Golden Ball, To Whom?

It’s getting predictable who may grab the Golden Ball in this World Cup with the end of tournaments for the semifinal.

The Golden Ball goes to the player picked as MVP. Another award “Golden Shoe” is given to the scorer of most goals. Both of them started in the 1982 Spain World Cup, The winners of them are considered honored players, and determined by the whole press’s vote covering the World Cup.

Usually, the winning team members get the honor. The ’90 and ’98 World Cup were exceptional, for example. Schillaci from Italy and Ronaldo of Brazil won the Golden Ball, even though their teams were not the final winner of the Cup. It is easy, however, to take the honor when the MVP’s team ends up with the final victory.

Now, 8-9 players are most promising candidates. All of them have played an important role in helping their teams (i.e. Korea, Germany, Brazil and Turkey) climb up to the semifinal.

Two Korean players are the first to count in. One is Ahn Jung-hwan, nicknamed the “Lord of the Ring”; the other is the goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae. Ahn made two impressive, “golden goals” of 100% purity. Against the USA, his shot made the game a draw. In the Korea v. Italy match, his golden goal brought the victory. Lee has allowed an average of 0.4 goal per game and blocked 17 successful shootings. Now, Lee is widely considered for the Yashin Award, which goes to the best goalkeeper. Yet another competitor for the Ball is undoubtedly Hong Myung-bo. He has played in the 4 consecutive World Cups, and, based on his experience, harmoniously led his team.

In the German team, Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn stand out. Ballack has scored 2 goals and assisted 4. Kahn as goalkeeper has shown top-notch performance. Nonetheless, Ballack contributed most. His goal brought his team victory in the quarterfinal against USA. Kahn, who gave only one goal throughout the past five gams, is aiming at the Golden Ball and the Yashin at the same time. Miroslav Klose recorded a hat trick against the relatively weak Saudi Arabia. After that, however, his performance is not impressive enough for the Ball.

As experts and gamblers predict, if Brazil wins as expected it will wipe out the awards. Ronaldo and Rivaldo have made 5 goals each, the highest scorer. Both will probably wipe out the Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe. They have almost equally contributed to their team. Marking Ronaldo, who plays deep into the other’s terrain, breached the opponent’s defense line, therefore giving more shooting chances for other Brazilian players. On the other hand, Rivaldo surprisingly has scored one goal per match, even though he plays around the mid-field. If the prediction comes true, it’s foreseeable that one of them will grab one award; the other will the rest.

Turkey can offer tonsured Hasan Sas and “Mohegan warrior hair-styled” Umit Davala. Actually, Hakan Sukur topped among the Turkey’s players. While he failed to demonstrate his best, the other two pushed their team up to the semifinal. It’s the first advance thereto for 48 years.

Sasu led his team throughout the group league. Davala’s one goal and one assistance made 1-0 victory twice in the tournament race. Wait and see who performs how in the remaining games.

Kyung-Joon Chung news91@dong.com