Is Karim Benzema's Ballon d'Or the Most unanimous ever? | Espn fc Extra Time

Welcome in to the latest edition of Extra Time. Hoping it's going to be lively because these guys have been so boring and quiet all show long. Ali Moreno, Chaka Hislop and Nader Manu are here with us. First question. I don't know. I'm just going to go with I don't know for everything. I think that's an acceptable answer nowadays in this show. If you were watching the show today, we were asking the panel some of the controversial decisions over the weekend from some of the biggest games and it was penalty, no penalty. Most of them would say yes, no penalty or penalty. Take a position. Nadem actually thought he could get away with an I don't know. Wow. Listen, it's new media. You know, we can sit on the fence if I want to. That's fine. But in regards to that Quintero one, I loved watching it actually because like he's saying he hit me in the face, the referee. No, it didn't. But it's the fact that the referee for a second almost switched into like somebody's just pushed me on the street. So he like tensed up then went, Aha, I've got a remedy for this. And when he brought the card out, he didn't just raise it like flicked it away, like off you go little boy. I was like, yeah, I've got a lot of time for that. I enjoyed that. So correct decision, Nadem. Yeah, the correct decision to send him off or the correct decision to push somebody twice your size who has all the power in the game. I think it's a red card. Yeah, I'd go with red. That's better than an I don't know, isn't it? Good stuff. First question. Why is Craig not on air on the most important night in football? Ballon d'Or night. You know how it's well documented that Craig hates the Ballon d'Or. I don't go on Twitter all that often. I happen to be on Twitter this afternoon so that I could take a look at potentially these questions that would come up when you put them out and people kind of send their questions in. And there I see on Twitter, Craig saying that this event that essentially was created to award Real Madrid and Barcelona players is over. Thanks for coming. Something to that effect. So he's watching this? No, no. You know what Craig's like. No, I wasn't watching it. Apparently he was. According to the evidence that he himself put forth on social media, he was watching this. This is a guy who always said he wouldn't go on Football Americas. Yeah, he did. Maybe next year he'll be hosting the Ballon d'Or. God bless us all. All right. For all, is Benzema's win in this year's Ballon d'Or the most unanimous slash deserved ever? P.S. I missed Kate Murray during tonight's ceremony. It would have been nice to see her on a night when a Real Madrid player won it. Okay, all right. Oh, there we go. This is why we put the question. We finally get to the reason as to why the question comes up. Instead, you're here with us. Instead, I'm here with you guys. What an upgrade. No place I'd rather be. Benzema's win. Most deserved ever? As I said during the show, I think there's the least debate about this one. In all years previously, it's been one or the other. As long as you can remember, it's always been an argument between Messi and Ronaldo fans. But I don't think anybody has any argument with this award. Not this time around. Nobody had any argument. Listen, I'd much rather drink water from the water cooler and hang with you guys than champagne and a three-course meal with Marco Van Basten and Nero de Colette. Much rather where I am right now. Guess what, Kate? We're real. I know. That's right. We keep you real. That's the L.A. Nadum and Shaka from the block. With the people. You're here with the people. Nadum, I'll ask you this next question. Is this year's Ballon d'Or less talked about slash relevant because of the absence of both Messi and Ronaldo among the potential winners? No, I don't think so. I think for obviously people like Greg who don't like it, you know, you're never going to like it. But for the people who love it, you're always interested. And if you are interested, then you know the impact that Benzema had last season. And then even with Ronaldo and Messi, even though they're not even in the top five, like I was still getting a headline saying this is the first time I've not been in the top three in the last 16 years. So the fact is there are still eyes on it and they'll still relate it to those two players who might be the greatest of all time. So yeah, it doesn't really matter. The event itself is such a huge occasion. It's such a prestigious award. It's something which I imagine every player would dream of winning except maybe Craig during his career. So, you know, at the end of the day, that's what it is. And yeah, nothing changes. I think he's just bitter because he didn't win it right. Frank hits it. Frank hits it. Oh, Frank. Someone actually mentioned could Frank be on tonight. You know, it's not the Ballon d'Or with Frank. It's actually the best shoe. Best shoe. That's right. Best shoe. I don't care who wins best shoe. That was a good episode. Maybe you can find it back in the archives. It's there somewhere. For Ale, if there was a category for the best diver of the season at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, how many times do you think you would have taken that award home in your playing days? Well, you know how the awards are named after players or whatever. I'm just going to put forth a motion. I'm offering my name. Go ahead and use it. Feel free to use it. Look, I don't ever apologise for playing the game in the manner in which I did. I had my limitations. And so in order for me to have an impact on the game, I had to live on the fringes of legality. If you don't like it, too bad, too sad. Ladies and gentlemen, the award for the best diver of 2022, the Ali Moreno Award goes to... There you go. Now, but see, it's got to be a good one. You've got to be able to draw the foul with it. Just not... It can't be a non-contact dive. There has to be something. Who could be on the judging panel with you for such a prestigious award? Well, neither one of these guys, because Shaka's inconsistency, it's unacceptable. And Natum, you know... I don't know. I'm going to ask Natum. Hey, what do you think, Natum? I don't know. All right, well. I don't believe in rewarding divers. Whoa, why are you looking at me? No, no. You see how that works? I was just saying that I wouldn't be good on the panel because... Right. Oh, I would. I would take pride in it. Natum could help us translate if there were any foreigners on there because he was pulling out the French tonight as well and even telling us I don't know in French. No. Oh, Lord. Man of many talents. Speaking of which, Shaka, as a man with all your titles and keys to cities and fake doctorates and whatnot, would I be wrong if I assume you have been asked to host this year's Ballon d'Or ceremony? P.S. I'm definitely voting for you in this year's Pundit of the Year award. Well, let me just say for the record that if I had been asked, never mind this award, I'd prefer to be here sipping water with you guys. Nope. I'd prefer to be there drinking champagne. No shame in my game, Ali. Well, I know that. I'd prefer to be there. So the fact that I am here is clear evidence that nobody, my phone didn't ring. Well, he'd be up for it, guys, so. Okay. You know, Shaq, how quickly... I'm low maintenance, you know. Are you, really? Yeah. How quickly did you dismiss us? All it would take is a phone call and you'd be out. Yeah. That's it? That's the bar? Yeah. Thank you so much, Shaq. I thought we had something. We do. But not very strong. Just not champagne. And then you never come in here with champagne. Start coming with champagne. Then we'll have a little chat. Maybe we should start a petition to get Shaq to host the Ballon d'Or. What? He's not saying no. I don't really want to host the Ballon d'Or. What do you want to do? I just want a free trip. So you just... I thought we were just going to be there. So a few days off won't pay for... The question is, ask to host. So we came back to your very nature. You just want a vacation. That's right. When in doubt, go back to who you are. All right. Just saying. Going back to basics. Dan's favourite hair gel. Does Dan wear hair gel ever? Air gel, I think it is. Right, for the lads. Since this World Cup is played during the season, what will the non-participating players be doing for that month? Won't form severely dip? Your form can't really dip when you're not playing any games. I think that seems kind of fair. So I guess for some of them, it depends on the manager. There'll be some managers who want their players to completely switch off, give them a week off, maybe. Then get into light training. But then every club's different because maybe you're like an international... You're not at the World Cup and you're a team where most of the players aren't there. Maybe there'll be a few friendlies and stuff organised. But then if you're one of the top sides who's got loads of international players, you might be away for, say, three weeks at a time. Then it's just down to the bare bones. So at that point, you can't really develop anything. So I think it's going to be very, very different depending on which club you're at and sort of the success of your players as such. And as well, it must be so hard. When we talk about who's going to win the league and so on and so forth, this World Cup is going to be such a huge variable. Because for some teams, their players might be away till the very final, whereas for others, the one or two players that might be back within two weeks anyway. So I think if your players are back sooner than later, then that's a big advantage going forward. In which case, you can start planning for the games ahead. But as I say, you can't fall out of form when you're not playing competitive matches, I don't think. I think what's interesting is that if you're a manager in any of these leagues and you complain about the number of games that you have to play, so here's a built-in opportunity to find a balance between how much do you push the guys that are still with the club or how much time off do you give them? And do you then allow the players to recover their legs for the time being that the World Cup is out there and you just kind of do some technical training just to kind of get the blood flowing but not much more than that? And is that then risking the ability for you to have that intensity that is needed to get back out on the field whenever the games do count once again? It's going to be interesting how clubs are able to handle it and it's really going to depend as to how many of your players are gone and how deep of a run those players make and to that point I would also say in what kind of shape physically is one thing but mentally do those players return from the World Cup? Finding that balance is going to be really difficult for managers. I have the perfect answer for this question. You're going on vacation? I don't know. Oh, come on! Well, it's a valid answer on ESPN FC now. Yes. Made them set the precedent. It's a tough one. Since all three of you played in MLS with many artificial surfaces and with the rash of leg injuries in the NFL due to artificial turf what was your worst experience on artificial turf? I feel like Ale, you just went straight away. Well, I mean, let's go to Natum first. Why not? Maybe he comes up with something better than I don't know. Okay, so before I went over to the US so like I'd never actually played like a professional game on there. I'd barely done a training session on that type of turf but then you go across and you realize how different all the different surfs are. Like the one in Vancouver that might be one of the worst I've ever been on but then there are others, say, in Poland which aren't too bad but it's just, it's weird like it's so weather dependent. There was another place we were training and because I think I'll say this in American, in Fahrenheit it's like 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the field was feeling like it was 120. So that was something which you really struggle to overcome but then the biggest issue really is just the burns and stuff because you know me, I like to dive in and all that nonsense. So I've got so many like burns and scars on my leg from things which, you know, traditionally on a normal field you wouldn't really experience. So it does make you sort of think about the game differently especially with things like bounces and spins on the ball and stuff. But yeah, I prefer not to have done it but then in the same breath I understand why teams do do it and it's very much a part of the culture than America was in other places. It's definitely not. Prior to Natum coming to MLS his team Real Sol Lake used to play at Rice Eccles Stadium it's the University of Utah football stadium. Their turf was awful. I can tell you that much. But in terms of the worst experiences it has to be and Natum just alluded to it when you play in the heat in our case was at Dragon Stadium at South Lake High School because the cutting ball in Dallas was getting repaired at that time. The end zones were black the colors of the school were green and black so the end zones were black themselves. And because of the heat it was already 100 degrees in Dallas in the middle of summer anyways but because of the heat you felt literally like you were being steamed like cooked from the bottom of your feet. So much so that we went back to the locker room and the shoes the soles of the shoes the cleats on the shoe were melting. That tells you how hot is hot. And again I go back to the idea that the end zones were black there it was even hotter than it was in the rest of the field. So let me tell you there wasn't much hanging around the box and that's where I made a living. That wasn't a lot of fun for me. So it was it was I don't think it's an experience that you can really paint a better picture than going through it. And the lack of the disbelief when you take your shoes off and your cleats have melted that is reality check right there. It's like maybe we shouldn't be out here playing. I have daughters who played and I remember one time in particular we bought them black cleats and they'd melt on the tooth in the summer. And so now you go I'm old school. I remember when all cleats were black but now you have to find light colours to play in the summer. You have to find cleats that are light coloured with light coloured soles because the dark coloured cleats and soles if it gets too hot they melt and it's just that bad. Right last question. For all were you good at school or were you slackers and just focused on football? No Nadim was like super smarty pants wasn't he? Yeah I was good in school to be fair. Like to the point where football was more it wasn't the main thing. I was only playing football because I was allowed to because I was doing well in school. So that's a bit of like a different experience over here in the UK. But yeah I was good in school. I enjoyed school and I was still technically in school when I was playing in the Premier League right at the start. So yeah I think that kind of answers it from my side. Nadim teacher's pet? Well I don't know if I was a teacher's pet. However I was a cum laude graduate from college. I wanted to let you know. Just saying. What's that face for Shekhar? Nothing. You didn't believe it? No no no. If you don't believe it you let me know Shekhar. No no I always believe you Ali. If you ask me you might get a different answer than if you ask my teachers. Let me put it that way. I mean you worked at NASA. Can't be that bad. So you were an unwilling genius? I got good grades. Let me just leave that there. Oh so are you suggesting that work and effort wasn't exactly your strength? I'm just saying I got good grades. I just I'm just leaving it there. I'm leaving it I'm leaving it there for you to do. Is this another claim of slight corruption? Like the power? Nope I'm just I got good grades. I'm leaving it there. The day-to-day was a struggle but during test day you were good. I'm just leaving it there. He had the algorithm machine all along. That's why he's tasked with the power rankings. Leaving it there. Very smart panel tonight. No I don't knows. Only a few. But when it comes to that question they were all pretty sure on how smart they were. Absolute nerds. Thanks so much for your questions. I can't believe you doubted me Shaq. I'm not doubting you at all. It sounded like you doubted me at all. Goodbye from these brain boxes. Well thank you very much for watching ESPN on YouTube. For more sports highlights and analysis be sure to download the ESPN app and for live streaming premium content and let's not forget as well ESPN FC seven days a week. 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