Was I the only one suprised at the horrible level of goalkeeping displayed at the Euro this year. The only goalkeeper that was consistent throughout the tournament was Casillas and even though he played great, except for the Italy game, he was never really challenged much. Lehman had an aboslutely disastrous tournament throughout and was personally responsible for several goals. He looked old and slow out there, it was sad to watch. The only high point for Rustu in Turkey was the PKs against Croatia, because the man cannot intercept a cross if his life depended on it and was responsible for the goal against Croatia and one against Germany. Akinfeev for Russia saved what he should have, but never really help his team much with his play, he was mediocre at best. I thought that Van der Saar, along with Casillas, were the best of the tournament. Too bad the Dutch team had to colapse even though Van der Saar played great. Buffon, wasnt the same Buffon of past. He had his good times and his bad times and did not show the consistency that we were used to. Coupet and Ricardo were absolutely abismal. Them two, along with Lehman, were some of the biggest disappointments when it comes to goalkeeping.
Boruc was actually the best goal keeper in the tournament according to FIFA and BBC (Poll, ranking) Van der Saar was 2nd best, and Buffon 3rd Casillas even though an excellent keeper had it easier and did not pull of any game winning saves
Casillas actually let in soft goals against both Russia and Sweden in the group stage. Other than that he was good. Buffon wasn't great against Holland, but after that I didn't see any mistakes.
Maybe it's just me but I'm under the impression that goalkeeping is on a downhill since the 7-8 yrs. Maybe it's the new balls, the speed of the game but I see a lot more goalkeeping mistakes now than I used to see in the past (I'm speaking in general not just the Euro Cup). As for this tournament, Buffon, Van der Sar and Boruc were great. Casillas was pretty good as well but not in the same class as the other 3. Lemhann was horrible on that goal in the final, should've stayed on his line on that one....
Casillas was solid for Spain. He had many crucial saves against italy and never looked shaky (especially when germany were starting to send long balls in)
Not to mention that he was betrayed by Materazzi and Barzagli playing with shockingly poor positioning and very little effort.
lol @ people claiming Casillas had a bad tournament. At least there is only two great goalkeepers; Casillas and Buffon now. Cech has shown us the sort of flaws you can't have to be world class.
No one is claiming he had a bad tournament, just that he wasn't as good as Buffon or Van der Sar. It's funny because I,ve seen Casillas giving a bad goal against Peru before the tournament and also against Sweden during the tournament, maybe that's why I,m not rating him that high. He's surely capable of world class performances and he's one of the best but I don't think he's the best right now. As for Cech, he hasn't been the same since his head injury. I still think he's world class, he just needs to sort some stuff out. I'm pretty sure he's going to have a pretty good 2008-09 season.
The Spain v Italy game was the showdown between them (and both as captains) and Casillas was much better, imho. Buffon made the error that almost was a goal and after that he looked a bit shaky to me. I think Casillas had a a great tournament. Buffon too, but in the duel with Casillas, it was all Iker.
I don't think you have seen him playing for R.Madrid too many times? His performance at Euro 2008 is "nothing" as compared to what he is capble of doing.
Casillias did not "shine" in the Euro because he rarely needed to. Had Spain's defense not been as solid as it was, we might have seen Casillas required to make more saves, which he undoubtly could do without issue.
I think Casillas and Van der Saar were in a class of their own in the Euro. Buffon had good games, kept Italy in it, but did make a couple of mistakes, one that almost cost him the game in extra time against Spain. However, the thing that suprised me was the rest of the group. Cech, Lehmann, Ricardo and Coupet were very subpar. And from here, the rest of the goalkeepers in the tournament (including Rustu "I cant intercept a cross" Recber) were absolutely abismal. Usually, the second tier of goalkeepers in a tournament don't necessarily save the team on their own, however, they rarely make so many mistakes that cost their teams the game and tournament. That is what I was referring to when starting this thread. Taking the tournament as a whole, this is the worst goalkeeping I have seen.