Another football World Cup came to a reasonably exciting end, with a deserving team winning the coveted title. The last edition of the World Cup had left me dissatisfied, with Spain, for all its Barcelona firepower, willing to just tumble over the finish line with only eight goals in the tournament. Germany won in a much more alive fashion this time, scoring prolifically and defending solidly. But if Higuain had not hit wide with Neuer at his mercy, maybe Messi wouldn’t have been holding only the Golden Ball today.
This World Cup was also about the monumental crumbling of Brazilian football, something similar to but much more catastrophic than what happened to Australian cricket some years ago; a generation of stars retired and those who succeeded them were pretenders at best. Incidentally, German football experienced a nadir around the end of the 20th century, when with typical German regimented discipline a football rehabilitation programme was implemented that touched both the grassroots and the helm of its system. The results are for all of us to see today. Brazil has a long hard road ahead.
But amidst all the goalscoring, a welcome trend was the amazing quality of goalkeeping on display. To begin with, this World Cup had probably the highest number of goalkeeping captains, with Casillas, Buffon, Lloris, Bravo (Chile) & Valladares (Honduras) all donning the captain’s armband. That aside, we had some fantastic displays of goalkeeping that had a longlasting impact on the individual games as well as on collective memory. While Guillermo Ochoa kept the eventually disgraced Brazilian attack at bay and saved fantastically throughout the tournament, Tim Howard redeemed the faith Alex Fergeusen had shown in him in the pre-Van der Saar days by creating a record of saves. (I am not sure of FIFA’a selection criteria, but I was surprised at seeing Sergio Romero in the final 3 nominees for the Golden glove and not someone like Howard). I had liked Vincent Enyeama’s fitness and commitment in the last WC, and this time was no different. Keylor Navas was in prime form, and justifiably in the shortlist for the golden ball. Romero and Tim Krul had their moments of glory. Manuel Neuer, of course, is a worthy replacement of the iconic Oliver Kahn at the German goal. Igor Akinfeev, such a seasoned campaigner, would however remember his howler against South Korea for some time to come.
Many talented goalkeepers were, however, missed at the World Cup for reasons beyond their control. Petr Cech lost out as the Czechs did not qualify. David de Gea and Pepe Reina were under the Casillas-shroud. Their presence would have added more colour to the proceedings.
Goalkeeping has always been a thankless job. As the Pele-defying Gordon Banks put it accurately, “Nobody will remember the ones you saved, everyone will remember the ones you let in.” Ask Moacir Barbosa, who allegedly made Brazilians cry after allowing Uruguay to score a second goal at the Maracana in 1950. The once-celebrated goalkeeper died a taboo-ed figure, not allowed to visit the Brazilian team in 1994 as he was deemed to be bad luck. (Never mind the fact that Claudio Tafferel eventually benefitted from the bad luck of Roberto Baggio in the final) Ask Rene Higuita, the colourful & controversial scorpion-kicking Colombian, who allowed Roger Milla to snatch the ball from his feet at the centerline and score a decisive goal in 1990. Football is all about goals, and so the goalkeeper, whose mandate is to keep a clean sheet, becomes almost like an anti-hero in the scheme of things. Of course, if you act like Harold Schumacher, you have justifiable reasons of being called an anti-hero.
I grew up watching the likes of Oliver Kahn, Peter Schmeichel, Gianluigi Buffon, David Seaman, Edwin van der Saar, Fabien Barthez and Santiago Canizares man the goal like their life depended on it. Later, talents like Iker Casillas, Petr Cech, Victor Valdes and Manuel Neuer took centrestage at club and international level. There were colourful characters like Jose Luis Chilavert who loved scoring goals and getting involved in set pieces. The names of Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Walter Zenga, Dino Zoff and others will always spell magic.
Goalkeepers have always caught my fancy, for the simple reason that they are like the last men standing between victory and defeat. Especially in penalty shootouts and spot kicks, the mind games that goalkeepers can and do play makes these set pieces extremely intriguing and exciting. I have always thought goalkeepers have the mental advantage in a shootout; they will get sympathy if they can’t save and instant glory if they can. Over the years, goalkeepers have had to revisit their capabilities and sharpen their senses, as balls have evolved from the dead leather spheres to Bernoulli-friendly lightweight balls. Balls swerve much more in the air now than they did earlier, and goalkeepers have to judge the complex trajectory of balls in split seconds, or be tagged as “caught napping”. People will remember the discontent the Jabulani had caused in 2010 due to its unpredictable trajectory. Angles and vectors will always be a good goalkeeper’s lifelines.
Goalkeeping is an extremely absorbing and demanding responsibility, and the number 1 jersey justifiably goes to the first choice goalkeeper. The kick that you get out of seeing a forward’s frustration as you glove a ball away can be intoxicating. After all, if someone has an eye on a worthy goal, he needs to work hard to get there.
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