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Iker – The Key To Spains World Cup

Prior to the 2010 World Cup the rumours of the erratic Jabulani set the scene for the greatest goalkeepers across the world to show just how difficult the life of a goalkeeper is.

Whilst some goalkeepers will look to use the ball as an excuse for schoolboy errors, there can be no escaping the fact that this years worldcup had the most mistakes from our fellow #1’s in any tournament that I can recall.

However, whilst some of the most renowned goalkeepers were struggling, others were taking the chance to stamp their mark on the world.

If we take a look at the 4 semi final teams (Spain, Holland, Germany and Uruguay) anybody who watched the games will quickly remember the heroics of Casillas, Neuer and Stekelenburg throughout the tournament and certainly for the Dutch and German goalkeepers there was a real opportunity to show their ability as they emerged from the shadows of past legends for their national teams.

However, Casillas was essential in Spains world cup win, once out of the group stages when the competition really heats up he kept clean sheets in each knockout game all the way through to lifting the trophy at the end of the Final.

Throughout the knockout stages he pulled off essential saves, of which his two defining moments surely have to be the Penalty save against Paraguay when the score was still 0-0, and also the one on one save against Arjen Robben in the final.

Iker’s performance throughout the competition left him with the stats of playing 660 minutes, making 17 saves and conceding only two goals. Which led to officials giving him the Golden Glove award for this years World Cup.

Whilst I had the chance to watch England goalkeepers struggle so noticeably at this years world cup, not just Robert Green but also David James, I can’t help but think what if we had a #1 we could rely on like Iker to spread confidence throughout our national team and pull off the essential saves when called upon.

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Daz @ KeeperPortal

Owner and creator of Keeper Portal, an FA qualified goalkeeping coach as well as being pretty impressive at keeping balls out of a net.

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