A peek into the future (3 Finalists and potential winners of the FIFA balon d’or 2022/2023)…
It might sound like counting eggs before they get hatched. Actually, maybe it is. But the Eggs that’d hatch can be known if well scanned, why not count in advance!
The element of surprise is actually an inevitable spice of life and football is not an exception. But the ability for predictions to come to life is undeniable a greater surprise. As regards events in football, we’ve witnessed quite a number of shockers no one saw coming from Arsenal going invincible in 2003/2004 season to FC Porto winning the champions league in 2004, Cannavaro winning the world best player in 2006, Leicester city crowned the EPL champions in 2015-2016 season and Lionel Messi leaving his boyhood club in 2021, just to mention a few, In football anything can actually happen.
Predictions are also a fun part of the game. We were lucky to witness the prowess of ‘Octopus Paul’, the sea creature that came to limelight after predicting 2010 World Cup matches in an oracular manner correctly predicting 8 matches in that tournament. Which many still believed to be luck, myself inclusive. I’m not an eight armed creature neither am I hating on it but I’ve come up with a peek into the future as regards the players that would be sharing the glamorous podium at the next balon d’or ceremony
Moving straight to business…..drum rolls. In no particular order, the top 3 players that’d end up finalists for contention of the golden ball are; Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and Mohammed Salah. How do I know? No one asked the octopus that but I’ll answer (No offense)
Robert Lewandowski- After missing out of the top spot last year which many believed he should have pipped Lionel Messi, the polish striker took it personally, on the pitch actually and is proving to the world right now why the claims and observations might be true. Having bagged a total of 29 league goals and 12 ucl goals (as at the release of this article) the Bayern hit man shows no sign of slowing down making him a strong contender
Karim Benzema- Definitely the best player in Spanish league at the moment has been astounding this season. Prolific in terms of goals and assists and spearheaded probably the greatest ucl comeback this season in the famous Remontada against psg becoming the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the champions league and he doesn’t seem to be slowing anytime soon as the French foward is on fire
Mohammed Salah- The magician on the right flank with his left foot with pure finesse . Yeah that’s the man. Having lost the AFCON finals to Sadio Mane’s Senegal side, Mo Salah definitely is taking the stumbling block as a stepping stone. He was regardless astonishing in that competition and came back still vibrant and hungry to achieve more.
There you have it. It might seem to early to be calling nominees but it’d be a great ‘I told you so’ moment. Messi-Ronaldo era is said to be over, seemingly. What a great deal of guys both are still are watching them till today and personally, I’m not ruling either of them out. Or one of them better put. Other honourable mentions includes; Sadio Mane and Kylian Mbappe. Till then!
