The end of an era in FIFA’s The Best award – 02/27/2023 – Sandro Macedo

As expected, FIFA’s The Best crowned a thirtieth this Monday (27). Messi, 35, was chosen the best for what he did in the 30 days that passed in the World Cup, between November and December, for the Argentine national team. Forget the half-assed season (half-assed by Messi standards) for Qatar Saint-Germain.

Thus, the thirty-five-year-old Benzema, 35, was surpassed, even though he had the best season for Real Madrid —in the broadest sense of the word—among all competitors.

As The Best is awarded by the same group that organizes the Cup (in this case, FIFA), Messi had the advantage.

Yes, yes, there was also the third competitor, the young Mbappé, Messi’s friend at PSG, who turned 24 right after the Cup final. However, despite being top scorer at the World Cup, Mbappé lost the final. And despite being the best of PSG’s trio, he lost “Europe” to Benzema. There was no way he could be crowned The Best.

But Mbappé’s road is long and he has a long way to go. Messi’s seems close to the end. We will probably be seeing for the last time the presence of the Argentine in the trio of best in the world.

Cris Ronaldo and Messi have competed in almost every individual election in the last 15 years. By the way, Cris was also at The Best’s party, competing to be part of the “best 11” of the season. And he got out.

2007 is long gone, when Kaká was chosen the best player in the world. That year, the Brazilian from Milan just surpassed Messi and CR7 to take the honor. Unfortunately, due to injuries and the consequent drop in performance, Kaká was unable to keep up with the duo that dominated football in recent years.

As with the supposedly new Federers or Nadais, entire generations have come and gone without Messi and Cris Ronaldo losing their respective status in the individual awards.

But now it’s the end, enough. Cris Ronaldo already understood this. And he went to guarantee the family’s own house in the 25th century with money from Arabia — that of other centuries is already guaranteed.

At PSG, Messi was light years away from the brilliance he once had at Barcelona, ​​which doesn’t mean he’s playing poorly. But then there was the Cup, its swan song. And how he sang.

Unless he takes Al Nassr to the Club World Cup title, I don’t imagine that Cris Ronaldo will appear again in any Best that is not the Best of Arabia.

Inexplicably absent from this year’s party, Vinicius Junior has everything to become an easy figure from next year alongside Mbappé, even occupying the space left by Neymar – another who had the talent, but could not keep up with Messi and CR7.

Young Haaland, who must have scored a goal as this column was written, is the other monster of The Best’s new era. And he has more high-level people for the next party. How about Manchester United’s Rashford, the best post-Cup player? Or Saka, the young man making Arsenal dream of winning the Premier League, the top league in the world? And there’s still Gavi or Pedri, from the new barceloneta crop… And I can imagine Endrick in the top 3 of 2032, no need to cry. The Best will be fine.

things from Paulistinha
When talking about the aberration of Paulistinha’s regulations, a TV commentator said this weekend that “Paulistinha has its subtleties”. Subtle was the comment.

The regulation is appalling. After all, if the competition ended today, we would have the first (Palmeiras) against the second (São Bernardo) in the quarterfinals; the third (São Paulo) against the fourth (Água Santa); and Corinthians, which is in fifth, against the 13th (São Bento) of the 16 participants. That’s if the 14th doesn’t overtake him. Congratulations to everyone involved.

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