LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: Mohamed Salah of Egypt and Liverpool receives FIFA Puskas Award from Noel Gallagher and Didier Drogba during The Best FIFA Football Awards at Royal Festival Hall on September 24, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Mohamed Salah winning the FIFA Puskas Award is a loss for football
The FIFA Puskas Award has been home to some incredible strikes over the years, but Mohamed Salah’s goal against Everton is nothing in comparison.
Mohamed Salah has endured a stellar year. Qualifying for the World Cup with his country, reaching the Champions League final with Liverpool (I won’t go into that, don’t worry). In fact, he was so impressive that many are calling for him to be awarded the Ballon D’or, but he couldn’t even make the FIFA World XI. He did win the FIFA Puskas Award though, in an unfair manner.
His goal against Everton got the nod ahead of some other impressive strikes. I’m sure you all remember Gareth Bale’s sensational overhead kick against, you guessed it, Liverpool. Sorry, I know the Puskas Award is nominated with the competition not in mind, but you can’t blame me for taking the cheap shot.
I feel like Salah was in huge luck, given his huge following. It’s a flaw which FIFA need to work on, because their work so far isn’t fair enough. Obviously, being a player for Liverpool and the Egypt national team, he is bound to have a larger following than most. One look at his social media will only emphasise my point.
Myself and many others have reached this conclusion quite easily. It’s because his goal is nowhere near the level of the goals around him. Okay, he reached the top corner, which is more than you’ll see me do, but so what? Almost every other nominated goal required a lot more skill, and in general, the finishes were better. That’s what it should be judged on, in my opinion.
Verdict
There’s always going to be bias with these kind of things. Salah is a popular figure in the footballing world, and rightly so. Not only is he a great player, but he seems to be a great man off the field too.
If you’re asking for my opinion, Riley McGree of the Newcastle Jets should have got the award. His scorpion kick was brought about by fine team work, but the goal wouldn’t have been possible without his instinct and audacity to try the shot.
What do you think of the situation? Was Mohamed Salah’s win justified, and if so, why? Convince me.
