Joseph Baltter was caught by surprise for Messi election as best of the World Cup. When FIFA president is caught by surprise, certainly something is wrong.
LOL
Part of it has to do with the fact that for a lot of these journalists, Messi is the most visible figure. Regardless of when the vote takes place, his goals often look more spectacular. Like, a twisting run that ends with a curler from outside the box edging inside the far post. Messi had moments of brilliance, but overall, he was marked out of matches for the most part. Germany lost Khedira and then Howedes and Hummels couldn't cope with the combination of Lavezzi and Messi together. However, as soon as Lavezzi got subbed off, Messi's danger vanished for the most part, as there wasn't a second runner to track.
Still, Messi didn't have a bad tournament, he just didn't shine as brightly as some of the others. In terms of Robben, I think the reason that people see him as not as worthy is that he lost to Argentina and thus didn't make the Final. James lost in the QFs to Brazil, so he played two fewer matches than Messi did. Muller had more goals and more assists, but I think that some of them are weighted a little less than Messi's because some of Muller's came in routs (a brace against Portugal and a goal against Brazil). I think that one of James, Muller, or Robben deserved the Golden Ball more than Messi did, but I can understand reasons why Messi won.
Admittedly, almost everyone's come out and said that Messi shouldn't have won it, but...