A 2011 to remember that of world sport. Between news and confirmations, crises and rebirths, here are the personalities and teams to celebrate, for better or for worse, in the last 12 months, sport by sport. The tops and flops of Firstonline.
FOOTBALL
TOP – In Italy it was certainly the year of Milan, reigning Italian champion, leaders again this season and first in the points standings for the calendar year: 80, ahead of Inter and the revelation Udinese. However, he is the overall top scorer of the Friulian team in 2011: Anthony DiNatale with no less than 28 goals, ahead of Napoli's Uruguayan Edinson Cavani who still has 26. On a world level, the past year was one of the apotheosis of the Barcelona by Pep Guardiola: there is no doubt now, after an endless series of records and victories (in 2011 4 more trophies: La Liga, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup and Club World Cup) this is the strongest team in the world, led by the best manager of the world and by the best soccer player in the world, that Leo Messi which for the third consecutive time won the Ballon d'Or. The Catalan team now has nothing left to win and to prove, and is also becoming a model of winning game and mentality followed by all. Also from National team of Cesare Prandelli, which deserves a mention for its brilliant and promising qualification for Euro 2012.
Flop – The greatest bitterness comes from the umpteenth shadow of football betting, which cyclically invests Italian football. The image of Christian Doni, captain of Atalanta and former player of the national team, accompanied in handcuffs by police officers is a stab wound for the fans of all teams and for the credibility of the entire system. Especially if, as it would seem, the scandal does not affect only the minor leagues but also the Serie A, with the involvement of first tier players, some even in the blue round. No sporting defeat or disappointment can ever be as flop as the ever more concrete and chilling impression that almost everything is fake. May 2012 give us back a football worth following with passion.
TENNIS
TOP - Novak Djokovic the unbeatable. Almost. Were it not for an injury late in the season, when the record year and first place in the table had already been largely packaged anyway, the talented Serbian player would probably have won it all. But even so, the numbers of an unrepeatable year are frightening: 1st in the ATP ranking since July, 43 consecutive victories (behind only Vilas and Lendl, breaking the records of Mc Enroe, Borg and Federer), 70 in total out of 76 matches played (92,1%), three Grand Slam tournaments won out of four (sixth player in history to do so), 5 ATP Master 1000 and the absolute record for earnings in a season, 19 million dollars, almost doubled the previous record of Rafa Nadal 2010 ($10 million). Is there anything else to add? Maybe yes. The generationally most "unfortunate" player in history, who found himself having to face two invincibles like Federer and Nadal, in the end persevered and won: now he is the number 1.
Flop - Roger Federer e Rafael Nadal they know their worst season for several years now, but both save it in the final by winning the London Masters and the Davis Cup with Spain respectively. The Majorcan talent also wins his sixth Roland Garros (equaling Borg's record), but perhaps he is the real flop, given his still young age compared to the Swiss and above all the stain of having lost all direct confrontations with Djokovic, on any surface, even his beloved red earth.
FORMULA 1
TOP - Sebastian Vettel, or the best of youth: the youngest Formula 1 driver to have obtained a pole position, to have won a grand prix, to have climbed onto the podium, to set a fastest lap, to achieve multiple pole positions in a single season (15 ) and to become two consecutive world champions. It will also be thanks to his excellent Red Bull, as some point out, but this guy is a real talent and leaves nothing to his opponents, winning with the confidence and maturity of a veteran. Definitely the best, definitely the new Schumacher. Perhaps even better, in perspective.
Flop – Definitely Alonso's season to save, less Massa's, but for the Ferrari it's another black year. The last drivers' title dates back to 2007, with that Raikkonen who is now preparing to return to F1 (Renault) after the unsuccessful experience in rallying. Since then, three drivers and three different teams have won the world championship, but none of them had a home in Maranello. President Montezemolo continues to flaunt confidence, but Red Bull is very far away, and perhaps further and further away every year. If the parts are reversed, one would speak of Ferrari domination.
BASKET
TOP - Ettore Messina. An Italian coach in the NBA, at the Los Angeles Lakers, even if as assistant to head coach Mike Brown, has a value that far exceeds the presence in the US championship of Belinelli, Bargnani and Gallinari. Because a coach transfers ideas and mentality even before a game plan: he is the true ambassador of Made in Italy.
Flop - The push and pull between commissioner David Stern's National Basketball Association and the so-called assogiocatori NBA lockout, it was nothing short of exhausting. Six long months of tense and difficult negotiations, the last one spent without the shadow of a tap-off. The earthquake lockout had as its epicenter the issue of the division of NBA revenues between the parties. Stuff that the paying public, the real injured party, cannot be interested in. Luckily the gift has arrived under the Christmas tree: finally played.
MOTOGP
TOP – The smile, the freshness and the talent of Marco Simoncelli, who passed away prematurely at the age of 24 due to a tragic accident in the Malaysian GP, in Sepang. The number 58 of his bike and his thick hair have traveled around the world, moving fans of all nationalities. Despite him, the most loved character of 2011.
Flop - Valentino Rossi and his Ducati have all the extenuating circumstances, but objectively the decline of the nine-time world champion is now increasingly worrying. The feeling with the red has not yet been found, and indeed it possibly got worse during the season, putting together increasingly negative performances and very far from those of the world champion (in Honda this year, but already in Ducati) Casey Stoner, former owner of the bike currently at the disposal of the Pesaro champion.
OTHER SPORTS
Top - Of note are the umpteenth companies of Federica Pellegrini, now increasingly in the history of swimming thanks to the second consecutive world double (200m and 400m freestyle) won in Shanghai two years after the apotheosis in Rome. She is the only athlete to have succeeded, and in the face of this we can only turn a blind eye to the repeated and nauseating stories of gossip embroidered around the Venetian champion. The season is also wonderful women's national volleyball team, who wins the World Cup and qualifies with great hopes for the London 2012 Olympics. Also memorable is the Rugby World Cup, who saw the New Zealand triumph at home 24 years after the first and only title in the history of the All Blacks.
Flop – It may be due to the media overexposure, or the sense of satisfaction after so many records, but in athletics there is a feeling that Usain Bolt, Jamaican champion of the 100 and 200 meters, is no longer the same as a few years ago. Remains in the memory of this 2011 his sensational disqualification in the final of the 100 at the World Championships in Daegu, for false start. The decline of the golf champion now seems inexorable Tiger Woods, first overwhelmed by a series of sexual scandals, then plunged into a crisis of results: he won only one tournament in the whole year, after 24 months of fasting.
