Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (December 6th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, please post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!
On This Day in 2010 - Ballon d'Or 'Robbed' by Barca
On 6 December 2010, FIFA and France Football magazine announced the three finalists for the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or. And all three were from FC Barcelona.
The award was a combination of France Football's Ballon d'Or, started in 1956, and FIFA's World Player of the Year award, which began in 1991. In 2010, the two organizations agreed to merge their awards, calling the new honor the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
They announced their shortlist of 23 players on 27 October, then culled the list to the top three vote-getters on 6 December. The three were Barcelona's Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, and Lionel Messi, who had won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2009. Although Barcelona had won La Liga in 2010, the inclusion of Xavi and Iniesta was due in part to their World Cup-winning run with Spain the previous summer. But Messi went on to win the award when it was announced in January 2011.
It was not the first time that a single club took the top three spots in Ballon d'Or voting: AC Milan did it in 1988, when Marco van Basten beat out Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, then again in 1989, when van Basten won it again, that time over Rijkaard and Franco Baresi.
On This Day in 2011 - Dempsey, EPL's highest-scoring American
On 6 December 2011, Clint Dempsey became the Premier League's highest-scoring American with his match-winner against Liverpool.
Dempsey moved to the Premier League in January 2007 to play for Fulham, joining his compatriots Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra. He went on to make ten appearances that season, scoring a single goal. By the following season, he began to feature regularly, scoring six goals in 36 league appearances, though the club escaped relegation that year only by virtue of goal differential.
He continued to feature for them over the next three seasons, scoring 7, 7, and 12 goals as the club finished seventh, twelfth, and eighth. By the time they hosted Liverpool in December 2011, Dempsey had raised his league goal total to 36, matching the record for an American in the Premier League, which, coincidentally, had been set by McBride.
With the match scoreless deep into the second half, Liverpool's Jay Spearing received a straight red card in the 72nd minute, giving the hosts a man advantage for the remaining eighteen minutes. And they needed almost all of them, with Dempsey finally breaking the deadlock with an 85th-minute goal that also broke McBride's record.
Dempsey proceeded to raise his Premier League total to 50 before moving to Tottenham for the 2012-13 season, then added another seven before returning to the US in 2013 to play for Seattle.
On This Day in 1979 - Birthday of Tim Cahill
On 6 December 1979, future Australian international and Oceania Player of the Year Tim Cahill was born in Sydney.
The midfielder signed his first professional contract at the age of 18 with English Division Two side Millwall FC. His time with the Lions coincided with one of the club's most successful periods, with the club earning promotion to Division One for the 2001-02 season and advancing to the FA Cup Final in 2004. In all, Cahill made 241 appearances for the Lions in all competitions, scoring 58 goals.
2004 also saw Cahill earn his first cap for Australia, despite having played for Samoa at the u-17 level. He was a key member of Australia's campaign in the 2004 Summer Olympics, which, along with his performances for Millwall, earned him the 2004 Oceania Footballer of the Year award.
He transferred to Everton for the 2004-05 season in which the club finished in the top four at the expense of crosstown rivals Liverpool. The following season, he was named one of the 50 finalists for the 2006 Ballon d'Or (and was the only finalist named from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania).
On 12 June 2006, Cahill came on as 53rd-minute substitute in Australia's opening 2006 World Cup group stage match against Japan. The Socceroos were down 0-1, but Cahill scored an equalizer in the 84th minute -- Australia's first-ever World Cup goal. He added another in the 89th minute before teammate John Aloisi contributed a third in stoppage time to claim the country's first World Cup win.
The Socceroos finished second in their group to advance to the Round of 16, where they lost to eventual winners Italy, 1-0.
On this day in 1997 - Flo nets hat-trick as Chelsea hit Spurs for six at White Hart Lane
An emphatic second half performance saw Ruud Gullit's Chelsea clinch their biggest ever win over their rivals. The Blues were only the second visiting team to score six goals at White Hart Lane and extended the club's unbeaten run against Spurs to 17 matches.
Goals from Tore André Flo and Ramon Vega had left the teams even at half-time, but Chelsea took command early in the second. Roberto Di Matteo put the Blues back in front, Dan Petrescu extended the lead with a lob over Walker, Flo's emphatic strike finished off a neat one-two with Gianfranco Zola and Mark Nicholls added a fifth before Flo completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
tropicalda
191
Iniesta-king of central midfield is considered greatest among the generations... Well in the past he deserved a ballon d or... He was moderate in league success in 2010 and was a important goal scorer to win a World Cup for his country... So in the past, yes he deserved it... At the present scenario the coach under whom he trains and tactics are presenting a change of positions in the field placement... As I said during pep.. He and Xavi along with Messi controlled and ruled the midfield with lot of attempts and play making skills.. Pep introduced the famous false 9 tactic which would provide a striker freedom to move in midfield as well as in the final third..The stats from that era and his mind-blowing form from the World Cup would have acquired him a good chance to win ballon d or... Later on when Luis Enrique took the charge the same tactic of midfield control was continued.. But the signing of Neymar and Luis Suarez created a deadly attacking line hence the style of tactics changed... Messi and Iniesta (after the departure of Xavi) would draw a lot of defenders creating a lot of space in the central midfield.. But Enrique ensured that Messi playing like a striker rather than a midfielder.. But Enrique made lot of errors in defensive department (failure of backline) which would pressurise the midfield and affected Iniesta's game... This is the same reason why Barça conceded the goals and had worst defeats ( ex 4–0 Vs PSG) Also signing of rakitic influenced his play... Since both of them are having a same style either one would have obtained a place in the starting XI Now under Ernesto Messi is playing more deeper than ever removing the pressure of the midfield so now Iniesta's game is improving just as old times and due to his injury and other signings to Barça he is not a frequent member in the Barça XI... And adding to the feather of glory.. Iniesta won each and every award being in Barcelona and Spain.. Moreover he was a good captain and exhibit better sportsmanship than most players... considering all these things.. Winning ballon d or in the present condition for Iniesta is very difficult... But he deserved ballon d or in the past.. Andres Iniesta - Legend
King_Irvine
184
So if Xavi and Iniesta who had won the World Cup were nominated it is said Barca robbed But when Modric who won against WC winners won it wasn't a robbery