I LOVE SOCCER

France Football has handed in the list of the initial 50 candidates chosen for this years FIFA GOLDEN BALL AWARD. These are now the following procedures:

1. 1st of November the list of 50 will be shortened to 23 players
2. 5th of December , three players will be named as finalists
3. 9th of January 2012 the winner will be announced

SPANISH FOOTBALL is well represented & especially FC BARCELONA which has 10 players on the list, while REAL MADRID has 5 players.

The 10 candidates from FC Barcelona are:

Eric Abidal

Lionel Messi

Xavi Hernandez

David Villa

Cesc Fabregas

Andres Iniesta

Carles Puyol

Gerard Pique

Dani Alves

Alexis Sanchez

The 5 candidates for Real Madrid are:

Iker Casillas

Mesut Ozil

Sami Khedira

Cristiano Ronaldo

Xabi Alonso

Another Spanish Football born player is on the list, David Silva (Man City) along with Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Gómez, Thomas Müller, Ribery, Klose, Sneijder, Van Persie, Robben y Van der Vaart, Samuel Eto'o, Kun Agüero, Luis Suárez, Diego Forlán, Chicharito Hernández, Wayne Rooney, Neymar & Antonio di Natale.

Some other names on the list are

Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich)

Philip Lahm (Bayern Múnich)

Mario Gómez (Bayern Múnich)

Thomas Müller (Bayern Múnich)

Frank Ribery (Bayern Múnich)

Miroslav Klose (SS Lazio)

Wesley Sneijder (Inter de Milan)

Robbie Van Persie (Arsenal)

Arjen Robben (Bayern Múnich)

Raphael Van der Vaart (Tottenham)

Samuel Eto'o (Anzhi)

Kun Agüero (Manchester City)

Luis Suárez (Liverpool)

Diego Forlán (Inter de Milán)

Chicharito Hernández (Manchester United)

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Neymar (Santos)

Di Natale (Udinese)

David Silva (Manchester City)

All the coaches and captains from all the national teams as well as all the journalists from around the world that participate will vote to elect the next FIFA Golden Ball 2012. Next December 5th, we will know the name of the three final football players .

Meanwhile, we have to wait until January 9th, 2012 when the winner will be announced in Zurich.

German National Team

We saw this brilliant and young German team in Southafrica World Cup 2010. Their game and creativity enchanted many including me. At the beginning of the competition, many people as well as their own country thought they wouldn´t be able to go really far since Michael Ballack one o the best football players from Germany was ruled out because of

an injury, leaving a whole nation in shock and disbelief.

At that moment, Joachim "Jogi" Löw had the difficult and impressive task of leading Germany a team of no-names and youngsters who were looking for recognition and glory in the WC. Germany did not disappoint anyone , Coach Joachim Loew assembled a fine and talented team, a combination of young, up-and-comers and experienced players and create a new way of playing for germany.

Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Phillipp Lahm play side by side with Mario Goetze and Toni Kroos, and, of course, the sensational discoveries of the last World Cup: Mesut Özil, Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira. People from Germany loved it as well as we did it.

Even the subs’ bench shows great potential — players that already shine at their clubs and just wait for their chance to prove themselves in the national team.

Germany showed thier best football to the entire planet during the FIFA World Cup 2010 and many countries suffered the consequences .

On 13 June 2010, they played their first match of the tournament against Australia and won 4–0.

They lost their second match 0–1 to Serbia.

Their next match against Ghana was won 1–0 by a goal from Mesut Özil. Germany went on to win the group and advanced to the knockout stage.

In the round of 16, Germany humiliated England 4–1. However, the game controversially had a goal scored by Frank Lampard disallowed, despite video replays that showed the ball beyond the goal line.

Germany defeated Argentina 4–0; this match was also celebrated striker Miroslav Klose's 100th international cap and the match in which he tied German legend Gerd Müller's record of 14 World Cup goals, one behind the all-time record of 15 World Cup goals, which is held by Ronaldo of Brazil.

In the semi-final on 7 July, Germany lost 1–0 to Spain.

Germany played Uruguay for Third Place, as in 1970, and won the match 3–2 on 10 July.

Germany scored the most with a total of 16 goals in the 2010 World Cup, in comparison, the winning nation Spain scored only 8 goals. The German team became the first team since Brazil in 1982 to record the highest goal difference in a World Cup without winning it.

Talking about another important competition , Germany is one of the favorite teams to win Next Euro 2012.

The qualification round for the 2012 European Championship proves this theory. As the first country, Germany secured its spot for the tournament without losing a single match so far.

And it is undeniable that Germany has a great squad, maybe the best in many years.

The way Germany plays nowadays difers a lot with the game they showed some years ago . The days of dogged defensive football are gone. Instead, the team has proven that it has the capability to play fast-paced and attractive, with a love for attack and counterattack. One of the responsible ones of this fast-paced and attractive play is the Turkish German player Mesut Özil who has contributed a lot to the German Team. One can see the difference when he plays.

German National Team has improved a lot and they also want to prove that they can become the next european Champions. Despite Germany’s great form, Spain is still around. Spain has somewhat become Germany’s nemesis, as it was responsible for Germany’s defeat in the last two big tournaments: Spain beat Germany in the final of the European Championship 2008, and again in the semifinals of the World Cup 2010.

But with the hope that Germany has learned from these two past experiences and matured in the time since, worrying about Spain might be a less important concern.

Now it´s the time for Germany National Team to achieve something big.

The EURO 2012 has finally begun and Germany has started with perfect numbers in this competition. They have played four games up to now and they have won the four of them.

The first game was :

GERMANY 1 PORTUGAL 0

In this match, Real Madrid teammates were playing opposite sides. Cristiano Ronaldo, Coentrao, and Pepe's Portugal were playing agaisn Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira's Germany.

Mario Gomez scored and Germany won against Portugal his first match in the Group of Death. A difficult match with a great result.

The second match was:

NETHERLANDS 1 GERMANY 2

This game was "THE CLASH OF THE TITANS" since two of the favorite teams to win this competition played this match. Once again teammates from the same club were looking each other's faces Robben met Bastian, Neuer, Boateng, Lahm, Mueller, Gomez, and some others in this match.

Super Mario Gomez scored the two goals for Germany and they defeated Netherlands. Van Persie scored the goal for the Dutch.

The third game of the Group of Death was:

DENMARK 1 GERMANY 2