FourFourTwo’s Heroes and Villains of 2022
Football may be uncertain at times, but it is a game of heroes and villains. There are winners and losers, genius and mercy – the ones to look up to and the ones you should never.
And 2022 has been no different. In a packed 12 months that have tested us all – not least the stamina of these athletes – new heroes have been crowned, heroes who have reaffirmed their brilliance, and heroes we never thought of as heroes who turned the story upside down. A World Cup, a Women’s European Championship, a crazy Premier League season and many more will do that.
And then there are those who have sided with the bad guy. Here’s our roundup of the biggest, the best… and the worst from the past calendar year in the beautiful game.
The heroes of the year
Lionel Messi
It was Jay van The intermediaries who first proposed the possibility of completing football. It was Lionel Messi who made it happen.
Despite winning seven Ballons d’Or, scoring more than 90 goals in a single calendar year, dragging teams to titles and regularly starring in Europe, there were those who insisted that until the Argentina captain landed that magnificent gold trophy. had, he would forever fade in meaning to those who had… or something like that.
He was a hero before December 18, 2022, and he would have remained one regardless of the result – but this year he’s more than ever a hero. This is the full set. He has the one medal that has eluded him – no year-end list will be complete without him. Certainly not ours.
Jake Daniels
The courage Jake Daniels showed by coming out as gay is something most of us will never need to know. For more than three decades, the shadow of what happened to Justin Fashanu has loomed over professional football in this country and it took someone strong to step forward.
That kind of courage is enough to make anyone a hero. Now he is an icon because hopefully he is walking a path that many others will follow. So good for Daniels – and good for Australian player Josh Cavallo, who also came out last year. There’s still a long, long way to go for the LGBTQ+ community in football, but it’s a positive thing to have role models like Daniels leading the way in the sport.
bet med
Left off the Olympic squad in 2021, Beth Mead spent 2022 as the pride of the Lionesses. The Golden Boot and a Euro 2022 title at Wembley is not a bad way to overcome that disappointment of 12 months earlier.
Mead is a national hero, and it’s poignant that much of her 2023 will be spent on a treatment table following a recently sustained ACL injury. But of course she’s just one of many English stars we’ve celebrated this year: we could have put just about any lioness on this list.
Our other heroes are Ella Toone for the insanely composed lob in the finale and Chloe Kelly for the light less coming home peacefully and jubilant celebration. Leah Williamson for leading England from the back, Alessia Russo for Which goal of the tournament against Sweden and Georgia Stanway for the screamer against Spain. Then, of course, there’s Jill Scott. No, she didn’t play such a big part – but she put up with the Germans’ no-nonsense in the final and she’s the only lioness to share accommodation with Matt Hancock. Some prefer the ACL injury.
Achraf Hakimi
The undisputed 2022 superstar of two spheres. This was the first time Africa or the Arab world had ventured into the semi-finals of the World Cup: our teams of the tournament may differ, but most of them have the PSG speedster.
Hakimi is a hero for many reasons. It’s not just his effortlessly nonchalant penalty kick against Spain in the heat of the game. Not just the fact that he was the one constant of an ever-shifting four-back who managed to keep almost everyone out for the entire tournament – or that he was great at moving up the field to be a driver on the attack.
Moroccan mothers won hearts in Qatar and Hakimi’s tribute to him on Instagram was beautiful. Let’s see Kane and Saka’s moms dance with the Three Lions in 2024, right?
Ehsan Hajsafi
While some countries were deterred from wearing armbands due to the threat of a yellow card, Ehsan Hajsafi risked so much more. The Iranian captain led a party that refused to sing the national anthem while speaking directly about mass anti-government protests in Iran, which have been met with violence.
“We cannot deny the circumstances – the conditions in my country are not good and the players know it too,” he said. “We’re here, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be their voice, or that we shouldn’t respect them. And I hope that circumstances change in people’s expectations.”
Iranian citizens have been sentenced to death for protesting against the government. Hajsafi, however, risked his own safety and security to give his voice to the oppressed and put the global spotlight on the protests. There are plenty who wish others had followed his example.
The villains of the year
Diego Costa
The Premier League’s Captain Hook’s return to English football came out from under the curtain at the last minute, as an emergency signing for Wolves.
Diego Costa is one of the greatest pantomime villains the division has ever seen: so it came as a huge surprise FFT only to realize that the Spaniard (or is it Brazilian?) was never sent off during his spell at Chelsea. Never mind: nothing is too big for this master of the dark arts.
Just as Messi completed his own wheel at Lusail, Diego Costa’s moment of triumph this year came at Brentford, seven minutes into stoppage time… when he received his first Premier League send-off, just six games into his Wolves career. It’s good to have you back, Diego: we sent you a card, but we knew you’d get one in time.
Leandro parades
Well, that quickly got out of hand! 😳#BBCFootball #BBCWorldCup pic.twitter.com/k2t1Or95gzDecember 9, 2022
Zinedine Zidane’s slip into the realm of madness cost him a world title. In 2010, the Netherlands opted for violence and lost. It’s not often the powerhouses triumph, but none have embraced s**thousery as freely and successfully as the 2022 Argentine champions.
And no one embodies that special kind of grudge like Leandro Parades. Wout Weghorst changed the game between Argentina and the Netherlands for the Dutch with two goals: Parades changed it for everyone, by shooting the ball into the dugout, being squashed by Virgil van Dijk (VVD got a yellow card in the process) while he pumped up his teammates with the same fiery fire.
We can’t entirely attribute the icy Parades to Argentina’s unsportsmanlike reaction after winning the shootout – but football is a game of moments. Messi had plenty – and we’re willing to bet that Parades loved being the bad guy at the time. Meanness can Bloom; he has a medal to prove it.
Wilton Sampaio
England does indeed love a scapegoat, almost as much as breakfast tea and Ally McCoist. Kick from David Beckham to Diego Simeone. David Seaman’s six-foot lack of spatial awareness. Ronaldo’s wink. A linesman who cannot judge where Manuel Neuer’s goal line started and ended.
So while the Three Lions may have crashed out of the World Cup to the World Champions and put on a really good showing, it wasn’t U.S debt. It was Wilton Sampaio’s – the referee not giving a stonewall penalty in the first half, Bukayo Saka a foul leading up to the first goal and generally rubbing every kind of green throughout the 90 minutes – who looked stunned in the match. bright lights of Doha.
Sure, we got two penalties from the Brazilian official. But that’s just fine print in the latest investigation into why it didn’t make it home. We have to blame someone, you see: sorry, Wilton.
Unnamed Ghana coach
Ghana’s coaches take a selfie with a tearful Son Heung-min after their country’s victory over South Korea 😅😳#Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/6ZX2O46OguNovember 28, 2022
There’s a time and a place to ask for a selfie. Most of us would know not to interrupt a Premier League star over a romantic meal, for example, but the supermarket’s frozen aisle is probably fairer game.
After 180 minutes in Son Heung-min’s World Cup – plus insanely long stoppage time – the Tottenham star hadn’t had a happy time. An uninspired stalemate in Uruguay preceded a loss to Ghana with Son ruining what could have been. Enter the member of the Black Stars coaching team who saw a chance to snap a photo of him and the South Korean superstar.
While we give credit to the unnamed coach who was so impressed to shoot his shot, getting a shot with Son when he was so down on his luck probably means he can never visit Seoul without getting a stick. Maybe he should have waited until Son was through to the next round and in a much better mood.
Gianni Infantino
Past FIFA presidents have been smug. They made questionable decisions. They seemed capable of the ridiculous and they made us question the sport we love. But luckily, they’ve always been actor-supportive at best — that is, until Gianni Infantino stuffed herself into every story and photo opportunity of 2022, not unlike Salt Bae.
And few FIFA presidents have given an opening speech like Switzerland’s Lex Luthor, whose now-infamous gamble singled out just about every minority he could think of. It is perhaps the creepiest moment football has ever seen and perhaps the most horrific start to a World Cup since Diana Ross.
Qatari stadiums stopped flashing images of him in his seat, because of the boos from the stalls. However, Infantino got what he wanted: he is the face of the most controversial World Cup of all time. There were heroes on the field – there was a supervillain next to it.
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