A Golden Ball (Suppressing Very Strong Immature Headline-Writing Impulses Right Now) For Buffon?
By: Martha | November 7th, 2006
Press leaks are suggesting Italy and Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon has been voted winner of the much-maligned-but-still-cool Ballon d’Or. While the award won’t be given out until the end of this month, these leaks tend to be accurate. And apparently the folks at France Football really need to work on their security, because we not only know that Buffon won, but also that Italy captain and deserter of Juve Fabio Canavarro and the ever-present Thierry Henry were the two people he beat out for the title. Really, it’s nice to hear that people who aren’t terrible at football were actually in the top three — given the list of finalists, that was in no way a forgone conclusion. I mean, Cesc Fabregas? Joe Cole (who I love, by the way)? Tim Cahill?! Have mercy.
Assuming this rumor is true (it is), Buffon is in pretty freaking awesome company — he’s only the second keeper ever to win the award. The first? Only Lev Yashin, the best footballing Commie of all time. Also, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that he’s the first player in a lower division named European Footballer of the Year. Yes?
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It really had to be Buffon, Cannavaro or Pirlo, and Buffon is as good as any keeper I’ve ever seen. Juve only lost one league game all year and only once in the Champions League, and Italy lost none. That’s a damn good record for a keeper. I think this is well deserved recognition, if it ends up being true.
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Are you sure this rumor isn’t just the result of the Goldmember kit he wore in the World Cup final?
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[...] exactly a year ago, I wrote a very confident post about how Gigi Buffon was going to become the first goalkeeper since Russia’s legendary Lev [...]
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