Player Focus: Franck Ribéry - France's Man for the Big Occasion
The hype surrounding the fast-approaching World Cup playoffs has been primarily concerned with the guaranteed absence from the tournament next summer of one of the world's best players, with Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden playing for a single place in Brazil. Meanwhile, the battle for the Ballon d'Or had until recently been the two-horse race between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi that we have come to expect in recent years. Yet in both cases there is another player who was, at least originally, largely overlooked.
There remains a distinct chance that Franck Ribéry may not be at the World Cup next summer, while the Bayern Munich winger has snuck under the radar in to odds-on favourite to take home the world player of the year award at the Zurich ceremony in January. It has been a year to remember for the Frenchman, and it is rather surprising that his rise to even becoming a genuine contender for the gong has taken so long and an injury to Messi to occur.
It will of course be a huge shame whether it is Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic that misses out on a trip to Brazil, but to add Ribéry to that would be a bigger deal than much of the press is making out. Two games against a Ukraine side that conceded only a solitary goal from the penalty spot over 180 minutes against England - and would, incidentally, with two draws, have knocked England out on away goals had those matches been playoffs - stand in the way of Didier Deschamps' side making it to next year's tournament. Ribéry - the man who is likely to be the first name on Deschamps' team sheet - will be key.
In a qualification group including world and European champions Spain, winger Ribéry top scored with 5 goals in 8 matches, including 3 in the two man of the match performances in the final crunch games when France needed him most. He twice equalised against Belarus before his side went on to win 4-2, and scored the first and set up the third in a 3-0 win over Finland. Two wins were a necessity if they were to pounce on any potential mistake by Spain at the top of the group. No such slip-up occurred, but Ribéry made sure France were hot on the Spaniards' tails.
A player fully capable of stepping up to the plate at times of real importance, the upcoming playoffs could be the perfect stage for a another perfect performance. His display against the Scandanavians earned him a WhoScored rating of 10 out of 10, a feat he also managed in his most recent outing for Bayern. Few others can boast such good recent form.
The consistency of his performances have been such that his average rating this season (8.45) is the highest of all players to have made at least 10 appearances across the top 5 European leagues, just ahead of his Ballon d'Or rivals Messi (8.34) and Ronaldo (8.23). Having dribbled past an opponent more times (67) this season than any other player in those competitions and created 35 chances, Ribéry's blistering start to the season has been pivotal in Bayern's 10 wins and 27 goals from 12 Bundesliga games, on top of early qualification from the Champions League group stages. He has 4 Bundesliga goals from 10 starts and another 3 in 4 Champions League appearances; the rate at which he has scored in the league and European competition this season (0.47 goals per game) is better - so far - than any other campaign he has had since moving to Germany in 2007. It is a quite frightening thought for opponents that he might have finally added prolific goalscoring to his incredible creative talents.
It was those talents that saw him cleverly flick the ball, via a ricochet off Lukasz Piszczek, into the path of Arjen Robben to score the winning goal in the Champions League final at Wembley back in May. He also won the WhoScored man of the match award as his side won 3-0 at Camp Nou in the semi-final a few weeks earlier. At the most important times, Ribéry has that edge of sheer class that can make the difference between a draw and win.
That he has provided exactly that at such key stages of 2013 make a good argument in itself that he is the best candidate for the coveted "Golden Ball". Messi and Ronaldo have both had remarkable years - though Messi's was substandard relative to his unbelievable 2012 - but at a stage where Ribéry performed as his team needed him to, Messi and Ronaldo floundered, the former's injury of course was a considerable factor, though.
The Frenchman has more pressing issues than filling the pockets of the great many that have backed him to beat his rivals in the individual stakes, with a trip to the Ukraine an imminent and up there with the most important games of an already action-packed year. France have underperformed at times of great importance in recent years, failing to live up to expectations at major tournaments and Ribéry has been as guilty as anyone for that. However, this year he has proved that he is the man for the big occasion. His countrymen will be looking to their superstar winger for inspiration and he could be the player to win France their place in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
Can Ribéry step up and propel France to the World Cup? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
If I'm not mistaken, Ballon d'Or is supposed to be awarded for achievments in this calendar year. Am I right? Having browsed around the site I find it hard to compare the top contenders, since stats are available for seasons, and they don't correspond to the calendar year. Pre-produced tables are therefore not optimal. Could you do an article comparing ratings, goals, assists etc for the Ballon d'Or shortlist in this calendar year?
France deserved to get knocked out for not selecting Schneiderlin. I don't really care how many people get mad and down vote me either. Schneiderlin is a great player and if I was the French manager he'd be the first name on the team sheet.
yes I know, but its really subjective to tell what is dribble and what is not i saw games in which he had 11 dribbles? is it possible?
Hi urbanix. This article should be exactly what you're after - http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/41ajnjw2kkijzlxutgmy5q/Show/Player-Focus-The-Ballon-dWhoScored-2013
"he would be just 7.5 without dribbles" and Messi/ROnaldo would be just 7.5 without goals. your point is?
Ribery's stated that he already knows where he's putting the Ballon D'Or, just for that i really hope Ronaldo wins it
Nemeth: Yes, you are right about that. It is quite subjective. Ribéry always plays in the same way: he runs on his flank and, as he is quicker than most of the adverse defenders, he will overtake them. Then I think it is considered as dribbles as soon as he manages to pass an opponent.
Nemeth: Just like Suarez, Neymar, Messi and many others.
@urbanix i am really agree with you year calendar is the one we must focus on if you see in the fifa website. they talk about last season they say Messi is la liga top scorer with 45 goals and Ronaldo is second with 34 but in the year calendar they have the same number of goals 20 goal for any one in the last season and now Ronaldo have 36 goals vs Messi 28 . and in the UEFA CL they say Ronaldo is the top scorer with 12 goals and Robert Lewandowski is second with 10 but in 2013 year in the first half Lewa have 6 goals also vs Ronaldo's 6 but now Ronaldo have the upper hand with 14 goals. so i think they must do this thing. 1. move the ballon d'or from jan to july why july the world cup the euro cup the south america cup all theys will end in july and the season end in may so the world at that moment knows who is the best.
It is possible to have 11 dribbles, because when he drbbles he usualy dribbles 2-3 players at the time..
It is ridiculous that ballon d'or is given for calendar year rather than season. The award should be given in july/august and UEFA best player in Europe award shold be cancelled. The best player of season 2012/13 was undoubtedly Lionel Messi. Ribery was just best of Bayern. Bayern had won everything as an amazing collective, not only because of Ribery's good play. Ribery even played badly in Champions League. He made good performances in one of the semifinals and final In 2013/14 season so far, the best players are Ribery and Ronaldo.
he would be just 7.5 without dribbles