What’s your most embarrassing story? Khadim N’Diaye, goalkeeper for the Senegal national team, has a pretty good one. It involves his right leg, his left leg and a degree of shamelessness that’s enough to make the rest of humanity feel humiliated.
N'Diaye performed an atrocious bit of playacting to shave a few seconds off the clock at the end of Senegal’s match versus Algeria at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Stefan Frei, your goalkeeping moment in the sun is over, step aside. Enter Brazilian club Ceara SC mascot Vovo. Like Frei, he’s got a beard, hops and incredible reactions. Unlike Frei, he’s not a real person. Unless it’s a guy with big head syndrome. In which case, I sincerely apologize.
PQP, É O MELHOR GOLEIRO DO BRASIL, MASCOTE! pic.twitter.com/Rz0KLX6sdf
The Coppa Italia round of 16 match between AC Milan and Torino was interesting but not overly so until early in the second half when Torino keeper Joe Hart got kicked in the face.
Here's the video:
Loan Watch: Joe Hart gets a scrape of the opposition's studs on his face vs AC Milan... ouch! pic.twitter.com/W2ENxWtgjV
— MCFC Info (@MCFClnfo) January 12, 2017
As the NWSL moves toward the start of the 2017 season, the Seattle Reign have announced another signing. Typically, that is standard news for this time of the year. However, with the new player being a keeper, and looking at the rest of the roster, where does that leave Hope Solo’s future?
Seattle failed to register a single shot on target throughout the duration of 120 tense minutes in Toronto at the 2016 MLS Cup final. However, with Stefan Frei in goal, getting a shot on frame from open play simply wasn’t necessary.
No goalkeeper is immune to the vast amount of criticism that will inevitably come their way. Whether being rounded on for a costly howler, unavoidable inexperience or just a perceived general lack of command, a keeper's life is an incessant trial by fire.
A 20-year-old David de Gea making consistent Premier League appearances for Manchester United during his first season in England was a “dodgy keeper” that needed “to grow into his kit”.