Ronaldo Is Goal.com's Player Of The Decade

• Ronaldo

Welcome to 2010! It's the start of a new decade, but Goal.com must first take a glance back to the first ten years of the 2000s.

To close off the decade we asked you, the readers, to vote for the top player of the past ten years. The shortlist below was drawn from a series of polls asking you to pick the best in each position - this accounts for the absence of, among others, Ronaldinho.

That's how the final nine were chosen - but what about the top one?

The results are in, and the winner is Ronaldo.

The Brazilian legend had a close challenger in the form of Zinedine Zidane, but in the end prevailed with almost half the vote.

Bringing up the rear were a host of players ranging from Sami Hyypia to Gigi Buffon, but none could top the former Inter, Real Madrid, and AC Milan man.

The Pantheon


1st - Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima - 'Ronaldo'


2nd - Zinedine Zidane


3rd - Lionel Messi

Francesco Totti Must Go To The World Cup With Italy

Let’s start this debate with a simple fact. Barring injury, Francesco Totti will be traveling to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A secret deal between the Roma legend and Italy coach Marcello Lippi was done months ago whereby Totti would be permitted to return once the qualification campaign was over. A similar agreement was reached with Juventus striker Amauri, although his stunning collapse in form this season may lead Lippi to change his mind when the ‘Brazilian’ receives his Italian passport.

At the weekend, Totti came as close as ever to publicly confirming that he will participate in his third straight Mondial.

"The World Cup? I will decide in April, that's if Lippi and the group wants me there," he told La Repubblica.

"I have a great relationship with the coach that goes beyond football, I will not forget what he did for me in Germany [2006]. He has always waited for me and given me the trust."

Sections of the media have been split over whether Totti’s return is good or bad for the Azzurri. Many critics argue that it is unfair on the rest of the group who have worked hard to qualify Italy for the World Cup for Er Pupone to just then turn up in time for the finals. Totti has not played for La Nazionale since the 2006 World Cup final win over France, while he infamously left Roberto Donadoni hanging for almost a year before he announced his international retirement in 2007. Others point out that Totti is pushing on 34, and should make way for younger players. The Giallorossi captain’s injury proneness and limited mobility is cited as another issue.

Following Italy’s quarter final penalty shootout exit to Spain at Euro 2008, I actually agreed with many of the above arguments. I wrote a Calcio Debate entitled ‘Yes To [Alessandro] Nesta, No To Totti’ where I argued that Lippi should recall the former for the World Cup, but not the latter.

Things have changed somewhat in the past 18 months, though. My main objection to recalling Totti was my belief that Italy had a host of young, talented forwards coming through who would be ready to take South Africa by storm. I singled out the emergence of Sebastian Giovinco, Giuseppe Rossi and Mario Balotelli, but we could also talk about the phenomenon that is Antonio Cassano and even pocket dynamo Fabrizio Miccoli.

Cassano has been frozen out

For one reason or another, none of these players have carried through my wishful thinking. Most of the blame lies with Lippi for refusing to freshen up his squad and stubbornly persisting with the ageing 2006 veterans. Meanwhile, Cassano and Miccoli have been excluded on political grounds – the former some believe because of Totti’s impending return (the pair fell out spectacularly while at Roma).

Those that Lippi has chosen - during the qualifiers, friendlies and Confederations Cup – have proven emphatically that they are not good enough to make an impact on a World Cup. Despite being grouped in a weak qualification pool with Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia, Italy’s forwards struggled terribly not only to score goals, but to create chances.

Italy’s strikers scored just nine goals in 10 qualifiers – three of which for Alberto Gilardino occurred in a dead-rubber match against Cyprus. Italy’s joint second top-scorer in qualifying was Georgia’s Kakha Kaladze with two own goals! The likes of Giuseppe Rossi and Fabio Quagliarella – both regulars during Lippi’s second era – failed to hit the back of the net once. The Napoli man hasn’t scored for Italy for two years. Between the defeat to Egypt in June and the win against Bulgaria in September, the Azzurri went three-and-a-half games without scoring a goal, and four-and-a-half without one of their forwards doing so.

Italy need Totti's goals and class

The idea that Italy’s forwards should feel betrayed about having worked so hard to get to South Africa, only to see Totti steal their place on the plane, is quite frankly ridiculous. Not a single Italian attacker who has played during qualifying has earned their ticket – the only two who have done enough to be considered are Vincenzo Iaquinta and Alberto Gilardino. If anyone has been stealing places it is the current Italy attack because under any other coach most of them would not even be in the squad – such is their inferiority to the likes of Cassano.

Going into South Africa, Italy possess arguably their weakest squad for 50 years. Without Totti, Italy have no chance of retaining the trophy they won so gloriously in Germany four years ago. With Totti, who has scored 20 goals in 18 games this season, they still have little chance.

African Cup Of Nations Team

The hosts go into the competition with one thing in mind, victory, as the other fifteen sides in the tournament will be playing in their backyard.

The Palancas Negras, or Black Antelopes have been preparing well for their home tournament with a number of matches played against a variety of opposition. They have pulled off a few impressive results along the way, including a 2-0 win over Togo, and draws with the likes of Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon.

The draw for the competition placed Angola automatically in Group A as the hosts, playing all of their group stage matches in Luanda. Angola was drawn Mali, Malawi and World Cup bound Algeria. The draw is certainly not an easy one, but avoiding the likes of Nigeria and Ghana is always a good thing.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Sport after the draw, Angola coach Manuel Jose said, "I am satisfied with the draw. It is a balanced group. It will not be easy. All our adversaries are known to be combative. Algeria with us, they are doing well currently. Mali will be a difficult competitor. We will try to get one of the first two places to qualify.”

Road To Qualification

Angola qualified automatically for the 2010 competition as hosts, not needing to go through the typical qualification that the other fifteen sides endured to make it to the continental showpiece.

The Coach

Manuel Jose

Portuguese coach, Manuel Jose is the man charged with taking the Angolans into their home tournament with the best preparation possible under their belts. The coach was highly successful with Egyptian giants Al Ahly, and he certainly knows that he has his work cut out for him as he comes up against the cream of African football in January on home soil. The coach is used to the pressure of football, and thanks to his time on the continent he is experienced in African football matters.

A fine run in front of their fans will partly atone for their failure to repeat the feat of qualifying for the World Cup, which they first achieved, ahead of a highly fancied Nigeria, four years ago in Germany. Jose has kept faith with the core of the team from the last World Cup and so the likes of striker Flavio Amado and Ahly ace Gilberto are still fixtures in the national team, while the highly-rated Manucho will be a fan favourite during the tournament.

Star Player

Manucho (Real Valladolid)

Manucho, or Mateus Alberto Contreiras Gonçalves is one of the few stars of Angolan football who has been in the limelight over the past few seasons due to his potential and the clubs interested in his services. He currently plays for Real Valladolid in La Liga.

He moved from Petro Atletico, to Manchester United in January 2008, but before playing a game for United he was loaned out to Greek side Panathinaikos for the remainder of the 2007/08 season, due to issues with his UK work permit.

Manucho received a work permit soon after returning to Manchester United for pre-season training in July 2008, and made his debut for the club in the League Cup against Middlesbrough on 23 September 2008. Struggling to find first team opportunities at Old Trafford, at the beginning of 2009 he joined Hull City on loan until the end of the season. Having failed to break into the Manchester United first team, Manucho joined Real Valladolid in July 2009.

The talented striker is strong and fast, able to hold the ball up well while not afraid to run at defenders and try his luck with shots on goal from distance. He was recently in the news due to trouble between himself and the coach, but the Angolan fans will hope that the situation is sorted out so the attacker can do his best to impress in front of his home support.

Young Gun

Djalma Campos

The 22-year-old attacker is part of the new generation of Angolan players who are looking to displace the likes of Flavio and Love in the national team, two players who have been with the side for some time.

The young talent plays for Maritimo in Portugal, and his goal scoring has allowed him to impress coach Manuel Jose, and it will be interesting to see if he will feature prominently in the Nations Cup. He debuted for Angola in 2008 and has already scored a goal in only six appearances for the national team.

Objective

The pressure is on the Palancas Negras to improve on their quarter-final placing at the last African Cup of Nations in Ghana when they host the tournament in January. As the home side they will want to go for the trophy, but a quarter-final place will be successful in the eyes of many fans.

Prediction

Angola will have home support to count on in January, and this will be a big advantage, perhaps allowing them to displace Mali or Algeria in the group before being knocked out in the quarter-finals of the tournament.