I AM the Football Star

From left to right, it’s Moreira, Lima, Izalelt, Zidane, Robben.

Even this seating arrangement has a lot of meaning behind it.

Generally speaking, the one most likely to win the award sits in the middle.

So this year, logically, the order should have been Moreira, Lima, Izalelt, Robben, Zidane, or Robben and Izalelt each taking an end seat so the two kings don’t face each other.

Because it’s Izalelt vs Robben, and Lima, Zidane, Moreira vs each other.

But right now, that’s not how the seats are arranged.

"Did you get the call?" Zidane covered his mouth and quietly spoke to Robben.

"No." Robben replied.

Zidane froze.

No?

As a Golden Ball winner, Zidane knew French Football’s usual practice.

They won’t spell it out, but before the ceremony they will specially notify the player "most likely to win," and instruct him to make sure he’s present.

It’s like you ask the doctor if the baby is a boy or a girl, and the doctor tells you to prepare a dress—same logic.

They really haven’t told you anything more, but if you still can’t figure it out, you might as well retire early.

The fact that Robben didn’t get the call means... he isn’t this year’s Golden Ball winner.

Zidane himself hadn’t received any notice either, so he figured Robben and Izalelt must both have been called.

Because between those two, it really is hard to split them.

Especially with Zidane still campaigning for Robben.

But now, it seemed Zidane had pictured things far too optimistically.

Or rather... the whole Lu Yang affair finally made the Golden Ball let go of its inhibitions.

If they don’t cash in now, it’ll only get harder to cash in over the next few years; better to use this year’s controversy around Lu Yang to quietly push through another matter as well.

One Golden Ball ceremony, two massive paydays—just thinking about it feels great.

And with one huge flashpoint soaking up all the attention, the other, relatively smaller controversy becomes easier to overlook.

Zidane sighed and looked at Robben with a complicated expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Robben felt a bit strange.

"It’s nothing. I hope you can win the Golden Ball today." Zidane said, then turned his head back toward the stage.

In reality, he already knew the answer.

Izalelt had won.

This year’s Golden Ball belonged to Izalelt.

Of course, Zidane wasn’t saying Izalelt didn’t deserve it.

In fact, Izalelt’s odds of winning this year had always been around seventy percent!

It was just that Robben taking it would also have been acceptable.

But behind this, Izalelt’s own team, Real Madrid’s team, and the footballing apparatus of Brazil and South America—there’s absolutely no way they hadn’t poured in effort and PR.

By comparison, the support Robben got from Bayern and the Bundesliga was limited.

Losing is something you can accept.

What’s hard to accept is... as the runner-up, Robben actually showed up!

If you don’t know you’re going to be second, and you come here fighting for first, that’s fine.

But given the Golden Ball’s habit of making that phone call, Robben still came despite not getting one.

This really is... far too deferential.

Look at it from another angle.

This year you’ve got a thirty, even forty percent chance of winning the Golden Ball, and they fob you off with second place.

So what about the future?

Whenever your performance drops below this level, you’re basically doomed not to win the Golden Ball.

Yet people forget, quite a few players have won the Golden Ball off exactly the kind of season Robben just had.

Robben has effectively raised his own threshold for winning the award.

And there was no need to.

If he hadn’t come, it would have stirred up a huge storm.

Neutral fans wouldn’t care much, but his own fans would only rally around him even more. Very few fans can calmly accept the sight of their idol losing a prize he should have had in the bag.

Seeing it is worse than not seeing it.

Showing up is worse than staying away.

And once they realize you’re hard to deal with, won’t the Golden Ball have to start factoring in your reaction when they judge you in the future?

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

The kid who smiles no matter what he’s given only ends up with worse and worse stuff.

There’s nothing wrong with not being a born winner, but if you don’t know how to use every advantage available to lay a foundation for your future, then when your rightful things get taken from you, it’s hard for people to feel too sorry.

Someday down the line, if Robben is again the strong favorite for the Golden Ball yet still doesn’t win it—

then it’s not just the Golden Ball at fault; it’ll also have a lot to do with the way he’s handled things himself.

Zidane was furious at wasted potential.

In that moment, he suddenly felt a stab of regret.

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have sacrificed his own shot at the award to canvass votes for Robben.

Otherwise, Zidane figured his own ranking could have climbed; he might even have broken into the top three!

Top three and top five are not the same concept.

Top five means you’re great, but it has nothing to do with the Golden Ball itself.

Top three means you were this close to winning the Golden Ball!

"Some things, even if you fight for them now, you might still not get them. But if you don’t fight now... then you’ll never get them in the future." Zidane kept warning himself silently.

He was summing up the Robben affair, and at the same time reminding himself that at club level, there are things you simply must not yield.

Zidane turned to look at Izalelt.

Just then, Izalelt turned around too.

"Congratulations." Zidane said.

"Huh?" Izalelt was a bit surprised, and also slightly shy.

Obviously, he’d gotten the phone call.

He couldn’t be one hundred percent certain, but Izalelt had guessed he was overwhelmingly likely to win.