He worked hard for sure but young players in the modern game usually do. He was pretty poor otherwise and has had a really average tournament. Won’t matter much I guess if Spain win the WC of course.
Lamine Yamal
- Thread starter Hoof the ball
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Poor is harsh. Had a couple of very nice plays and through balls, retained possession well, scored a great goal that was narrowly offside.
Yeah I agree. On no planet was he poor. He just wasn't the Yamal we normally see. He still won the penalty and - as you said - scored a great goal that was (correctly) chalked off for offside.
He has been poor in terms of actual imposing himself, apart from some ocasion. He has played like any good to very good NT player should do in his NT.
What he did great is: offering himself constantly, generating width, TRYING time and again even failling, notes to freaking Pedri BTW.
It wasn’t really a great goal though because he had to go early and be offside to receive the ball with enough space. If he’d held the line and still managed to get it in the net then fair enough!
He was ok. Worked extremely hard for the team.
I will be extremely surprised if he wins the ballon d'Or.
I will be extremely surprised if he wins the ballon d'Or.
Imagine winning Euros and WC before turning 20.
For a player not that match sharp, he really is an incredible talent. Works hard, knows when to pass, knows when to take on and doesn't shy away from any battle going forwards or backwards.
Was crap all tournament, but yet I see this morning that he's joint favourite for the Ballon D'or. Power of marketing.
They often say when the ridiculously gifted are delimited you actually get to see what makes them tick and how they think without their superpowers. We saw it with Giggs, Messi and a host of players who were in the last throes of their career. What the public don’t often get wind of is the amount of players out there not fit and pumped full of painkillers to get by. In Yamal’s case, it’s clear he’s not himself, so he’s forced to play what is essentially the normal/mortal game and it’s an interesting watch. What he does, why he does it, when he does it. It’s like watching a different player. A snapshot of the player he’ll be when his natural gifts heavily wane.
Hopefully he gets the recuperation necessary and comes back fit and firing next season.
I know it got very easy to criticise Olise for his last couple of games for France but from the little I saw of him against Spain, I came away from that game thinking a bit differently from others. Spain pressed and counter pressed the feck out of him, the whole French squad and the half spaces, yet I still saw some good things; my biggest takeaway was 'Deschamps is a horrendous coach and I wonder how Olise would have performed with a more competent midfield behind him and not needing to play as a 10-winger-third midfielder.
As for Yamal, I really do worry about the amount of minutes he already has in his legs but I guess that's not our issue. Barca, Spain and him are going to ride that wave until it doesn't.
He wasn't crap. But he definitely wasn't as good as he can be.
There is no stand out candidate for the Ballon D'Or. Everyone's resume has holes. Yamal was great during the club season, won the league and then also won the World Cup, despite not playing that well in it.
I don't think he'll win the Ballon D'Or, but it doesn't matter, because he will orobably win it next year if he stays fit.
I felt that he lost a touch of acceleration/explosiveness since his latest injury. He had a lot of problems getting away from players this WC, whereas before that was one of the things he was best at
I'd love to see the stats on how many times he gave away the ball. It was criminal at times.
He did lose the ball a lot, there's no denying it. But I'd rather play average (by his standards) and be a World Champion at the end of it, than be like a Bellingham and play lights out and have nothing to show for it at the end.
He played all the games, usually played the full 90, and was never benched (unlike Pedri, who is another great player that actually had as bad a tournament as people are claiming that Yamal did).
Plus he has plenty of time to bring his best form to a World Cup. But whenever he does, I'm sure that irony will dictate that his team doesn't win the trophy.
Yamal was a mixed bag. Once a fullback is upto task including a poor one like Taglifiaco, he could easily be stopped. This was also evident in the champions league.
For me, to claim greatness on the basis of winning a world cup, you have gotto be the best player in that team. Yamal wasn't. But, the media always looks for heroes and in time this world cup win might be hyped in Yamal's favour deoending on his career trajectory.
For me, to claim greatness on the basis of winning a world cup, you have gotto be the best player in that team. Yamal wasn't. But, the media always looks for heroes and in time this world cup win might be hyped in Yamal's favour deoending on his career trajectory.
The Ballon d'Or is not a "best player at the WC" award though, it is about the whole year. If he is believed to have been the best performer over the past 12 months, a month at the WC coming off injury shouldn't take that award away.
I am not saying he should necessarily win it, but he has been one of the best players over the past 12 months, we need to stop pushing to give the award to someone for simply being on a CL/WC winning team. It is very lazy and speaks to a short attention span rather than analysis over the course of the season.
Rodri will win it. Yamal will be on the podium as may Messi/Mbappe.
He played average by any standard. Same with a less talented fella like Julian. I expected way more from both. They both have their coming back from injuries situation to excuse them. To what extent? Only them knows it.
He certainly tried, he didn't hide and that's an asset his fellow Barca mate Pedri, once again, didn't show.
Indeed better to try, to at the end help and win the WC than play great and end empty handed like Bellingham.
Yet that has to do more with Lamine's team and timing than anything. When time passes, this will be count as a WC at 19 with all the xtra points that will imply if he adds other WCs in his carreer, with not that much nitpicking of how he actually played.
France Football have already come out and said that winning the WC doesn't automatically mean you win the award, sounds like they are moving to quash any suggestion that Rodri is automatic now. He hasn't been the best player in the world this year, so shouldn't win it just based off the WC.
I don't think Rodri will win it for the simple reason that he has won it before. Not because France Football are saying that it is not a 'best player at the World Cup award.' It pretty much is and always has been. All of the top World Cup players are going to finish very high in the voting.
I'm convinced that if Rodri had not won this award before, he would win it this year, whatever France Football are suggesting to the contrary. But because he has won it before, he probably won't win it again because he is not the sort of player who wins the Ballon D'Or more than once.
Agree. He was average. But he’s got many WCs in him to star in many
While France Football do give the award, the votes from the press decide who wins it; in every world cup year especially if there has been no standout candidate during the previous season, the winner is the outstanding player from the winning team.
Rodri is the favourite for me. It doesn't matter whether he won it previously.
Yamal will finish on the podium due to his status, winning the world cup despite being mediocre individually and a good season with Bsrcelona.
Messi may also finish on the podium due to a combination of an individually outstanding tournament (player of the tournament for me) and his status in the game.
Mbappe may also finish on the podium due to all the goals he scored with both Madrid and France.
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Yep he was nowhere to be seen whole tournament. And then nullified by past it Taglifico in the final. Ballon D'or material my arse. With no standout superstar to give the trophy to give it to player that won everything in 2026 - Fabian Ruiz
1).The FIFA World Cup
2). UEFA Champions League
3). Ligue 1 Champion
4). UEFA Super Cup
5). French Super Cup
6). FIFA Intercontinental Cup
This is everything that’s wrong with the award. Give it to the best player and performer, not the one with the highest trophy count.
If given to the best performer then it certainly shouldn't go to Lamine.
Understand the criticism about his WC overall, don't think he had a BAD tournament he just didn't shine and score goals in the way all the other top players did.
But it's easy to forget he was by far the best player in La Liga last season in a title winning side, and also one of the best players in the CL (should have been in the TOTS).
Combined with being still an important player for the WC winning team and the fact he can argue simply to be the best player in the world, I don't personally have an issue with him winning it. There's no outstanding candidates this year, even though as an Englishman it would be nice to see Kane win it.
Not sure why people are ignoring the whole domestic season and focusing solely on the WC and shouting for Rodri to win it again, even though he didn't even play half of City's minutes in the league last season and was good but not great, and had no impact in the CL really. The shouts of Fabian Ruiz are an absolute joke as well.
But it's easy to forget he was by far the best player in La Liga last season in a title winning side, and also one of the best players in the CL (should have been in the TOTS).
Combined with being still an important player for the WC winning team and the fact he can argue simply to be the best player in the world, I don't personally have an issue with him winning it. There's no outstanding candidates this year, even though as an Englishman it would be nice to see Kane win it.
Not sure why people are ignoring the whole domestic season and focusing solely on the WC and shouting for Rodri to win it again, even though he didn't even play half of City's minutes in the league last season and was good but not great, and had no impact in the CL really. The shouts of Fabian Ruiz are an absolute joke as well.
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I’d give it to Mbappe, Kane or Olise at this stage. The latter faded as the WC went on so if Mbappe has a great start to the season then him.
Disagree, should go to the guy who has actually won trophies this season. If it's the best player then there shouldnt have been a balon dor competition for past 10-15 years as it should have gone to Messi or Ronaldo every season.
It's why balon dor is a farce and has been for awhile. When players like sneijder don't win it for being fundamental for inter's treble campaign and getting Holland to WC final in a single season.
There are many who should have won it who haven't.
As it rightly should have. Fabian Ruiz has no business receiving any major individual award. That shows the logic is inherently flawed.
The award doesn't cover the start of next season anymore as it's now season-based rather than calendar year-based.
What's crazy to me is the fact that he has basically been starting every game, he was fit enough to play, for club and country since he was 16.
I meant start to 26/27 season
He missed 17 games for injury this season.
Me too. The Ballon d'Or 2026 covers Aug 25 to July 26. The start of the 26/27 season doesn't (or shouldn't, depending on when people cast their votes) matter.
My bad
I don't really see how they have stronger arguments going for them than Yamal. Mbappe won no titles at all, Olise and Kane only domestic ones and although they are obviously outstanding players, I don't think they were good enough to justify a Ballon D'Or win solely based on their individual performances. The last players to do so were heads and shoulders above their peers.
Fair enough. But I just feel the gap between Mbappe and Yamal’s of performance at the WC was enormous. One was serviceable whereas the other was absolutely brilliant.
Yamal was better in the league but Mbappe was still a top 3 performer.
Short attention span and laziness. People don't seem to be able to track and analyse a whole season accurately so look for highlights or quick reasons. A few goals in CL knockouts, won a few trophies, etc rather than best player over the season as it simply should be.
If a player was best perfomer for 10 months of a season but had an average 4 weeks at the World Cup, that shouldn't mean they can't win it and someone who had an average 10 months but great 4 weeks should.
It makes no sense and just speaks to laziness of actually grading the football performance of players over the season. Hence why you randomly see names like Rodri and Ruiz thrown into the hat, despite no one even mentioning their names at any point over the past season.
If Spain didn't win the WC, no one would even think to mention Fabian Ruiz, that alone should tell you the player has no business winning the award and Rodri wasn't even shortlisted as best player in his league so how can he be favourite to win best performer in the world?
Mbappe was brillant at the WC but has there ever been a titleless Ballon D'Or winner? I don't like the award's focus on team trophies either but think it's correct that they are at least a factor and that a certain level of continuity should be maintained. Wouldn't rule out the possibility of a Ballon D'Or despite not winning any title at all completely but the player in question would have to be lightyears ahead of the competition and that's not been the case for me.
The player you didn't mention is Rodri. Best player of the WC winner but an injury-riddled club season, maybe a bit comparable to Ronaldo in 2002. And then there are also the PSG players. Only the third time a UCL title was defended. Dembele also has a top 4 finish, 6 goals and 4 assists to show for at the WC. Vitinha had a forgettable WC but was absolutely outstanding for his club in the UCL. Plus, there's Messi whose WC performance at 39 years of age is one for the history books, too.
Most recent one I can think of is Figo (or did he win anything that year I am missing?).