extracted from soccernet:
Cristiano Ronaldo's antics against England and France cost him the
award for young player of the World Cup.
The Manchester United winger won the fans' internet vote easily but
FIFA's technical study's group chose Germany striker Lukas Podolski
as the tournament's young player ahead of the Portugal star.
Ronaldo was criticised for his behaviour surrounding Wayne Rooney's
sending off, after which he winked at his bench, and was roundly
booed in the semi-final against France - during which he blatantly
dived in the penalty box.
Both Lothar Matthaus, the former Germany international who is the
patron of the Gillette-sponsored award, and FIFA's technical chief
Holger Osieck said lack of fair play had been an issue.
Matthaus told a news conference in Berlin: 'You will never have
100% fair play and maybe looking at Cristiano Ronaldo he was
obviously doing something here.
'He may have accumulated a couple of minus points due to his
gesture with Rooney but you sometimes forget what the laws are in
the heat of the fight.
'Give the young players a break, give him a chance. Remember Diego
Maradona scored a goal with the `Hand of God'. That was not fair
play and there are many other examples you can quote.'
Asked if Ronaldo's behaviour had harmed his chances of winning the
award, Osieck conceded that fair play was considered.
Osieck said: 'We want to have decent behaviour and I admit we were
critical of this. We had a number of criteria but we have to admit
players of that age do have their weaknesses and are not fully
developed.
'Players should be role models and fair
play is a consideration. But we have to admit young players are not
always mature tactically and they also have difficulties in
handling stressful situations.'
Podolski was named the winner after scoring three goals, one
against Ecuador and twice versus Sweden, and for a number of good
performances including scoring a penalty against Argentina in the
quarter-final.
Podolski, who has just moved from FC Cologne to Bayern Munich,
said: 'I would have liked to have taken home another trophy - the
World Cup - but it is a great honour for me to get this award and
will provide me with great motivation to go on and become more
successful.'
Ecuador's Luis Valencia, Argentina's Lionel Messi, Spain's Cesc
Fabregas and Tranquillo Barnetta from Switzerland were the other
finalists for the award.
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when will ronaldo learn? he knew the fact he is a diver, yet he
still dived in semi-final. i'm not surprise if he got the loudest
jeer versus germany. no matter where he goes, i got a feeling he
will be boo.
better quit soccer and become a swimmer!
