All hail the greatest goalkeeper in the world!

By: Paul Cannon at Fox Sports (April 23, 2005)

Goalkeeper is the loneliest of positions.

Goalkeepers are most likely to — a) get little praise for doing something right, b) get excessive damnation for doing something wrong, c) suffer obscene stereotyping for eccentricity and bizarre ritualistic behavior (eg. 1980's Liverpool legend Bruce Grobelaar and his knee wobble antics before penalties ) and d) receive vicious abuse from ball-boys.

Something goalkeepers are not used to is I) being fodder for front-page news and II) having lengthy hyperbolic articles written about them. Cult fan status is more their thing.

Even Bayern Munich and Germany superstopper Oliver Kahn, France circus acrobat Fabien Barthez and great Dane Peter Schmeichel never reached the kind of superstardom which now threatens to engulf their natural heir as — fanfares, please! — 'the greatest goalkeeper in the world'.

Such is the honor this week bestowed on Real Madrid's Iker Casillas. In a poll conducted by Marca newspaper, Casillas was named the best goalie in the world, with Petr Cech of Chelsea and Buffon of Juventus following in his wake. The poll was carried out among journalists from twenty different worldwide publications, including Italy's respected journal La Corriere Dello Sport, Europe's top footie magazine, World Soccer, and British toilet rag The Sun.

"It's what I'm paid for..." said modest Iker, when hounded down and disrupted from an otherwise relaxing and enjoyable break from the training field, by Marca writer Jose Felix Diaz.

"I've still got a lot to learn," said the spanish pin-up. Marca however was in no mood to downplay the burgeoning reputation of its hero-between-the-sticks.

'He's the greatest!' it claimed. Ex-spain goalie Luis Arconada was only slightly less brazen in his interview. "Casillas is Madrid's key player, he gets better every year and there's no doubt he's one of the best in the world."

Then there was Villarreal 'keeper Reina's assessment — "Iker is the most galactic of the galacticos" — which sounded more like science fiction than soccer.

Seldom does such an aura build around a goalkeeper in such a relatively young career. Yet, at only 23 years-old, Casillas is taking his art to a higher level, managing even to outshine teammates Ronaldo, Zidane and Figo as this year's star performer for Madrid.

With two leagues, two European Cups, one European Supercup and two Spanish Supercopas under his belt, Casillas has lost none of his hunger. In two difficult, so far trophyless campaigns, the young Spaniard has often meant the difference between victory and defeat or a merely bad result and an absolute hiding.

With recent speculation indicating a big-dollar switch to Manchester United, Casillas's teammates must be, to coin an impolite English term, 'bricking it'. ie. rather worried about the prospect of a Casillas-less defense.

One accolade yet to evade the Madrid no.1 is the one awarded each season to La Liga's most 'efficient' goalkeeper — the Zamora. This award is named in honor of Ricardo Zamora, who at the tender age of 19 inspired Spain to silver in the 1920 Olympic Games. Zamora was recognized as the greatest of his day and became the hallmark for all future Spanish goalkeepers.

Five goalkeepers stand head and shoulders above the rest in Spanish soccer history as the wise soothsayers of Spanish footballing folklore would have you believe — Zamora, Ramallets, Iribar, Arconada and Zubizaretta. Each has won the Zamora (with frowns and harrumphs all round in Zamora's case — winning his own bloody trophy the cheeky thing!).

In 192 games over the course of six years in the grey jersey, Casillas has joined this illustrious hall of fame. Buyo is Real's most experience goalkeeper of all time, with 343 games to his name.

On a blustery afternoon in the Calderon Stadium six years ago little Iker made his debut. That day Real Madrid scraped a 2-2 draw. Who knows how many games Iker will have under his belt, how many Zamoras, how many trophies, when in the far away future he hangs up his boots...