Chapter 1043 - 252: World Footballer of the Year
The honors that Italians missed out on in the Golden Ball Award this year were all made up for in the World Footballer of the Year.
As for why Perrotta didn’t make the top ten, it’s because the World Footballer of the Year puts a lot of weight on global fame, and Wolf King Perrotta is slightly inferior to the other two in terms of recognition, so he’s ranked outside the top ten.
The top three for the World Footballer of the Year: third place is Moreira.
His reputation over the past few years has been huge.
Just like Lima in the previous years, he could get into the top five of all kinds of awards even if he didn’t show anything on the pitch.
Second place is Zidane!
This ranking is clearly inflated, but Zidane’s influence in French Football is far beyond what Robben can compare with, so it’s normal for him to receive this level of recognition.
First place is Izalelt!
Within one year, he won both the Golden Ball Award and the World Footballer of the Year, creating a miracle of his own!
Izalelt fully deserves it.
And through the World Footballer of the Year he completely opened up the gap between himself and Robben.
When people later look back at that year’s honors, they’ll feel Izalelt was miles ahead.
No one would even think Robben also had a chance to knock Izalelt off his throne.
In terms of historical standing, if you say Izalelt can get a full score of ten this year, then Robben can only get three.
But in terms of actual performance, Robben could at least get eight, even nine!
Take one step back... and you’ll keep stepping back!
That’s reality.
After this night, in the new year, the whole world started spamming Izalelt’s name everywhere.
Just like Zidane, Lima, Moreira before him, Izalelt suddenly climbed to the summit and became one of the strongest football megastars on the planet.
And Gutierrez, Robben, who once could go neck and neck with him and even slightly outshine him, are still swimming in the ocean of superstars; though they’re big names in the industry, outside the football world, not many people know them.
Izalelt, on the other hand, because he was crowned king, his prestige in other fields has surpassed Gutierrez, Robben and the others by dozens, by hundreds of times!
That’s the meaning of a king’s battle.
The resources a true king can enjoy are absolutely beyond the imagination of those in second or third place.
This is the extreme case of the Matthew Effect, yet it keeps popping up in every industry.
People only ever remember number one.
Sure, some comedians might remember that the second highest peak in the world is K2, but the number of people who know Mount Everest is indeed countless times more than those who know K2.
All the major media, all the major TV stations, are running Izalelt-related news on loop.
"Crowned! Izalelt rises to world number one!"
"Hello, World Footballer of the Year Izalelt!"
"The third World Footballer of the Year in five years! Brazil’s golden age is here!"
"Team of the gods, Brazil! Izalelt, Moreira, Lima, who on earth can stop this Brazil?"
"Sweeping the World Footballer of the Year and the Golden Ball Award, let’s see just how strong Izalelt was this year!"
"Living up to the European Cup! Ancelotti back in the top five, reliving the peak!"
"Career best again! Praxedes reaches his highest world ranking, fourth!"
"Record for the highest ranking by a first-time entrant in the 50-man World Footballer shortlist, twenty-second, Lu!"
"Serie A’s number one Divine Striker Talista about to level up, ranked forty-ninth this year, take a guess where he’ll be next year?"
"Forget me not! Morici makes the 50-man shortlist, second only to peak Manzuyovich among Croatia-origin players!"
"In terms of gold content, this year’s World Footballer of the Year totally nuked the Golden Ball Award to slag!"
"A look back at the top ten most unreasonable Golden Ball Award rankings over the years!"
"Golden Ball’s overlooked gems, starting from Lu Yang!"
"Standards in doubt, Golden Ball Award questioned by hordes of fans, its credibility beginning to wobble!"
A whole week went by.
The impact brought by the World Footballer of the Year was still ongoing.
But as the league entered the winter break, all this could finally start to fade.
That week, San Remo played a quarterfinal in the Italian Cup.
Morici assisted, Talista scored.
Lu Yang assisted, Fernandez scored.
San Remo beat their Serie B opponent 2–0 with ease and advanced to the semifinals.
In addition, San Remo also played a league match.
Lu Yang won a penalty, Morici converted from the spot, a 1–0 narrow win.
With that, all of San Remo’s matches in the first half of the season were done.
They ended up third on the table.
Rome in fourth have the same points as San Remo, but San Remo have the head-to-head advantage.
Fifth are the surging Juventus, only one point behind San Remo and Rome.
Second place is Atlanta.
First place is Florence.
Among this, Lu Yang’s twenty-eight goals in the first half stunned everyone and directly broke the historical scoring record In Serie A.
In some low-scoring seasons In Serie A, this tally could already win the league Golden Boot.
Seeing this, a whole bunch of Serie A forwards just want to say one thing to the Golden Ball Award: MMP!
Please, stop provoking Brother Lu, okay?
Whatever rank Brother Lu wants, just give it to him, can you?
Otherwise no one else gets to have any fun!
That said, this year the stats of star players at the strong Serie A clubs have generally all gone up.
Carrel, Perrotta, Ancelotti, Kolber, Sogel, Inzitens and others all have close to twenty goals.
...
Best Intercontinental Hotel in Turin.
Lu Yang’s night flight is heading to Los Angeles.
Sofia’s shoot over there has been going on for a while, and they need Lu Yang to come take a look.
Without Lu Yang’s reassurance, Sofia doesn’t feel quite sure in her heart.