Inside Track: Kane gets the OK after Ballon d’Or foul-up
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
They made a bit of a hames of the Ballon d’Or presentation last week, three players been named as winners at different times before Harry Kane was given belated and deserved recognition.
It’s a reminder of what happened earlier this year at the draw for the World Cup, Donald J Trump being presented with an award by Gianni Infantino. Whatever it was for, it couldn’t have been for Trump’s contribution to the game.
It’s interesting to look back at the pictures from that ceremony. Along with Trump and Infantino on the stage was Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney. It wouldn’t happen today, Carney and Trump sharing each other’s company.
Few can dispute Kane’s right to the reward. He was good at Tottenham, playing a vital role in the North London club being in a much better place than it is today.
But since moving to Bayern Munich, he’s been even better, banging in goals left, right and centre, all of them contributing to several trophy wins.
And the No 9, who has a lot of Galway blood coursing through his veins, hasn’t confined his scoring to German football. His goals have also been a feature of his time with England, many of them predating his transfer to Bayern..
There was a time during the summer when it seemed Kane might emulate Bobby Moore by captaining his country in a World Cup final. England made the semi-finals, where they scored first against Argentina, but ended conceding in the last minutes to lose 2-1.
Kane wasn’t among the scorers when England beat France 6-4 in the play-off for third place, but still finished third overall for the tournament with six goals.
He’s the first Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or in 21 years. Liverpool’s Michael Owen took the title in 2001, and before that, other Three Lions to be honoured were Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan.
Known then as the European Footballer of the Year, Matthews took the first award, in 1956. It may have been for his contribution over the years, and not his performances that season that the great Blackpool, Stoke City and England player was honoured. He was 41 at the time.
Manchester United have had four winners. How the Old Trafford faithful would wish to have a Charlton, George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo or Denis Law in their ranks right now.
Ronaldo has won the title five times, four of them with Real Madrid. But he trails Lionel Messi, whose eight wins have come in his seasons with Barcelona, PSG and Inter Miami.
Such was his and Ronaldo’s dominance, no-one else beyond this duo was successful between 2008 and 2017.
Although outstanding in his time in the Liverpool colours, Kevin Keegan was playing with Hamburg when he won back-to-back titles in 1978/’79. The last English League player to be honoured, prior to Kane, was Manchester City’s Rodri, two years ago.
Scoring goals rather than preventing them gives forwards the edge. Very few defenders have been selected in the scheme’s 70 years, and only one goalkeeper – Russia’s Lev Yashin – has got the nod.
The criteria for selection must have changed. For most of its duration the award has been confined to those playing with European clubs, but as mentioned above Messi’s last recognition came when he was with Inter Miami CF.