Shocking: Joachim Low Chooses Tony Kroos Over Mesut Ozil For FIFA Best Player Award

Dec 18, 2016 at 12:23 PM

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Shocking: Joachim Low Chooses Tony Kroos Over Mesut Ozil For FIFA Best Player Award

Joachim Low has revealed who he has voted for as the Men’s Player of the Year ahead of the 2016 Best FIFA Football Awards, scheduled to take place in Zurich on January 9, 2017.

The award, voted for by media representatives, national team coaches and captains, and the general public, has taken on added honour this year, given the fact that France Football ended FIFA’s association with the Ballon d’Or in September.

Low has enjoyed tremendous success as the Germany coach, leading his country to the 2014 World Cup and third-place and runners-up finishes at different European Championships, as well as being named FIFA World Coach of the Year in 2014.

The 56-year-old told Bild, via Goal, that he picked Manuel Neuer, Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil as the world’s best players during this calendar year. All three stars play under him with the German national team, so how were the trio ordered in the manager’s voting ballot?

“Toni (Kroos) has consistently been playing at a very high level this year, won the Champions League with real Madrid and has performed incredibly well with the national team,” Low said.

“You can always rely on him and that was reason enough for me to vote for him. I voted for Kroos, (Mesut) Ozil and Manuel Neuer, in that order.”

So, while Kroos had to settle for 17th place in the recent Ballon d’Or vote, his national boss has backed him for the upcoming FIFA title ahead of the classy Ozil and dominant Neuer.

Since the beginning of the 2015-16 season, Ozil has scored three goals and provided three assists in 13 games for Germany, while Kroos has recorded the same number of goals and one assist from 12 matches in international football.

The Arsenal star typically operates in the number ten role, whereas Real maestro Kroos is deployed as a deep-lying playmaker. Meanwhile, Jogi Low’s captain Neuer is widely regarded to be the best ‘keeper in world football.

Whilst Kroos’ world-class quality cannot be questioned, Ozil has been in wonderful form for the Gunners this campaign, already scoring more goals (9) than he managed in any of his previous three seasons at the Emirates Stadium.

Low signed a new contract in October to remain in charge of Germany until 2020, and he insists that he would have renewed his deal no matter what happened at Euro 2016 this summer.

“I would still have had the motivation to go for it again in 2018 had we won Euro 2016,” he claimed. “I would have continued either way, I would also have renewed had we won the Euros.

“We did not make it and that motivates us to keep pushing and achieve something again. We remain ambitious.”

 

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