In an exceptional year for both club and country Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta have achieved more in terms of winning trophies than a lot of players will have the opportunity to do in a life time.

Interestingly the three nominees to make the shortlist have all come through the excellent youth academy at Barcelona and these days it is hard to imagine any of them lining up for any other team than Barcelona.

But only one player can claim the title and my money is on the Messi who I consider to be the best player in the world today and in this months FHM magazine the little wizard talks exclusively about his training programme and what it takes to become one of the best players of his generation.

You will also find out what a typical Barcelona training session involves and what skill exercises Messi undertakes to ensure he’s always at the top of his game.

England Fly Half Toby Flood also reveals the secrets required to increase speed and strength and the ultimate technique to drop goal.

Gold medal winning Heptathlete Jessica Ennis offers her services as your personal trainer with nine steps on how to build a champions mentality, while Britain’s best MMA fighter Michael (The Count) Bisping reveals the rules required to mix it with the big boys.

Now you can save money on the ultimate mens magazine by buying online and getting £1 off FHM while still enjoying the best read (and Pics) that money can buy!

Sponsored Post

Goalkeeper

Manuel Neuer, Germany
Invaluable in Germany’s third place finish, Neuer made 22 saves during the tournament, at a rate of nearly four per game. Only Ghana’s Richard Kingson made more saves (24). He only conceded three goals in six games, and never more than one per game. When Joachim Löw left him out of the third place final to give Hans-Jorg Butt a chance, the Germans conceded twice.

Defenders
The whole Spanish back-four makes the Castrol Index team of the tournament. Mainly, this is because Spain became the first World Cup winners not to concede a single goal in the knockout stages of the competition. Overall, La Roja only conceded two goals in seven games, equalling the best defensive performance by a World Cup winner (France 1998 & Italy 2006).

Sergio Ramos, Spain
Spain’s right-back topped the Castrol Index with a series of commanding performances. By far the most trigger happy of Spain’s backline, he had 11 shots in total, including four on target. One of the most enterprising defenders in world football, he embarked on 31 solo runs, the most by any player at the 2010 FIFA World CupTM. He also completed an impressive 80% of passes

Carles Puyol, Spain
Puyol scored one of the key goals for Spain at this World Cup when his header broke the deadlock against Germany in the semi-finals. It was his only shot on target of the tournament. The Catalan central defender made more clearances than any other Spanish player (11) and also rarely gave the ball away, completing 88% of passes.

Gerard Pique, Spain
Pique was a rock at centre-half for Spain. One of three players to play the entire campaign in South Africa (alongside Casillas and Capdevila), he was the most prolific defender in the passing department, completing 506 deliveries, including the most long passes (74).

Joan Capdevila, Spain
Tireless in the left-back position for Spain, Capdevila whipped in 26 crosses during the tournament. Only Xavi did better. Effective in the play going forward, he was also spotless when it came to challenging opponents: he only conceded six fouls in 660 minutes of play, that’s one every 110 minutes !

Midfielders

Thomas Müller, Germany
The new star of German football was the most clinical player of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM, converting all five of his shots on target. With five goals and three assists, he was also directly involved in more goals than any other player.

Sergio Busquets, Spain
The Spanish midfielder ran himself into the ground for Spain: he completed more short passes than any other player at the 2010 FIFA World CupTM (119). A no-nonsense approach to his general distribution was also near perfect: no other Spanish midfielder was as effective in his passing (88% success rate).

Mark van Bommel, Netherlands
Van Bommel completed more passes than any other Dutch player (291). Handy at winning free-kicks, he was fouled 22 times, more than any other player in Bert van Maarwijk’s side. The 33-year-old also proved to be tidy in possession, completing 76% of his passes overall.

Wesley Sneijder, Netherlands
Sneijder scored five goals in South Africa, equalling the most prolific showing by a Dutch player at a FIFA World CupTM (Johan Neeskens in 1974 and Rob Rensenbrink in 1978). He also delivered one assist and covered more ground than any other player in Bert van Maarwijk’s side (73.3 kms).

Strikers

David Villa, Spain
David Villa was involved in 75% of Spain’s goals at the 2010 FIFA World CupTM, scoring five times and delivering one assist. He has now become the all-time leading scorer for Spain with eight goals. His eye for the net meant he also had the most shots on target at the 2010 FIFA World CupTM (17).

Luis Suarez, Uruguay
Involved in nearly half of Uruguay’s goals – scoring three times and making two assists – Suarez built on his outstanding campaign with Ajax Amsterdam. Only David Villa had more shots on target than the Uruguayan striker, who could have bridged the gap had he not been sent-off in the quarter-final against Ghana for his goal line “save”.

World Cup 2010

According the the Castrol Performance data, Spain should take their chances at goal from distance in the World Cup 2010 final in South Africa, as the stats show that Holland goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg has been guilty of conceding most goals (3) in the finals from shots taken from outside the box.

Stekelenburg has conceded five goals in total in his six World Cup appearances, compared to just two conceded in the same number of games by Spain’s Iker Casillas.

Casillas appears to be a more reliable goalkeeper than Maarten Stekelenburg, having saved a higher proportion of shots than his Dutch counterpart.

The Real Madrid player has so far kept more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper at the 2010 FIFA World Cup (four) and proven decisive on many occasions including a penalty saved in the quarter final against Paraguay, despite UK TV commentators constantly telling viewers how shaky he looks!

In defence Carles Puyol’s headed goal against Germany has powered Spain to their first ever World Cup final, the Catalan centre half has won a greater proportion of aerial duels than Johnny Heitinga and his passing accuracy has also been superior. However the Everton defender has displayed great fighting spirit, making more defensive actions than Puyol.

Many of us expect the game will be decided in midfield where many key battles will take place on Sunday. Castrol Performance data suggests that midfield general Mark van Bommel has made more tackles (31) than Xabi Alonso (18) but the Real Madrid schemer has shown more attacking intentions with 14 shots, compared to just two for the 2010 Bundesliga champion.

Despite playing in midfield, Wesley Sneijder is the joint top scorer at the FIFA World CupTM with five goals, the Inter Milan playmaker has attempted 22 shots, compared to just five for Xavi.

However the Barcelona player has created far more goalscoring chances for his team mates, setting up 25 shots, a tournament record so far. Xavi has also delivered more passes than any other player at the 2010 World Cup (509).

The new Barcelona signing David Villa has become the all time Spanish top scorer in World Cup history with eight goals, five of these coming this summer.

Having recovered in time from an injury, Arjen Robben has managed to score three goals and assist another in just four appearances at this summer’s finals. The Bayern Munich winger has been more clinical in front of goal than his Spanish counterpart and has completed a higher proportion of his dribbles.

According to Castrol Performance data, central to the Netherlands’ path to the 2010 World Cup final has been their accuracy in front of goal, with the Dutch posting a competition-high 58.2% accuracy rate while only Germany can better their conversion rate of 17.9% (both including only quarter-finalists).

But the Dutch midfielders will need to stamp their authority early in the game if they don’t want Spain’s midfield to dictate the game, as they did in their semi-final win over Germany.

The Spanish midfielders completed 131 more passes than their German counterparts in Durban on Wednesday. On average, Spain’s midfield were distributing the ball to one of their teammates every 16 seconds compared to one pass every 27 seconds for Germany.

Unsurprisingly, Spain also dominate the possession ranking at the World Cup with a 67% average, a full 11 percentage points better than the Netherlands (56%).

Xavi, who teed up Carles Puyol’s goal, was the second player to complete more than 100 passes in a game at the 2010 FIFA World Cup after Argentina’s Juan Sebastian Veron. Interestingly, the Catalan schemer comfortably leads the tournament for successful passes, with over 200 completed deliveries more than the most prolific Dutch player, Mark van Bommel.

chelsea fc

Chelsea have had their transfer ban suspended pending a final decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport  (CAS) following an appeal against the sentence handed out by FIFA over the clubs dealings in the Gael Kakuta affair with French club Lens.

CAS said that the sanctions would be stayed until a final decision is reached by the arbitrator, although no final date has been given. The decision means that it may be possible for Chelsea to sign new players in the January transfer window unless CAS issue their decision saying otherwise.

Under the original punishment handed out by FIFA, Chelsea were banned from transfer activity in the two transfer windows in 2010. The young player Kakuta was ordered to pay compensation to Lens of 780,000 euros for which Chelsea were jointly responsible, the club also paid 130,000 euros as ‘training compensation’ to the French club.

United are adamant that they have done nothing wrong and have today told the French club to put up or shut up. The verbal assault from Le Havre started following the ban  imposed on Chelsea last week, despite FIFA saying they have not yet received a formal complaint from the club.

Manchester United have said that when negotiations were taking place with Pogba, there was no contract in place and therefore no contract to break. The club have written to the French club and have issued the following statement:

“In response to the wholly unfounded comments widely reported in the media of Le Havre AC President, Jean-Pierre Louvel, Manchester United wish to categorically confirm that as a matter of club policy and in accordance with the applicable football regulations, we do not offer inducements to the parents of players who sign for the club such as monetary payments or the purchase of houses.

Manchester United have today written to Le Havre AC to put it on notice that action will be taken if such allegations are repeated in relation to the transfer of Paul Pogba.

Manchester United is entirely satisfied that the transfer of Paul Pogba has been conducted in accordance with the regulations set down by the world governing body, FIFA. Manchester United is ready to defend any claim brought against it by Le Havre at FIFA.

It is to be noted that all contractual documentation relating to the player’s registration with the club has already been fully ratified by the Football Association and the Premier League.”

In the final game of the first round of the group stages in the Fifa Confederations cup, World champions Italy took on the USA in South Africa last night. Surprisingly, it was USA who had most of the early possession in the game, looking comfortable enough to take the game to Italy, although both teams squandered good chances to take the lead.

Italy found it difficult to live up to their world champions tag, but when Clark was sent of for an over zealous tackle on Gattuso, you felt that the Italian’s would take control of the game. When USA defender Bornstein turned the ball into his own net immediately after the sending off, it appeared that Italy had indeed turned the tide, but the ‘goal’ was ruled out as an Italian player was in an offside position.

With five minutes to half time, USA were awarded a penalty when Chiellini brought down Altidore and Donavon converted to give the US a well deserved lead. The second half continued in the same vein, with USA looking the brighter of the sides and Italy looking rather short of ideas.

The introduction of Rossi for Italy around the hour mark will be seen as  a master stroke from Italian boss Lippi, the former Manchester United striker immediately making an impact with a stonking left foot shot that left Howard no chance. The pace of Rossi gave a new dimension to the Italian game and as the legs of ten  man USA tired, the Italians took the lead through another long range effort, this time from De Rossi.

Even then, as Italy played their boring keep ball to see out time, USA went close to grabbing an equaliser through Davies, before Pirlo found Rossi who sealed the game with another well taken goal on the half volley.

I was impressed with the attitude shown by the US who play to their limited strengths, but Italy, despite a bright final twenty minutes, really did nothing to convince me that they are worthy world champions.  The introduction of Rossi gave Italy some much needed pace in what must be the slowest international team around. I do look forward to seeing more of the young American born striker Giuseppe Rossi, now playing in Spain for Villareal, who reminded me a lot of England’s Joe Cole.

This must be seen as a dress-rehearsal for England, with a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine just around the corner. As Fabio Capello won’t have much time with his players, it is crucial he assesses the national squad’s condition, fitness and form before trying out possible combinations in Saturday’s friendly.

One selection headache for the Italian manager could be deciding who plays between the posts. There is little doubt that Ben Foster, the Manchester United reserve ‘keeper, has the ability to represent England at a major tournament. The only sticking point would be his lack of first team football, constantly ousted by the formidable Edwin Van der Sar.

With David James so inconsistent at international level and Robert Green not rated so highly by Capello, it seems logical that Foster should pick up his second cap and perhaps even retain his place for Wednesday’s qualifier.

I’m confident Fabio Capello will shuffle his pack and try out competing players for various positions, one of which being the central midfield berth. With Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard all fit and hitting top form, it will be intriguing to see which combination the England boss chooses.

I expect Stewart Downing to get the nod on the left wing, especially after his fine performance in the 2-1 victory against Germany at the end of 2008. He has his critics, and I myself have been one of them, but being the only left-footed winger we have, and on past performances, he deserves the chance to show his credentials in this friendly game.

As long as we don’t revert to the days of Sven Göran-Eriksson, when fans would witness two different England teams either side of half-time, the contest should give the players a chance to recreate their best form in an England shirt.

This will be seen as a welcome boost for England manager Fabio Capello as he endeavours to turn the English game around and get us back on course for World Cup 2010 qualification. England along with Spain and Holland are the only three European teams to win all of their qualifying games so far, having earned favourable results against Belaraus and Kazakhstan in last months World Cup games.

Euro 2008 champions Spain remain firmly at number one in the world rankings, maintaining a perfect record in their qualifying games, most recently with well earned wins against Belgium and Estonia in the October matches. The Spanish team have now cemented their place in pole position since being placed at the top after the fabulous football of the Euro’s in June.

Former world number one team and everyone’s favourites Brazil find themselves languishing in fifth place, moving down from fourth on the back of a miserable display in the goalless draw with Columbia in October. Brazil are also the highest placed non European team in the list, one place ahead of Argentina who are also struggling to find consistency despite having some of the most exciting players in world football to select from.

It will be interesting to see if Argentina’s newly appointed coach Maradona will stay around long enough to have an influence on what is, in my opinion the most talented group of individuals currently in world football. 

The FIFA rankings for November 2008 are:

1. Spain

2. Germany

3. Italy

4. Holland (Netherlands)

5. Brazil

6. Argentina

7. Croatia

8. Russia

9. Czech Republic

10. England

10. Portugal

12. France

13. Turkey

14. Cameroon

15. Israel

16. Bulgaria

17. Paraguay

18. Greece

19. Romania

20. Ukraine

England Manager Fabio Capello and Captain John Terry both faced the music with varying degrees of honesty after England’s abysmal display in a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic last Wednesday evening at Wembley Stadium.

On paper, a 2-2 draw with one of the best teams in the world doesn’t look too bad.  But the truth is the England performance, in their fifth and final international friendly under the leadership of Fabio Capello, was very disappointing. Though the Czech Republic must be wondering how they drew the game.

Second half substitue, Joe Cole scored one of the scrapiest England goals I can ever remember seeing, to save Capello from another defeat.  But the team selection and tactics were a repeat of England’s most disappointing defeat against Croatia last year which resulted in Steve McLaren losing his job and England failing to qualify for this summer’s exciting Euro 2008 Championship.

According to the official FIFA rankings England are 14th in the world.  The rankings are awarded by a points’ structure of games won and competition results; and of the 13 teams above England I am only surprised to see Romania in 11th place.

The teams in order are: Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Croatia, Brazil, Argentina, Czech Republic, Portugal, Russia, Romania, France and Turkey. Like me, you may question why the perennial underachievers (along with England), Netherlands, are in fourth place.

Just below England are the likes of Cameroon, Sotland, Bulgaria, Greece, Ghana, Israel and Egypt.

Considering the very limited success England has achieved in international football to date it is clear to see that a points based system that doesn’t take into consideration that England created the game of football, Wembley is “the home of football”, the so-called “golden generation”, the players superstar status, their wage demands, their gorgoeus-looking girlfriends and the overblown problematic egos of the top English players, then yes, it all makes sense.  The England football team are about as good as Cameroon but not quite as good as Turkey.

You can buy football tickets for the Premier League and all home international games from Viagogo.

UK Sports Tickets

As the Olympics draws to a close the focus for British sports fans will turn to rugby and cricket. RBS Six Nations tickets and ICC World Twenty20 tickets are available on the Viagogo website.

Blatter, like Platini says that Ronaldo should be allowed to join Real Madrid if he so desires, but I wonder what their perspective would be if Manchester United were the club making overtures towards Real Madrid.

My respect for Platini was lost over his remarks about the Euro 2008 finals being all the better for not having England in them, ironically it was Platini’s own French side that looked as though they didn’t deserve to be there, when it came down to it, hopefully forcing the rotund one to eat his words.

He had already got under the skin with his comments about the Premier League dominance of the Champions League, saying that Manchester United and Chelsea in particular should not have reached the final as both clubs are heavily in debt. His subsequent comments about Ronaldo were again used as snide reminder of Uniteds balance sheet.

It is getting a bit tedious hearing these so called football experts making piggy noises about things that have nothing to do with them. Ronaldo is under contract to United and as far as anyone knows he has not been offered for sale, or asked for a transfer. In my opinion Real Madrid have acted improperly as they often do, and being backed by Blatter and Platini is surely bringing the game into disrepute.