How Samatta snubbed Messi and Ronaldo
The national soccer team captain Mbwana Samatta. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- According to the voting roster, Samatta, who plies his trade with the Belgian side Genk, went for PSG striker Neymar as his first choice followed by Chelsea’s N’golo Kante and Pierre-Emerick Aubumeyang in that descending order.
Dar es Salaam. Cristiano Ronaldo may have collected his fifth Men’s Player of the Year award at a gala night in London on Monday, but he was not a choice for Taifa stars captain Mbwana Samatta.
According to the voting roster, Samatta, who plies his trade with the Belgian side Genk, went for PSG striker Neymar as his first choice followed by Chelsea’s N’golo Kante and Pierre-Emerick Aubumeyang in that descending order.
The national soccer team skipper also gave Barcelona’s Lionel Messi a cold shoulder in a poll that saw the Portuguese captain Ronaldo win 43.1 per cent of the votes compared to Messi’s 19.2 per cent.
On the other hand, Taifa Stars head coach Salum Mayanga went for a completely different route, handing the Portuguese his top vote as Messi and Neymar came second and third respectively.
As far as the Best coach is concerned, Samata voted for Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s Luis Enrique and Atletico’s Diego Simeone. The final result saw Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane pip Antonio Conte of Chelsea to the coveted crown.
Mayanga, on the other hand, gave Juventus coach Massimilliano Allegri the nod ahead of Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho and the eventual winner Zidane in that descending order.
Whereas media personalities from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda voted, none from Tanzania participated in the global show piece which was won by Ronaldo for the second successive year.
There was equally perhaps unsurprising discovery that neither Messi nor Ronaldo found a spot for each other in their respective selections as captains of their countries.
The two forwards have been battling for supremacy on and off the pitch for much of the past decade. And neither would even give an inch at the ballot box.
As captain of Portugal, Ronaldo voted for three of his Real Madrid team-mates: Luke Modric, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo.
Messi, meanwhile, selected Barcelona’s Luis Suarez as the best player in the world, ahead of team-mate Andres Iniesta and Neymar.
Juventus shot-stopper Buffon won the goalkeeper of the year award.
