Help Cristiano Ronaldo af van zijn award! Stem tegen!

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Supporters hijack Ronaldo vote

A concerted email campaign by England fans looks set to rob Ronaldo of the World Cup's best young player award. The Portuguese winger, pilloried for his part in the sending off of Wayne Rooney, was leading the Fifa website vote by a huge margin. But an email urging supporters to vote for Ecuador's Luis Valencia instead has led to an incredible turnaround. In 24 hours, Ronaldo's vote increased from 210,290 to 241,775, but Valencia's soared from 195,377 to 331,087.

The original email read: "There is a very real danger that Cristiano Ronaldo will be voted the fans' best young player at the World Cup despite his pouting, diving, pretty boy antics - designed mainly to get himself a lucrative transfer to Real Madrid. He is currently first in the Fifa voting, ahead of Luis Valencia of Ecuador. Do the decent thing by voting for Valencia. It doesn't matter who you support or if you haven't seen them play, just stop Ronaldo. Send this on to any caring conscientious true football lover."

Voting for the award ends on Friday and it looks like being a miserable few days for the Manchester United player, who left the field in tears after Portugal's defeat by France in the World Cup semi-final. He was roundly booed every time he touched the ball, with a sizeable contingent of England fans in the crowd leading the way. The hate campaign started after the quarter-final between England and Portugal in Gelsenkirchen, when Ronaldo was pushed by United team-mate Rooney, just before the England striker received a red card. Ronaldo was caught on camera apparently winking at the bench after Rooney's dismissal, infuriating England fans.

In a final twist to the email saga, the Daily Record reported that it was in fact Scotland fans who had helped propel Ronaldo to the number one spot with a viral campaign of their own designed to heap further misery on England fans. The paper said: "Tartan Army internet message boards have been urging fans to pluck for Ronaldo on the official World Cup website - and so far things are working a treat."