Top 20 Best Footballers in the World

Today, EA Sports came out with who they thought were the best 50 players in the world. Unsurprisingly and deservingly so, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list, 1 & 2, respectively. However, there were some surprising players cracking the top 50 and others rated either too highly or too lowly for what I thought of them. Here's my list of who I think the top 20 are. This is just my opinion and being completely unbiased. Let me know what you think.

1. Lionel Messi
-What needs to be said?
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
-Speed, power, finesse. Legendary player.
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
-How this man hasn't won a Ballon d'Or is beyond me. Maybe the most complete forward in the world. Can absolutely do it all.
4. Thiago Silva
-The best CB there is. Class act, world class player.
5. Franck Ribery
-Incredible wide midfielder. Can create and score goals.
6. Gareth Bale
-Carried Tottenham and proved to be near unstoppable in the Premier League
7. Mario Balotelli
-Extremely well-rounded forward. Score, pass, FKs. Best PK taker there is
8. Edinson Cavani
-Clinical finisher with feet and head. Paired with Zlatan, can get even better
9. Ramadel Falcao
-Showed his worth with Atletico Madrid and plans to continue it with Monaco. World class
10. Xavi
-Unbelievable creativity, FKs, passes. Legendary central midfielder
11. Andrea Pirlo
-Almost an exact replica of Xavi, hard to choose between them
12. Robin Van Persie
-If it wasn't for him, Manchester United might not have been in the CL this season. Incredible goal scorer
13. Andres Iniesta
-Whether it's with Barcelona or Spain, tiki-taka is his kind of game. Pass, create, even score too. Undeniable talent
14. Arjen Robben
-The most deadly left foot there is. Don't let him shoot with it, or else it's a guaranteed goal
15. Mesut Özil
-Put him behind two strikers and expect goals to come. Great vision and creativity.
16. Gianluigi Buffon
-The best keeper of all time.
17. Cesc Fabregas
-Highly underrated, will prove why Barca should be glad they kept him.
18. Iker Casillas
-If it wasn't for Gigi Buffon, San Iker would be the best in the world.
19. Karim Benzema
-Takes a lot of criticism from Madridistas, but he shows up. Incredible finisher.
20. Luis Suarez
-The heart and soul of Liverpool. Too many good things about his game to list out.

There's so many players to choose from, it's extremely difficult to come up with a top 20. Plenty of other players deserving of a spot.

Honorable mentions: Thomas Müller, Daniele De Rossi, Sergio Busquets, Sergio Ramos, Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Götze, Edin Hazard, Oscar, Mats Hummels, Burak Yilmaz, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Xabi Alonso, Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer, Giorgio Chiellini, Juan Mata, David Silva, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and many many more.

Ronaldo vs Chelsea

Last night, Real Madrid and Chelsea played the final preseason match of the summer in the International Champions Cup Final. It was considered a "friendly", but it was everything but that. It was Jose Mourinho playing against his former club and against several players he doesn't have a good relationship with, including Ronaldo. Carlo Ancelotti was also playing against his former Chelsea, but with much more "friendly-type" circumstances. Mourinho made some very classless comments before the match saying he "coached the real Ronaldo, the Brazilian Ronaldo" and that "Real Madrid is about politics, not sport." He didn't have an extremely successful time at Madrid and his last season there was just a disaster when it came to his relationship with his players. Right from the start, you could tell Cristiano wanted to score at all costs. He was a man on a mission. He was blasting shots from long range, dancing around defenders and caused havoc in Chelsea's 18. Early in the first half, Ronaldo scored on a beautiful free kick that went up and over the 4 man wall and dipped just under the cross bar. You could tell by his celebration that it was a message to Mou. Later, in the second half, Isco gave a perfect cross into the box with Ronaldo running straight through and smashed in the header. It was a brace for Ronaldo and just humiliated Mourinho. The "fake" Ronaldo was by far the best player on the pitch in what was really a more even contest than most made it out to be. Chelsea wasn't terrible by any means, but they did get torched by an extremely determined Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid weren't spectacular either other than the obvious Ronaldo, but also, Isco and Oezil were great too. As usual, after the match and after he got stuffed in the face, Mourinho restated his comments about Ronaldo. Jose also didn't even shake Ronaldo's hand. After the final whistle, he walked straight off the pitch and into the locker room. Hopefully, he realizes Cristiano was the man that helped him over stay his welcome in Madrid. The classier man one last night.

Gareth Bale to Madrid?

Reports have been swirling around today that Gareth Bale is on his way to Real Madrid. According to Spanish media, it is already a done deal with Bale signing a 6 year contract with the club. However, this is once again the media making nonsense speculation. As of right now Bale is still a Spurs player, and with the contract extension he signed in May, it seems he wants to keep it that way. Bale has expressed his loyalty to Tottenham after his breakout season just last season. He will most likely stay with Tottenham, in my opinion. August is coming up and Madrid isn't the type of team to make a big move like this this late. The Spurs are also really looking to not move him as he is by far their best player and maybe their only true goal scoring option. Bale could become a legend with the club and help them build a very strong team around him. Just missing out on 4th in the Premier League to get into the Champions League with the squad they had last season is impressive and if they can keep building and add a few pieces, Tottenham can be looking to compete for a top 3 or 4 finish this coming season. It's also important for them to keep Clint Dempsey. He may not be a key player for them, but he's definitely a great option for the starting XI or even to come off the bench. He's a good goalscorer and can link up with Bale nicely in the midfield. Gareth Bale is starting to look like a world class player and can make Tottenham a serious threat.

Edinson Cavani to PSG

Edinson Cavani has officially signed on with P$G. After much speculation throughout the season if he was going to leave or not, then to which team, it has all finally come to a close. A Ligue 1 record of 64M euros ended Cavani's legacy at Napoli. If Ibrahimovic stays, the two of them could be the best striker pairing the world has seen in a long time. Realistically speaking, I believe if Ibra and El Matador are on top of their game they can each score 30+ plus goals in Ligue 1. I don't want to get into it too much, but I'll never understand why Cavani would leave Napoli. It's a fanatastic team, in a great city and the fans adore him. P$G has no better chance of winning the Champions League than Napoli does, as Bayern, Barca and Madrid are all much more dominate teams and are the most likely candidates to claim Europe this coming year. In the end, it's a great move for Paris Saint-Germain and especially if Ibra stays. It could be an extremey fun team to watch.

US Soccer Development

In order for the US to eventually become as elite as Europe or South America, both on the club and international level, they are going to need to figure out a way to develop players much, much better. The current system in which the USFA operates in developing players, in my opinion, might be the worst in the world. In the richest country in the world with 330 million people and to lose to Jamaica and Guatamala in World Cup qualifiers is quite pathetic. The best way for the US to go about developing players must start in the MLS. The current MLS formats barely allows a player develop at all. If a player does not make the team his first time, he has no opportunities to improve his game. He just goes off into what ever career he studied in college, or worse, he couldn't afford college and depended on soccer to make a living and now he's helpless. The MLS must form into a European league like the EPL or Serie A or La Liga. It must start lower divisions to allow players to work their way up the ranks and get better and better to finally play on a top division MLS team. With the amount of money the United States has, the potential in this country is boundless. Not only would lower divisions help improve players, it would then lead to a high quality of play in the MLS, which would then lead to a better national team. What does all of that lead to? More people paying attention to the greatest sport in the world in the US. What does that lead to? More money. With more money, it would only get better and the US would become a true superpower in world football, along the likes of Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Brazil and others. The sad part is, there has been absolutely no talk of any of this ever going to happen. The US football association is just going to continue to force players to either make the team or not and then just leave it up to a coach to fix everything on the national team. The NFL has the college system, the NBA has the D-league, the NHL has the AHL and junior leagues, the MLB and Triple, double, single A AND college. Italy has Serie B, C1, C2, D and hundreds, litterly hundreds of other divisions. Spain, England, Germany all have countless lower divisions of football. All, and I mean all, of those leagues have massive fan bases, except the MLS. The potential is massive for the US, but the wrong people are running the show.

How Madrid are to Succeed with Ancelotti

If Madrid are going to bounce back from last season, Carlo Ancelotti is going to need to gather all the players together and get them on his side. Mourinho left a bad taste in everyone's mouth and really brought down player morale. When you have a falling out with two of the best players to ever play this sport in Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas, you know there's a major problem with the coach. Ancelotti MUST convince Ronaldo to stay at Madrid and not be tempted to go back to Old Trafford. Ronaldo said early in the season that he was unhappy and was contemplating his future. He has supposedly been to Manchester and has had talks about a possible transfer. I'm not sure how true these reports are or if these are even serious talks, but the fact it's out there is a problem for Madrid. As for Iker, he proved he's the second best in the world(Gigi bias here) at the Confederations Cup when he saved Spain against Italy with wonderful save upon save. There should be no doubt that he's the starting goalkeeper for his club, although Diego Lopez does deserve a few starts if Casillas falls in some short slumps. Ancelotti also has some tactiful issues to work out. With Higuain gone and Isco coming in, he'll need to figure out where Isco can fit into the squad. Ronaldo is a winger through and through and should not be played as a target man by any means. Ronaldo even spoke out publicly how he hates playing in the middle when Mourinho played him there. Ancelotti should also test out Varane in the defense as Ramos can't do it all by himself which he usually ends up doing.  Varane is a 19 year old Frenchman with an extremely bright future ahead of him, he needs consistent playing time in order to develop. If these things can be done, expect Real Madrid to give Barcelona a real run for their money and a deep, deep run into the Champions League. The most important thing for Ancelotti is to bring up player morale and start off on the good side of things with everybody.

Confederations Cup Final: Spain vs Brazil

In one of the most meaningless tournaments in the world, Brazil "wooped" Spain 3-0 to win the Confederations Cup for the third straight time. Woopdy doo. This massively overrated Brazil side had about 150,000 screaming fans on their side and beat a team that was absolutely worn down from a 120 minute battle of the giants against Italy. Vincente del Bosque selected a very questionable squad with players that haven't been performing well. Fernando Torres had a horrendous match against Italy and he continued that suckiness into the Brazil match. Some of the most overrated players in the world like Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Raul Arbeloa got to start on defense which means that the only defender who knew what he was doing was Sergio Ramos. Also having a poor game was Juan Mata, who is a great player, but definitely shouldn't have started this game on his bad form and he only continued it as well. Everyone is saying this Brazil team is on the rise and will be a huge contender for the World Cup. Ummm, no. They're good, but this match proved little. In my opinion, this specific Brazilian squad is an absolute disgrace to Brazilian football and it's history. Brazil used to be full of legends, full of class and passion. This team is just a bunch of floppers and idiots with massive egos who haven't won anything at all in their entire careers yet. Almost every single time a Brazilian got tapped on the ankle, he would crash to the ground like he got shot by a Barret .50 cal sniper rifle in the forehead. Also, the referee was diabolical in this match. Pique got a straight red for a tackle of Neymar that, at most, deserved a yellow. Not a single player on Brazil got carded, that I believe, for doing the exact same fouls that Spanish players were doing and getting carded. I don't believe this is the end for Spain, nor do I believe this is the start for Brazil. It was just a match, in a tournament that ended 3-0. That's it. Come back down from Cloud 9 Neymar fan boys. Kid hasn't done anything yet.

Neymar Officially Signed On With Barcelona

Neymar has officially joined Barcelona today with his massive presentation at the Camp Nou.  If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you might remember a couple months ago I wrote a rant about Neymar and how much I hated him.  Well, that might have changed; by listening to his press conference, he seemed like a really nice and humble guy.  Honestly, maybe by playing in Europe and getting to watch him more I may come to like him.  He seemed really genuine with all of his answers to journalists questions and seems extremely loyal to his new club.  He must have reiterated 4 times that Messi is the best player in the world and all he wants to do is "just help him and the team".  Also, by barely seeing him play at all, unless with Brazil, I extremely underrated him.  I saw his career stats today, club and country, and they are just absolutely ridiculous.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but out of about 275 goals, he either scored or assisted about 230 of them.  I know most of them were in Liga do Brasil, a league not nearly as good as European leagues, but still a good league and those are unearth-like numbers.  A lot of people are saying he and Messi can't coexist.  I'm not really sure why anyone would think that.  Messi and just about every winger he's played with work just fine together, why wouldn't the best winger of them all, Neymar, work well with Messi?  Next season, I can easily see Barcelona have a terrifying offense if they didn't already.  Fix up the defense a bit, build Neymar's and Messi's chemistry and this team could get revenge on Bayern in the Champions League.  It will be a very interesting Barca season come August and Neymar's debut will be quite the spectacle. 

Champions League Final

Yesterday, the Champions League Final was one of the most exhilarating matches I have seen in a long time.  This was to be expected between Bayern and Dortmund as they are two teams that met up many times throughout the season and don't like each other at all.  The first half, and most of the game in fact, was like a hockey game.  It was up and down, box to box, action with scoring chances galore.  Dortmund had a wonderful chance early in the game with a cross into the box and a nice shot from Blaszczykowski, but Neuer made an incredible save.  Lewandowski had mutiple chances in the first half, but couldn't finish any of them off.  After an extremely entertaining first half, the second half was more of the same.  Finally, in the 60th minute, a great cross from Robben found a wide open Mandzukic, who got the easy tap in.  However, Dortmund were rewarded a penalty in the 68th and Gundogan scored his first career goal in the Champions League.  Heartbreakingly, Robben who had numerous chances, scored in the 89th minute to put Bayern up 2-1 and seal the deal for the Bavarians in an extremely great match.  The scenes before the match outside Wembley were electric and it was great to see an all-German final for the first time.  It was a great showcase for German football, but I can only hope the Italians can catch up.  Bayern are hands down the best team in the world and I think they will be for a long time at the way they're going.  I don't know how Pep Guardiola is going to "improve" this squad.

AS Monaco

Recent reports are saying that Monaco is basically spending loads of money on players not that great.  Besides the signing of Falcao, who is a wonderful player, Monaco have spent about 70M Euros on Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez.  P$G didn't even pay Milan that much for Thiago Silva and Ibrahimovic.  I can't blame players for wanting to play in Monaco.  It is absolute paradise, but this is one of the most random things I've seen in world football.  Monaco were in Ligue 2 this past season and finished 1st to be promoted to Ligue 1.  Could you imagine Sassuolo signing Edinson Cavani or Mario Gomez?  That's exactly what it seems Monaco is doing and, honestly, I like it.  I love to see immense talent spread out and especially to small clubs like Monaco.  It wasn't that long ago back in 2004 that Monaco made it to the Champions League Final, and by the way they're going about things, it looks like they're trying to get back there.  It'll be interesting to see who else they sign, if anybody, and what they're season will look like.  Just an on-the-spot prediction, I'm going to say Monaco can finish as high as 6th maybe even 5th if they make some more signings next season.  I don't know where the small principality got all this money from, but I'd love to seem them become a successful club and compete in the upper portions of the French league. 

Give me your thoughts on what you think Monaco is going to do @mattlipuma

David Beckham retiring

I know I haven't blogged in a while, I've been really busy, but I'm back so here we go!

Today, some sad news came out of Paris that David Beckham is retiring.  He's not only one of the best midfielders to play, but also a very influential person in the world.  Considering he started out as a young boy helping his father who was a working a lower-class job to becoming one of the most recognized people on the planet is incredible.  I was hoping David would retire with Manchester United, especially with Sir Alex leaving as well, that would've been very special.  It's still good though, since he's retiring as a champion in France with P$G.  I was lucky enough to have seen him play in person once at a Chicago Fire - Galaxy match.  I'll remember David most from when he was at Milan and he, Pirlo and Ronaldinho all stood around the ball for a free kick and the opposing team's terror on their faces would just make me laugh.  I wish David the best of luck with his retirement and hope he stays very involved in the football world.  Maybe some day he'll decide to coach? He's a class act.

Follow me on Twitter: @mattlipuma

Ferguson and Rooney

One of the greatest mangers in the history of sports has retired after managing the biggest club in the world since 1986.  Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United to extreme success and he should be remembered forever by all fans of all clubs everywhere in the world.  Today, it was just reported that Everton's manager, David Moyes, will take over and fill in the biggest pair of shoes in football.  I don't know much about Moyes or why United picked him so soon, but he has a tall order ahead of him and much to live up to.  As if it couldn't get anymore depressing for Man U fans, there's rumours swirling that Wayne Rooney may go to Bayern Munich.  I have no idea why Bayern needs him at all, I'm guessing they're just becoming another Real Madrid or PSG and buying loads of superstars to keep on the bench.  I'd like to see Rooney stay, but apparently he isn't happy about being the "second" man behind Van Persie.  I can't blame him, considering he was Manchester's golden boy and was the guy everybody looked to.  If Rooney does leave this upcoming summer transfer window will be very interesting for Manchester United and with not very many forward/attacking midfielders on the market, it will be tough for United to find a replacement.

Bayern Munich

In my opinion, Bayern the absolute best team in the world and by a huge margin.  Today, they showed that by absolutely stomping on Barcelona for the SECOND time.  After the first leg, which was a 4-0 walk over, I still wasn't sure Bayern would go through.  First of all, they're playing Barca, who are not easy to beat at all and Bayern tends to blow leads rather easily and make you hold your breath.  But, they didn't blow the lead and in fact, they nearly doubled it.  I see no team in the world right now that is even close to Bayern.  I'm predicting Bayern to just annihilate Dortmund and walk away with the trophy no problem at all.  Maybe a 3-0 scoreline?  I don't know what difference Pep Guardiola will make, no clue how you can make this team even better.  Next season, I don't think Bayern will be as dominate, but I still think they'll be the best team in the world unless Barca makes some moves and can catch up. 

Tweet me your thoughts and predictions on Bayern and the UCL Final, @mattlipuma

Ronaldo vs Messi

Before I start, let's just make it clear that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the 2 absolute best players in the world right now.  This argument has gone on for about 2-3 years now since Messi has established himself as maybe the best ever.  Mainly between Madrid and Barca fans, Madridistas say Ronaldo's better, while Barca fans say Messi's better.  I have no idea who's better, but I might be leaning very, very slightly towards Ronaldo.  The only reason I say this is because I think Ronaldo might be a little more well rounded as a player than Messi is.  Ronaldo and Messi both have great speed, footwork, positioning, vision etc., but Ronaldo can do just a little bit more than Messi can.  Unlike Messi, Ronaldo isn't as tall as an 11 year old girl and can also jump higher than Michael Jordan in the mid-90s.  Because of this, Ronaldo can get headers nearly 10 feet in the air and we saw this in a game earlier this season(look it up on YouTube, it was ridiculous how high he got).  Before I start sounding like I'm Ronaldo's lover, let me talk about Messi now.  Why oh why did Messi's ancestors have to leave Italy and move to Argentina?  Every time I watch Barcelona, I just stare at Messi the entire time.  His ability to make defenders looks like statues is amazing and every goal he scores looks so incredibly easy.  He could be running as fast as he can and his touches are as soft as ever with the ball never more than 5 inches from his foot.  Seventy-three goals in a season and 91 in a calender year is insane!  I never thought I'd see that in my life unless Pele drank out of the fountain of youth and started playing again.  The only thing that makes Real Madrid-Barcelona matches interesting for me is watching Ronaldo and Messi go head to head and see who has the better game.  The battle for "Who's Better" between Ronaldo and Messi will never end until they both retire, but it will be remembered forever because these are two living legends and we are lucky enough to be able to watch them every weekend.  The ultimate match would a Portugal-Argentina World Cup final.  That will make the media have an instant orgasm.  Overall, I'm going to give it to Ronaldo, but only by the slightest margin.  He just has that very little extra to his game simply because he's not shorter than everybody else on the field.  If Messi could go up and get headers the way Ronaldo does, then I'd have absolutely no clue who's better.

Why I Can't Stand Neymar

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT

Neymar is probably the most over dramatized, over talked about, overrated, flopping pu**** of a footballer I have ever seen. Every single time the guy gets "tackled" or really what I consider, slightly touched, he flies through the air and crashes to the ground like he just got sniped in the head while jumping off a cliff. He does absolutely nothing for his team. He doesn't score, plays ZERO defense and can't play anywhere else other than on the wing. The only qualities he has is incredible speed, footwork and hairstyling. When I heard Real Madrid were willing to toss 100 million euros for the flying pu**** cake, I nearly threw myself down a flight of stairs. What does Madrid even need him for? Help Ronaldo do his hair at halftime? Neymar is a disgrace to one of the most storied national teams in the world. I can't even believe Pele compliments him at all. Why am I even wasting my time writing about him right now anyway? I'm done, thank you for wasting your time reading about Neymar as well.

Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale has shot into the scene of the football world this season. With 17 goals for Tottenham and only 23 years old, it looks like a bright future for the Welsh international. Although, I do think he is being at least slightly overrated and this is probably simply because he plays in the Premier League. The EPL is like the Lakers of football with all the media attention no matter what's happening. The British media may be the most bias media in the world. They act as if Bale is better than Messi or Ronaldo, I wouldn't even say he's better than Stephen El Shaarawy of Milan. I don't want to sound like I'm putting Bale down, but let's see him do this again next season. One season doesn't define how good you are. Anyways, I hope Bale can keep this up because the more talent there is in the world, the more interesting everything else becomes.