in Vietnam.

Japan-under 19 champions of Asian football

 Mexico will be willing to go beyond the group phase of this competition. The Central Americans also got to the last eight at Germany 2010.

Other matches
New Zealand will meet Switzerland in another group A match that will be played on the same day. Last tournament's runner-up, Nigeria will be up against South Korea. The Africans won all their qualifying matches prior to this tournament while their opponents sneaked into the competition after the Japanese were named as the hosts of this mundial. Nigeria's Francesca Ordega said "Our opening game against South Korea will give us an indication of how far we can go, and it could also give us a real confidence boost.Make no mistake, I haven’t come to Japan to admire the skyscrapers; I’m here to win the World Cup."
Brazil will face Italy in the opening match of the competition at 15:00 local time (06:00UTC) on Sunday.

Watch Out
Brazil's Thais Guedes was part of Brazil's ill-fated London 2012 Women soccer campaign. She is the captain of the South American giants while Yeo Minji is also expected to be a star performer in Japan. She was named FIFA's best under 17 women player at Trinidad and Tobago 2010. 

Didier Deschamps is the new French manager.

Former World Cup winner, Didier Deschamps has been appointed as the new manager of the French national team. The Les Blues manager took over from Laurent Blanc who led France to the quarter final of Euro 2012 before losing out to Spain by a brace that was scored by Xabi Alonso. Deschamps was the manager of Olympique Marseille before his new National team role. His first major assignment is the World Cup qualifiers that begins in September 2012. France will host the next European Championships in 2016.

Falconets resume training in Abuja.

Nigeria's under 20 Women's team,popularly known as Falconets will commence preparation ahead of the FIFA Under 20 Women's World Cup that will be hosted by five cities in Japan. The tournament will be held in August 2012. Nigeria lost the final of the 2012 edition to Germany by two goals to nil after impressive wins over USA and Mexico. Brazil,Italy and Korea Republic are Nigeria's opponents at this year's edition. The Falconets scored a total of 13 goals during the qualifiers that included a 6-0 aggregate victory over Zimbabwe. The team manager has invited 35 players to camp. The final 23 man list will be selected from the invited players.

Flamingoes are through to FIFA Under 17 World Cup

Nigeria's under 17 female team, Flamingoes have qualified for the FIFA Women's Under 17 World cup tagged Azerbaijan 2012. The Nigerian side defeated Shepolopolo of Zambia 5-0 in Abeokuta on Saturday evening to qualify on a 7-1 aggregate. The first leg ended in a 2-1 win for the West Africans. Ghana and Tunisia will fight for the remaining ticket that is available for the African continent. Nigeria's last outing at the Under 17 Women World Cup was terminated by North Korea by 6-4 in 2010.

World Cup 2014 qualifiers review!

Japan lost their group 3 World Cup qualifier to little known Uzbekistan at the Toyota stadium. Shadrin's 54th minute goal was enough to send Japan crashing to a surprise 1-0 home loss. Tajikistan played a 1-1 draw against North Korea in the other group match.
Bahrain were fully at home as the mauled Indonesia by ten goals to nil. Dhiya scored a hat trick while Abdulrahman, Taleb and Abdullatif scored a brace each. Samsidar got a 4th minute red card for Indonesia.
Iran and Qatar played out a two all draw in another group 5 match.
Brosque scored a brace as Australia cruised to a 4-2 win over former Asian Champions, Saudi Arabia in a group 4 match that was played in Melbourne. In the other group match that was played in Muscat, Oman defeated Thailand 2-0.

The 2014 World Cup will be played in Brazil in the summer of that year. Meanwhile, the Celecao of Brazil defeated Bosnia in a narrow 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.

World Cup qualifiers continues in Asia.

The route to the next World Cup in Latin America is already on in the Asian continent. Argentina was the last World Cup host to have come from that region. 2002 World Cup co-host, Japan will host Uzbekistan in Toyota,while South Korea that reached the semi finals a decade ago will host Kuwait. In Muscat, Oman will host Thailand and Iran will be at home to Qatar in Tehran.

 Other fixtures are: Australia V Saudi Arabia Iraq V Singapore UAE V Lebanon China V Jordan Bahrain V Indonesia Taijikistan V North Korea African nations will commence their World Cup qualifiers in June,2012.