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Rooney or Messi
Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi?
Lee Bennett
As the countdown to South Africa 2010 starts to gather pace, along with my heart rate whenever I think about it, so does the debate about just who is the current world's best player. Put your coach's fleece on and answer this question - if you could only take one of them to the World Cup, would you take Wayne Mark Rooney or Lionel Andres Messi?
It's a tough one I know. Neither player needs any introduction; their similarities are stark and their differences are intriguing. Both wear the number 10 shirt and both are tearing up Europe this season, making all the headlines and scoring all the goals. At the time of writing Rooney has 33 in 39, Messi has 34 in 39 (if you count Rooney's Community Shield goal they are level).
Their influence on their team is now immense; it is highly improbable that without their contribution neither Manchester United nor Barcelona would be on target for a League and Champions League double. At the risk of inventing new words, both are "unleaveoutable".
It's at international level where the two separate slightly. Rooney is England's talisman; their heart beat and match winner who has scored 25 goals in 57 appearances. By contrast, Diego Maradona is still trying to work out how to transfer Messi's club form to the national team. Messi has 10 goals in 33 games for Argentina and does not impact the same influence on La Albiceleste as he does on Barcelona; or indeed as Rooney does on England.
To win a World Cup you need not just match winners but world beaters. Every country that goes into a World Cup with one of these players has a chance. They need quality around them of course but as Maradona himself proved in 1986, one man can make the difference. So who are the contenders this time around?
Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo, but his team mates aren't good enough. Likewise Drogba and Ivory Coast. Brazil have Kaka but is Kaka good enough? I suspect not quite. Spain have Torres, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi...say no more, surely the Jules Rimet Trophy is theirs to lose?
England have Rooney, Argentina have Messi, and this lifts both countries from unlikely to potential World Champions. The fact that England have, probably, the better players (injuries permitting) and, definitely, the better manager, puts them ahead on paper.
In terms of all around effect on the team, each player brings something different to the table. Rooney will track back and work deeper, covering and retrieving the ball. He has learned how to head and how to finish but generally relies on chances being created for him (Giggs & Valencia have been his main supply line this season).
Messi sits slightly deeper, breaking into advanced positions, and often creates his own chances. At times this season he has been simply unplayable. Add in the Barca creativity sat behind him and he cannot fail to bang them in. His dribbling ability is frightening; the ball glued to his foot as his moves and twists at speed.
What they both bring is a true goal threat, bravery, a tireless work rate, and that talismanic quality that only the very best possess of being able to instinctively choose the right thing to do, and the right moment to do it. A trait it seems that only a few are born with.
During Cristiano Ronaldo's 42 goal season for Manchester United I would often raise this question in the pub following another match winning brace from the Portugese winger - Rooney or Ronaldo? Not only would it ensure a good old fashioned footy argument that would rage until closing time, but it would often see people opting out of making a choice. Impossible to choose they would say.
Not for me. I went for Rooney every time. The qualities that Rooney brings to a team are immeasurable, and now he has mastered the art of goal scoring he has moved up another level, truly becoming one of the best players in the world. I expect both Rooney & Messi will shine in the summer and one of them could well be holding that famous trophy aloft come July 11, but if I had to make that impossible choice of which one to take, I'd opt for the bullish influence of Rooney. I hope I'm right.
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