FanPost

Extra! Extra! Messi receives Golden Ball!

FIFA President Joseph Blatter asks to respect decision: "We had the name engraved before the tournament. There's nothing we could do."

In a moment of grandiose exuberance and brilliance, the 2014 World Cup Golden Ball was awarded to Lionel Messi as FIFA named the Argentinian star the tournament's top player. Although he was held scoreless in the knockout rounds and guided his team to a loss for the World Cup title game, he did manage to score 4 goals.

Still, no player had the same type of impact as Messi, especially since James Rodriguez, Arjen Robben, Keylor Navas and other players had a greater impact. No, he didn't have an excellent game in the semifinals against the Dutch, the Germans, or the Belgians, but that's because he was being man-marked by at least one player at a time and decided to walk 95% of the time instead of running. His dangerous forays into the box were sometimes exciting and his touch, throughout the tournament, was ephemeral. We can't ignore the one perfect assist he had in the final minutes against Switzerland, either. With all the attention on Messi, he coolly slid a pass to Angel di Maria who found the back of the net.

Finally, Messi realized the form he typically shows for his club and was able to demonstrate it on an international stage, winning the same number of trophies as Barcelona. Entering the tournament, the debate was between Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar for the world's best player. Messi seized his chance and took his team further than it had been since 1990, which is more than either of the other contenders could say. As everyone knows, football is a game where individuals are everything.

After the ceremony, they moved on to the smaller prizes, including the World Cup trophy.