The Road to Becoming the Best: Cristiano Ronaldo by Jovanny Vargas

Being the best at anything that we do is something that we all hope for. For most of us it may seem out of reach but for others it’s a must. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on February 5, 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. His desire to become the best in the world has not gone unrecognized with people claiming that he is currently the best soccer player on the planet and one of the greatest of all time.

            Breaking records is one of the hardest things to do in soccer but for Ronaldo it’s something he does on a regular basis. In 1997 at just the age of 12 Ronaldo began his soccer career at Sporting CP the largest soccer club in Portugal. At such a young age clubs were already seeing the great potential in the young Portuguese. In 2002 he was already breaking records becoming the first person in Sporting CP history to play in their under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team and the first time all in the same season. His hard work and dedication allowed him to moving up in the ranks and he was only 17 years old. In 2003 Sir Alex Ferguson manager of Manchester United, the largest club in England had signed the 18 year old Ronaldo for £12.2 million making Ronaldo the world’s most expensive teenager. There’s a huge number of records that he has set making him one of the greats of all time.

            During his time at Manchester United Ronaldo broke multiple records including the all-time Premier League goal scorer with 31 goals in the league and 42 in all competition which he set in 2008 tied with George best. The Premier League is known for being the hardest league to play in so scoring 31 goals in a single season for a player is incredible. Also in this same year Ronaldo enjoyed his most successful year for his club and for him individually. Winning the Champions League, the most important trophy for a club, the Club World cup and many more. Individually Ronaldo won the European Golden Boot for most goals and the FIFA-Ballon d’or (an award given to the best player) making him the best player on the planet in 2008. The way Ronaldo was able to come up from nothing to become the best player was amazing.   

            Change is hard for some people, having to adapt to their new surroundings, make new friend and sometimes learn a whole new language. In 2009 Ronaldo made a decision that changed the world of soccer, to leave United and join his childhood dream club and the greatest club on the planet (according to FIFA), Real Madrid in Spain. Real Madrid paid United €94 million to acquire the services of Cristiano Ronaldo making him the most expensive player in the world. His first season with the Spanish giants was a struggle for him as he only scored 33 goals in all competition the lowest he has ever scored since the 2006/07 season. Even for the former best player in the world transition is something that takes time.

Constantly working hard to become the best is the way that Ronaldo lives his life. Over the past five years with Real Madrid, Ronaldo’s goal to game ratio is unbelievable with 274 goals in 261 games that’s over 1.04 goals a game. His ability to adjust to a new league was amazing. In 2013 Ronaldo regained his throne as the world’s best player winning the FIFA-Ballon d’or for a second time becoming the first Portuguese player to win twice.  As Ronaldo says “Every season is a new challenge to me, and I always set out to improve in terms of games, goals, assists.”(Brainy Quotes). He is determined to be the best working hard every season proving this true in each game that he plays.

It’s not all about records that make Ronaldo one of the greatest player on the planet it’s his style of play. His pace, power, technique, dribble and his skill set him apart from the average player. His ability to outpace his opponent, to control the ball in a confined space and be able to shot the ball at over 80 miles per hour are just some of the traits at make him an unstoppable player on the pitch. His style of play has been compared to some the greatest player of all time some of which are George Best, Denis Law, Johan Cruyff, Bobby Charlton, Ronaldinho and many other legends. Changing the way the world sees soccer introducing new method to take on an opponent, new ways that the new generations had never seen.     

Having competition is something we all hate especially when you try your hardest but end up losing. This is the way Ronaldo felt through the years of 2009-2013 as Lionel Messi was named the world’s best player winning the FIFA-Ballon d’or four consecutive times. The talks of who is the best between Messi and Ronaldo had forced Ronaldo to step up his game to the next level. He scored 55 goals in all competition and a record 34 league goals in the 2012/13 season. This had given him enough to win the 2013 FIFA-Ballon d’or ending Messi’s streak. His hard work and dedication had lead him to once again becoming the best.

Currently in the season of 2014/15 he is the top scorer of La Liga (Spanish soccer league) with 18 goals in 11 games played (Real Madrid CF). At this rate he is predicted to score over 60 goals and set incredible records and possibly be on this way to a third FIFA-Ballon d’or (Real Madrid CF). At the age of just 29 Ronaldo has won every title at club level and a numerous amount of individual awards and has proven to be the best in the world and one of the best of all time.

No Era Penal(It Wasn’t A Penalty) by Samuel Lopez Gress

Soccer is a sport that will either have you at the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails,
as you wish and pray your team wins or will you have you bored to death because both your
team and opposing team cannot seem to do anything but pass the ball around. So a game you
want to watch are the ones you anticipate weeks before and mark down each day before the
game in your calendar and sometimes just sometimes that game will be remembered forever.
Those are the games that will have you talking about them months even years after the game has
happened and the criteria the soccer game has to have in order to be one of those games are
amazing saves from the goalkeepers, dirty and clean fouls from the defense, incredible goals
from the forwards, and well the most dreaded but necessary element is a game changing call
from the referee that changes the whole outcome of the game. And on January 29, 2014 round
16 of the world cup in Brazil in the stadium Castelao Fortaleza at exactly at 1:00 p.m; Mexico vs
Holland faced off (Fifa,2014) and that game was probably the most controversial game of the
world cup. This game was filled with all the criteria that a memorable game needs and this game
even broke all the hearts of the thousands of Mexican fans at the stadium and the millions more
watching at home.

The whole game was nerve wrecking from start to finish. The goalkeeper for Holland
Jasper Cillessen did not have a very busy afternoon until the 48th minute when Giovani Dos
Santos broke the Mexican team free and they took the lead. The millions of Mexicans watching
at home and those thousands watching at the stadium were witnessing history and maybe just
maybe the possibility of Mexico getting past the round 16 was in the air. After the goal Mexico
completely dropped into defensive mode which in my opinion was a terrible mistake because
after Holland took the offensive and just kept on bombarding Guillermo’s Ochoa goal but he did
not let the Dutch pass. He was like a brick wall that the Dutch team could not break. Until the
88th minute when Wesley Sneijder got the rebound of a corner and just blasted Ochoa’s goal
with a volley just inside the 18. And Ochoa just simply did not even have a time to react it was a
bullet he did not see coming.

But the Dutch did not completely shatter Mexican dreams. The score was a tie (1­1) and it
was the 90th minute but there was still six more minutes of extra time and it was the longest
most gut wrenching four minutes to watch. Everything seemed like the game was going to head
into overtime. When out of nowhere Arjen Robben breaks through the Mexican defense and is
about to cut in to center the ball when Rafa Marquez steps in to take the ball but Van Persie takes advantage of this and acts like he just got stepped on and literally fakes a foul inside the box. And all you hear is the ref blow his whistle… When a foul is committed inside the box by the
defending team, the attacking team is awarded a penalty which is a direct shot to the goal only 12
yards out. Which is incredibly difficult to save for a goalkeeper. The next minute was a
nightmare for Mexican fans. Klaas Jan Huntelaar steps up for Holland to take the penalty and he
waits for the refs whistle and shoots.. Ochoa dives to the opposite side and the Dutch scores and
they take the lead. The remaining two minutes of extra time ends and the Mexican players drop
to their knees in tears and in disbelief: the Dutch have won.

The referee committed a terrible mistake. He awarded a penalty to a foul that was never
committed. The Dutch completely shattered all the dreams of every Mexican fan watching at
home and at the stadium.

The whole game itself was completely, just completely amazing. It was nerve wrecking
from start to end. Both teams were at each others toes the whole game.The Dutch with 48
dangerous attacks and 14 attempts, Mexico with 29 dangerous attacks and 12 attempts, the Dutch with eight shots on goal, Mexico right behind them with seven (Fifa,2014). And both teams were not just attacking they were also defending with tackles from both sides trying to recover the ball and both keepers trying their best to keep the ball out from the back of the net. This game was just what people were asking for. It had all the ingredients for an amazing game and even though Mexico lost by that penalty, everyone I mean everyone: Dutch fans and Mexican fans knew that it was not a penalty!

Lionel Messi: A Soccer Super-Star by Jorge Cortez Arvizu

 It can be said that Lionel Messi is the best professional soccer player in the world. Messi has gained an overwhelming amount of success since he first initiated his career with FC Barcelona. Just by watching him play one can see why it is argued that Barcelona’s number 10 is considered the best in the world. It is also constantly being argued whether Lionel Messi is the best player ever to play professional soccer.

            Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina. At the age of 11 Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, and his parents were forced to pay $900 a month for his treatment. Luckily, Messi’s outstanding ability to play soccer soon developed the attention of FC Barcelona’s sporting director. It was later decided that Messi would move with his family to Spain in order to play for the club that would pay for his medical expenses. At such a young age Lionel Messi was noticed by one of the best soccer clubs on the planet.

            After moving to Spain with his family, Messi first began to play with the youth team of the club. From there he progressed his way up until he got to the top of the club. Messi debuted with FC Barcelona on November 13, 2003 in a match against FC Porto. Ever since that first game success has been piling up for this skillful soccer player. He has won countless awards including the ballon d’Or (awarded to the best player in the world) , which he has already won four times and was also given the FIFA World Player of the Year award. He has also broken countless records with his tremendous ability to score goals. Messi has already surpassed Pele’s (a Brazilian Legend) number of career goals. He is also constantly being compared to Maradona, another extremely talented Argentinian who has said that Messi is in fact the best player in the world.

            Despite the importance of his debut with his club team, the debut of Messi’s national team is also very important. Since he has been living in Spain for most of his life now, Messi was given the opportunity to represent Spain, but he chose to play for Argentina. He played his first international game on August 17, 2005 versus Hungary. At this point Messi was only 18 years old. He has also accompanied Argentina during three World Cups (2006, 2010, and 2014) and the Olympic Games. Today, Messi is the captain of his country’s professional soccer team.  

                        In the 2014 World Cup Messi led Argentina all the way to the final. Unfortunately, Germany defeated Argentina 1-0. Even though Argentina did not win, Messi was still awarded the Golden Ball Award at the conclusion of the World Cup. He had also been nominated for the Golden Ball Award during the 2006 World Cup.

            Today, after signing his seventh contract, Messi makes about $64.7 million per year. According to CBS Baltimore Messi is in the top five of the most paid athletes. Despite the fact that Messi does so much for his team, it seems that he is an under-paid player. Compared to Cristiano Ronaldo (one of the best players in the world) Messi makes less money and probably does more for his team. This comparison of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has also caused a great deal of debates to occur. Overall I would say that Messi has a greater capacity of scoring goals and being a team player.