Iker Casillas receives medal

Iker Casillas picked up the Community of Madrid award on behalf of all his teammates

The Spanish national team and head coach Vicente del Bosque were presented with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid as well as the Gran Cruz del 2 de mayo(2 May Great Cross) on Tuesday in recognition of their remarkable accomplishment in South Africa last season. Iker Casillas picked up the award on the team's behalf.

Community of Madrid President, Esperanza Aguirre was accompanied by VP and Advisor of Culture and Sports, Ignacio Gonzalez and President of the Spanish FA, Angel Maria Villar during the presentation.

"This is a collective award, not an individual one. I thank the president for this recognition. It is an honor and a pleasure to receive it on behalf of all my teammates. We must also thank the Community of Madrid for a wonderful celebration," stated Casillas.

Aguirre concluded by adding, "they deserve these awards because of their winning spirit, their faith in victory and their eagerness to improve every day. It is an honor to present the Great Cross and the Gold Medal. They do justice to your talent and your values, both of which we admire dearly."

Mesut winning over Madridista heart

The German international has provided eight assists on goal and has scored nine times so far this
Realmadrid.com

"Ozil is winning our hearts over," commented Jose Mourinho shortly after Real Madrid’s victory against Real Sociedad. With the German midfielder doing practically everything right, there is no questioning the head coach’s theory. Ozil has eight assists on goal in La Liga and three in the Champions League, and he has scored nine goals so far this year.

It may be too early to speak about another record falling by the way side; even during a season that has Real Madrid rewriting almost every chapter of the history books. But Mesut Ozil is already the team’s top assist man of the last two seasons with similar numbers to those put up by Higuain and Marcelo but with even faster assist rate.

What’s more, Ozil has already scored nine goals on the year (five in La Liga, three in the Copa and one in the Champions League) and is the third top scorer in the team in league and Cup action

Mourinho wins the FIFA Best Coach of the year award

The “Special One” is now recognized as the best, and says it’s well deserved.

Former Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, who is now at Real Madrid, said he was the natural choice for soccer’s inaugural prize for world coach of the year yesterday because his team “won absolutely everything” in 2010.

The Portuguese coach, who added the Champions League to a league and cup double with Inter Milan last season, was selected ahead of Spain’s World Cup-winning coach Vicente del Bosque and Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola following a poll of national team managers, captains and selected journalists.

“I feel myself the best of 2010 because in 2010 my team won absolutely everything,” Mourinho said in an interview after receiving the award at a ceremony in Zurich.

Mourinho, 47, who has described himself as the “Special One,” rose to prominence in 2004 after helping underdog Porto win the Champions League. He’s since won two English Premier League

championships with Chelsea before moving to Inter, where he claimed another league double and capped a two-year spell by leading it to its first European Cup since 1965. He joined Real in May, and he’s continued a run of 145 home matches since losing that stretches back to 2002.

“I’ve had 10 consecutive great years,” he said. “In 2010, I did with Inter the treble, which is for a club coach the maximum you can achieve,” he said. “But Pep is top, Del Bosque is top and you cannot forget as a top coach we have in the world of football Sir Alex (Ferguson of Manchester United) and (Chelsea’s Carlo) Ancelotti, so many other top coaches that one day this award has to go to them.”

Disputes With Managers

Mourinho isn’t universally liked. During his time with Inter he had disputes with managers, soccer officials and the media. Yet, he’s managed to earn the devotion of some of the best players.

Wesley Sneijder, the Dutch midfielder whose play provided the platform for Inter’s success, brought tears to Mourinho’s eyes yesterday when he praised the coach after being named in FIFA’s team of 2010.

“It was a pleasure to work with Jose Mourinho and I want to tell him this on stage -- I think he’s the best coach in the world,” Sneijder said.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the 2008 world player of the year, who plays under Mourinho at Real, congratulated the coach on social networking site Twitter.

“Congratulations to Mourinho awarded FIFA best coach of the year,” Ronaldo wrote. “He really deserves it and it’s a pleasure to work with him every day.” ‘