Who is the best player in their position? That is a question that is always discussed by both footballers and experts alike and is also one which pretty much never gets a unanimous answer. However, that is not the case when it comes to goalkeepers. The best goalkeeper in the world comes from Germany and he is called Manuel Neuer. No one can deny that. 2014 was the best year of his career and he won titles that many don’t win in their entire careers.
He has kept all the promises that he has made. At 28-years-old, he is already a role-model and could now even become the ‘World Player of the Year’. Today at 18:30 at the FIFA gala in Zurich, either Manuel Neuer, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will win the ‘Ballon d'Or’.
Ron-Robert Zieler. Marc-André ter Stegen. Bernd Leno. Oliver Baumann. Timo Horn. Ralf Fährmann. Kevin Trapp. If you put all these names onto a virtual transfer list right now, that is a transfer list for national teams, and waited a few days, or maybe even a few hours, all the countries would make offers. The Brazilians, the Argentineans, the French, the Portuguese, the English, maybe even the Spanish and perhaps also the Italians; they would all make generous offers and immediately sign one of these goalkeepers. Zieler for England? Ter Stegen for Brazil? Leno for Argentina? That doesn’t work, of course it doesn’t but one can assume that every one of these goalkeepers would be the number one choice for those countries.
In a class of his own
The German goalkeepers who are not called Manuel Neuer live in a strange world. They are so good yet they have no chance at the moment. Each one of them is exceptionality skilled and they all dominate the contemporary offensive goalkeeping game. Even if they allow themselves to make an error every now and then, they still play with such a consistency that is unbelievable considering their age. These young guys are 21, 22 or 25-years-old and they can wait, as they have their whole lives in front of them. Their only problem is that they also have one other thing in front of them: Manuel Neuer.
If you want to measure the quality of an athlete, then it helps sometimes to put them into proportion. There are athletes who are undisputed and ones which no one has any doubts about but that may also be because they do not have any suitable competitors. In the case of Manuel Neuer, the opposite is the case. You would think that he has too many high quality competitors but Manuel Neuer does not mind. He is in such a fortunate position that he knows if he simply plays his normal game, then he does not have any competition. Neuer can do anything that his rivals can do. He is the original and with every game he plays, he becomes more experienced, cooler and more competitive. Where will it end?
To put it bluntly, if Manuel Neuer is the goalkeeper of a very good team, then the contest is unfair.
The art of saving without touching the ball
2014 was the year in which Germany became World Champions but it was also the year of Manuel Neuer. No one can say whether Germany would have even survived the second round of the World Cup without their goalkeeper and his performance was even more impressive in the World Cup Final against Argentina than it was when he was playing as a sweeper against Algeria. Perhaps only Manuel Neuer can currently make a save without touching the ball. Gonzalo Higuaín, a world-class striker, was one-on-one with him at one point in the final but his shot was so weak that you could have believed that an amateur player had swapped bodies with him. You would not be able to prove it but for every fan in the stadium it was clear: There was a great deal of respect for Higuaín. He knew what he had to do and he knew that he had to do it really well if he wanted to score, but then he did it so badly.
That is possibly the best thing that can happen to a player, that he disconnects himself from both the rules and the psychology of the game. Manuel Neuer has changed the game as we know it because he is Manuel Neuer. Strikers face him differently than they do other goalkeepers. It was that one-on-one in the 2014 World Cup Final that reminded us of another goalkeeping moment from this millennium. At the 2002 World Cup, a Cameroonian named Samuel Olembe was also alone in front of a German goalkeeper and could only manage a poor shot at goal. “Oh I was so afraid of Kahn,” he lamented later. Kahn was, at that time, at the height of his art, or, to put it a better way, at the height of his power. He was able to hypnotize balls and he could make games swing in his direction.
Turek, Maier, Kahn, Neuer: Named in the same breath as the greats
As a goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer is working a style completely different to that of Kahn. However, he is his heir when it comes to his presence on the pitch. One could say that Kahn brought the art of the goalkeeping game to perfection. Oliver Kahn is both the climax and conclusion of the German goalkeeping game, a story that begins with Heiner Stuhlfauth, then Toni Turek, Sepp Maier, Toni Schumacher, Andreas Köpke, to Oliver Kahn and then to his eternal antagonist, the “Summer Tale” keeper Jens Lehmann. Lehmann exercised a different style to Kahn and built a bridge to the present era.
Manuel Neuer has enhanced the prototype of the German goalkeeper, who used to limit his excursions mostly to his own area. Neuer has redefined the boundaries of his workspace. He is not a keeper to stay on the line and rely on his reflexes, although he of course masters this aspect of the game, too. Neuer is the first eleventh outfield player in German football. In the national team and with FC Bayern, he has become a viable option to receive a pass and is considered as such by his coaches. In this he allows the coaches to have their teams play a different kind of football. They can order their defensive line to position themselves higher up on the pitch and they can risk more, because they know that here is still going to be Manuel Neuer behind them. If an opposition player breaks through on a counter-attack, he has to expect to come across a goalkeeper in midfield, 55 yards from the goal.
The style that Neuer practices is risky, and he is bound to occasionally misjudge by half a meter or centimeter, resulting in a goal. Considering how rare this is though, it becomes clear how incredibly precise his timing usually is. In fact, it seems impossible to spontaneously recall a late tackle by Neuer or an incident in which he saw red because he struck the opponent instead of the ball. If Neuer finds himself in a difficult situation, then it is usually because his boyish tendencies to play a practical joke still surface: Sometimes he will intercept a pass with the back of his heel or attempt a dribble to the left instead of passing to an unmarked teammate on the right.
“World Player of the Year" vote: Neuer, Ronaldo or Messi?
In light of such artistic endeavors, it is no surprise that Neuer is now also invading the outfield players’ last bastion. That Neuer is shortlisted for individual players’ awards seems self-evident and completely natural. He is now among the final three candidates for the 2014 World Player of the Year title to be awarded tonight. That is a huge compliment because two out of the three nominees seemed to have had their tickets booked years in advance: Cristiano Ronaldo ad Lionel Messi. The fact that Neuer is now part of the elusive ranks of such outfield players says everything you need to know about his sporting year.
What does this mean for both young keepers and their older and more experienced colleagues that have been part of the game for such a long time? They will have to get used to the fact that, at the moment, the only place available in Germany is that of the reserve keeper. Andreas Köpke will keep a close eye on the developments behind Neuer without having to worry. He knows German football will not have to worry about filling this position for years to come. Neuer is still only 28 and is as motivated as he was on his first day. When there is the question of who will be crowned his successor one day, there will be plenty of skilled candidates.
Neuer’s successors will be goalkeepers practicing a modern and stylish type of football. They will be the eleventh outfield players, who will play like their role model. They will play like Manuel Neuer.
created by mmc/ap
Who is the best player in their position? That is a question that is always discussed by both footballers and experts alike and is also one which pretty much never gets a unanimous answer. However, that is not the case when it comes to goalkeepers. The best goalkeeper in the world comes from Germany and he is called Manuel Neuer. No one can deny that. 2014 was the best year of his career and he won titles that many don’t win in their entire careers.
He has kept all the promises that he has made. At 28-years-old, he is already a role-model and could now even become the ‘World Player of the Year’. Today at 18:30 at the FIFA gala in Zurich, either Manuel Neuer, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will win the ‘Ballon d'Or’.
Ron-Robert Zieler. Marc-André ter Stegen. Bernd Leno. Oliver Baumann. Timo Horn. Ralf Fährmann. Kevin Trapp. If you put all these names onto a virtual transfer list right now, that is a transfer list for national teams, and waited a few days, or maybe even a few hours, all the countries would make offers. The Brazilians, the Argentineans, the French, the Portuguese, the English, maybe even the Spanish and perhaps also the Italians; they would all make generous offers and immediately sign one of these goalkeepers. Zieler for England? Ter Stegen for Brazil? Leno for Argentina? That doesn’t work, of course it doesn’t but one can assume that every one of these goalkeepers would be the number one choice for those countries.
In a class of his own
The German goalkeepers who are not called Manuel Neuer live in a strange world. They are so good yet they have no chance at the moment. Each one of them is exceptionality skilled and they all dominate the contemporary offensive goalkeeping game. Even if they allow themselves to make an error every now and then, they still play with such a consistency that is unbelievable considering their age. These young guys are 21, 22 or 25-years-old and they can wait, as they have their whole lives in front of them. Their only problem is that they also have one other thing in front of them: Manuel Neuer.
If you want to measure the quality of an athlete, then it helps sometimes to put them into proportion. There are athletes who are undisputed and ones which no one has any doubts about but that may also be because they do not have any suitable competitors. In the case of Manuel Neuer, the opposite is the case. You would think that he has too many high quality competitors but Manuel Neuer does not mind. He is in such a fortunate position that he knows if he simply plays his normal game, then he does not have any competition. Neuer can do anything that his rivals can do. He is the original and with every game he plays, he becomes more experienced, cooler and more competitive. Where will it end?
To put it bluntly, if Manuel Neuer is the goalkeeper of a very good team, then the contest is unfair.
The art of saving without touching the ball
2014 was the year in which Germany became World Champions but it was also the year of Manuel Neuer. No one can say whether Germany would have even survived the second round of the World Cup without their goalkeeper and his performance was even more impressive in the World Cup Final against Argentina than it was when he was playing as a sweeper against Algeria. Perhaps only Manuel Neuer can currently make a save without touching the ball. Gonzalo Higuaín, a world-class striker, was one-on-one with him at one point in the final but his shot was so weak that you could have believed that an amateur player had swapped bodies with him. You would not be able to prove it but for every fan in the stadium it was clear: There was a great deal of respect for Higuaín. He knew what he had to do and he knew that he had to do it really well if he wanted to score, but then he did it so badly.
That is possibly the best thing that can happen to a player, that he disconnects himself from both the rules and the psychology of the game. Manuel Neuer has changed the game as we know it because he is Manuel Neuer. Strikers face him differently than they do other goalkeepers. It was that one-on-one in the 2014 World Cup Final that reminded us of another goalkeeping moment from this millennium. At the 2002 World Cup, a Cameroonian named Samuel Olembe was also alone in front of a German goalkeeper and could only manage a poor shot at goal. “Oh I was so afraid of Kahn,” he lamented later. Kahn was, at that time, at the height of his art, or, to put it a better way, at the height of his power. He was able to hypnotize balls and he could make games swing in his direction.
Turek, Maier, Kahn, Neuer: Named in the same breath as the greats
As a goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer is working a style completely different to that of Kahn. However, he is his heir when it comes to his presence on the pitch. One could say that Kahn brought the art of the goalkeeping game to perfection. Oliver Kahn is both the climax and conclusion of the German goalkeeping game, a story that begins with Heiner Stuhlfauth, then Toni Turek, Sepp Maier, Toni Schumacher, Andreas Köpke, to Oliver Kahn and then to his eternal antagonist, the “Summer Tale” keeper Jens Lehmann. Lehmann exercised a different style to Kahn and built a bridge to the present era.
Manuel Neuer has enhanced the prototype of the German goalkeeper, who used to limit his excursions mostly to his own area. Neuer has redefined the boundaries of his workspace. He is not a keeper to stay on the line and rely on his reflexes, although he of course masters this aspect of the game, too. Neuer is the first eleventh outfield player in German football. In the national team and with FC Bayern, he has become a viable option to receive a pass and is considered as such by his coaches. In this he allows the coaches to have their teams play a different kind of football. They can order their defensive line to position themselves higher up on the pitch and they can risk more, because they know that here is still going to be Manuel Neuer behind them. If an opposition player breaks through on a counter-attack, he has to expect to come across a goalkeeper in midfield, 55 yards from the goal.
The style that Neuer practices is risky, and he is bound to occasionally misjudge by half a meter or centimeter, resulting in a goal. Considering how rare this is though, it becomes clear how incredibly precise his timing usually is. In fact, it seems impossible to spontaneously recall a late tackle by Neuer or an incident in which he saw red because he struck the opponent instead of the ball. If Neuer finds himself in a difficult situation, then it is usually because his boyish tendencies to play a practical joke still surface: Sometimes he will intercept a pass with the back of his heel or attempt a dribble to the left instead of passing to an unmarked teammate on the right.
“World Player of the Year" vote: Neuer, Ronaldo or Messi?
In light of such artistic endeavors, it is no surprise that Neuer is now also invading the outfield players’ last bastion. That Neuer is shortlisted for individual players’ awards seems self-evident and completely natural. He is now among the final three candidates for the 2014 World Player of the Year title to be awarded tonight. That is a huge compliment because two out of the three nominees seemed to have had their tickets booked years in advance: Cristiano Ronaldo ad Lionel Messi. The fact that Neuer is now part of the elusive ranks of such outfield players says everything you need to know about his sporting year.
What does this mean for both young keepers and their older and more experienced colleagues that have been part of the game for such a long time? They will have to get used to the fact that, at the moment, the only place available in Germany is that of the reserve keeper. Andreas Köpke will keep a close eye on the developments behind Neuer without having to worry. He knows German football will not have to worry about filling this position for years to come. Neuer is still only 28 and is as motivated as he was on his first day. When there is the question of who will be crowned his successor one day, there will be plenty of skilled candidates.
Neuer’s successors will be goalkeepers practicing a modern and stylish type of football. They will be the eleventh outfield players, who will play like their role model. They will play like Manuel Neuer.
