Goalkeepers in the spotlight
Hours away from the World Cup semi-finals, all eyes are on the four
goalkeepers left in the fray to defend their countries’ assaults on the
top prize in world football. Especially because all the four teams are
European, who would rather defend a slender lead than go all out and
play crowd-pleasing, goal-carnival football.
A quick look at the men in gloves.
Gianluigi Buffon
For the will-not-concede mantra of Italian football, Buffon is
the key.
The stingiest goalkeeper among the last four -- he has conceded just one
goal in five matches -- Buffon has been called the greatest
goalkeeper in the world by Ukranian striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Want to join the Italians?
A large part of the credit for Italy making it to the last four
belongs to the Juventus keeper whose name has been dragged into the
match-fixing scandal rocking Italian club football.
But Buffon is modesty personified, as his tongue-in-cheek comment after
the Italy-Czech Republic match -- in which he pulled off a number of
spectacular saves -- proves: 'It seemed like the Czechs didn't have much
respect for me, otherwise they wouldn't have tried to beat me so many
times.'
Let's see how much respect the Germans give Buffon.
Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Also See: Football Fiesta: The complete coverage
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