Messi wins Golden Ball, Rodriguez top scorer
Monday, 14 July 2014
Argentina captain Lionel Messi won Fifa’s ‘Golden Ball’ award as the best player of the 2014 World Cup after leading his team to Sunday’s final, while Colombia forward James Rodriguez finished as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals. Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who kept a clean sheet as his side beat Argentina 1-0 in extra-time in Rio de Janeiro to claim their 4th World Cup, was awarded the Golden Glove as the tournament’s top ’keeper. Four-times World Player of the Year Messi had a quiet game by his standards on Sunday but was the driving force behind Argentina’s push to their first World Cup final since 1990. He scored four of their six goals in the group stage, set up Angel di Maria’s winner in the 2nd round against Switzerland and shouldered the burden of slotting home Argentina’s first penalty in their shootout win over the Netherlands in the semi-finals. Messi also won four successive man-of-the-match awards against Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria and Switzerland, according to bdnews24.com.