Player of the Year
- Lionel Messi:
His greatest ever year. Finally transferred his breathtaking club form to the Argentine team, which bodes well for 2014.
Coach of the Year
- Jose Mourinho:
Won the league in a 4th different country at probably one of the most demanding clubs in the world. Honourable mention to Marcelo Bielsa for the second half of Athletic's 2011-12 season.
Team of the Year
- Spain:
Confirmed their status as one of the best national teams of this era. Also the tactical evolution represented by winning a major tournament with a 'false nine' was a sight to behold.
Top 3 matches
In chronological order:
- Man City v QPR, EPL final round in Manchester:
Without doubt one of the most dramatic, nail-biting endings to a league season ever. The fact that they seized the title off their biggest rivals added to the amazing drama.
- Australia v Japan, WCQ in Brisbane:
A superb game mixed in with plenty of controversy that confirmed this rivalry as the biggest in Asia. Clearly the Socceroos' best game of 2012 which came in response to immense off-field criticism from the Oman game.
- Celtic v Barcelona, UCL MD4 in Glasgow:
Whilst I didn't agree with the tactics used by Celtic, this match again served as a reminder of how great football can be. That a team with a tenth the wage bill of their opponents can upset one of the greatest teams in the world (on their 125th birthday no less) was great to see.
Top 3 goals
Again, in chronological order:
- Neymar v Internacional, Copa Libertadores in March:
For me the best goal of the year on pure quality (far better than Ibra's fluke). A slaloming run from Santos' half, reminiscent of Maradona's goal at Mexico '86.
- Karagounis v Russia, Euro 2012 in Warsaw:
A biased choice yes, but the sheer eruption of emotion was brilliant to see. One of the most lionhearted performances of 2012.
- ADP v Newcastle, A-League Round 2 at Allianz Stadium. It wasn't so much the goal itself but the symbolism of it. The A-League had finally arrived.
Personal Highlights
- Being a part of a global effort through social media to save one of Spain's historic clubs. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, please read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/29/real-oviedo-spain-premier-league (I'm one of the 20,000 shareholders)
- Montpellier defying all the odds (and the petrodollars of PSG) to win Ligue 1.
Personal Lowlights
- Chelsea's UCL run:
The negative manner in which Chelsea went about winning the European Cup was very disheartening. Pragmatic tactics like these are perfectly understandable when a team doesn't have skillful players. But Chelsea did - and yet they chose to play negatively. They were inferior to Barca and Bayern everywhere except on the scoreboard.
- Racism returns:
The unfortunate resurgence around Europe of racial abuse both on and off the field after the great strides that had been made in recent years. The hypocrites at UEFA and FIFA are mainly to blame here.
- Tim Cahill's criticism of the A-League:
As a supposed ambassador for Australian football, his comments, reported globally, were highly damaging and offended many fans here. Also the fact that ADP took up the challenge of developing the game locally only a few weeks after the comments (while Cahill took the cash), made him look very foolish.
