Five Of The Best: Goalkeepers of The Modern Era

Ok, being the goalkeeper is like walking a tightrope, one bad move and your history... Just ask Richard Wright, Massimo Taibi, Sander Westerveld and Mark Bosnich who all managed to fall. I'm going to cover some of ones who managed to walk the tightrope with distinction... One thing I would like to make clear is that I will not be naming the likes of Gordon Banks, Lev Yashin or Dino Zoff as I can't say I've seen them play or seen enough footage to make a judgment, so we'll cover what is seen as the era of modern football.

Peter Schmeichel

Affectionately nicknamed the "Great Dane" by Manchester United fans, I don't think there has ever been a goalkeeper who dominated the penalty area more than Peter Schmeichel. He used his imposing 6ft 4in to its fullest and was known for his successes in one on one situations with opponents.

He was voted "Worlds Best Goalkeeper" in two successive years 1992 and 1993. He also won Euro 92 surprisingly with Denmark, 5 Premier League Titles, 3 FA Cups, 1 League Cup, 1 European Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League with Manchester United. He was an integral part of Manchester Uniteds successes during his time there pulling of countless saves.



Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon

He made his Serie A debut at the age of 17. The first time I saw him was playing against Inter Milan and he saved a penalty taken by Ronaldo and it was clear at the age of 20 he was on his way to being a world class goalkeeper.

He holds the records for being the most expensive goalkeeper of all time after he made the move to Juventus from Parma for a whopping £32.6 million.

In 2003 he won the UEFA awards for Most Valuable Player and Best Goalkeeper. That year he played in the Champions League Final and won Serie A with Juve.

In 2006 Buffon peaked and won the World Cup as first choice 'Keeper for Italy. Buffon only conceded two goals in the 7 matched Italy played on their way to glory. To cap it off for him he won the "Yashin Award" as the tournaments best goalkeeper.

Buffon is currently still playing but so far in his career he has been voted Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year 8 times, 4 Serie A titles, 2 Italian Super Cups, 1 World Cup and numerous individual awards recognising his status as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.



Jose Luis Chilavert

I bet you weren't expecting him to be named? The Paraguayan legend I feel should go down in history as the most attacking goalkeeper ever. He was at his best during a 10 year spell at Argentine club Velez Sarsfield. He played 341 league games for them and scored an amazing 48 goals. He also became the first goalkeeper to score a hatrick. He also won the Copa Libertadores (South American Champions League) and Intercontinental Cup both twice in 1994 and 1999.

Chilavert also played for Paraguay racking up 74 caps and grabbing 8 goals in the process. Chilavert wasn't only about his goalscoring exploits, he also won the IFFHS Goalkeeper of the Year in 1995, 1997 and 1998. He was also in the France 98 All Star Squad along side Fabien Barthez who was part of the French side that won the tournament. He also managed to keep 2 clean sheets in the four games Paraguay played. I like him as he was top goalkeeper but also a bit different with the attacking threat he posed...



Iker Casillas

Well what can I say about him? He is a product of the Real Madrid youth system and is one of the elite group of players who can say they have won every trophy major there is to win at club and international level.

Casillas made his Real Madrid debut at the age of 18 since then he has won 4 La Liga titles, 3 Spanish Super Cups, 2 Champions League Winners Medals, UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. For Spain he has also won the European Championship and World Cup and all this at the age of 29 and has racked up 116 caps so far and is currently Spain and Real Madrid captain. He could retire tomorrow and be recognised as one of the most successful goalkeepers of all time.

Even English goalkeeping legend Gordon Banks has pitched in with his opinion on Casillas saying "Casillas' reflexes are incredible. If he continues to play this well he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the game." He has also received numerous individual awards recognising him as the best goalkeeper in the world including FIFA World Cup Golden Glove 2010 and IFFHS Best Goalkeeper 2008 and 2009. Enjoy the clip below showing how good Casillas actually is. (Disclaimer: this site doesn't justify or condone the "Europop" being played in the videos, please feel free to watch in mute...)



Edwin Van Der Sar

The second Manchester United related name in this article. He has been described as a the true heir to Peter Schmeichels throne by many at Old Trafford. He started his career at Ajax winning the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and numerous Eredivisie titles. This was a good start to his career good enough to be signed by Italian giants Juventus where he only spent one season and was forced to move on after Gigi Buffon was signed by the club.

Van Der Sar went on to play for Fulham for some strange reason, as there were a number of big European clubs after him. After 4 years at Fulhan winning no major trophies and gaining no recognition he moved to Manchester United who were still looking for a reliable replacement for Schmeichel and they found one in the Dutchman.

While at United Van Der Sar has been a calming influence in the defence and has also been recognised his distribution skills. He is recognised for this by fellow 'Keeper David James who says in a article for the guardian "Edwin van der Sar is the perfect example. His ability to turn a defensive situation into an attacking one in seconds is part of what makes Manchester United so dangerous." In the modern game distribution has become more and more important for goalkeepers and one of its old stalwarts is a key example on how it should be done.

At Manchester United he has won 3 Premier League titles, 1 Champions League Winners Medal and 1 FIFA World Club Cup. More importantly for a goalkeeper he holds the European record for the longest time without conceding a goal he went 1,311 minutes without conceding, thats nearly 15 games without conceding. 

He has been capped by Holland 130 times which makes him his countries most capped player and in the top 30 most capped players of all time. He might not be the best shot stopper in this list but his influence and his distribution are key to him being added to the list. 



Conclusion

Well I'm sure everyone's got their opinions and feel free to leave them. But I really cant think of a keeper that's better and played to a high standard as long as the five mentioned above. After all this goalkeeping appreciation I'll leave you with a little treat below...