Corner Kick: European Footballer of the Year: Beckham or Rivaldo?

Soccernet says Latin Europe wants to vote for the extravagantly talented Brazilian while the prosaic North intends to side with the elite football coaches who, earlier this year, anointed Beckham as the most valuable player in last season's UEFA Champions League.sentiments alone, Beckham should get it. After all, no Briton has won the title for 20 years and that fact alone hints that this is a vote with the heart, not the head. But Rivaldo is favored by the odds-makers to win a popular plebiscite among football journalists.

The one person who seriously doubts Rivaldo will be elected to the pantheon alongside the likes of Alfredo di Stefano, Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini is the Brazilian himself.

Compared to Beckham-blessed with looks, surrounded by people who have utter faith in him and fortunate enough to find love among the poisonously fake world of the superstars-Rivaldo's life has been a torture of personal pain, illness, bad luck and obstacles.

Which is why the Barcelona player is already feeling fatalistic, probably unnecessarily, about the way the 51 judges-journalists from all over Europe polled by …