You can thank (or maybe not) Marco for this post. A little
while ago in a galaxy far away (oops, sorry, wrong blog) I had suggested to
Marco to do a best of series of posts in between the more relevant and full
posts. Anyway, a few days ago, Marco posted to see if anyone was interested in
helping out with the blog.
Foolishly, I emailed Marco and offered to help. He replied
back milliseconds later that there would be no compensation, no glory and, oh
by the way, I needed to post 3 articles per week. I said whatttttt? This guy is
crazy, doesn’t he realize I’m a slacker extraordinaire and try to avoid work
like a vampire shuns sunlight?
Enough comedy for today, and on to the real reason for this
post. Before anything else, though, please realize that I’m not a professional
writer and I’m just trying to help out with the blog. Also, I look at teams and games from the
perspective of a fan or spectator and not at the technical level of the players
or of a particular match. Anyway, the first post on this best of series of
blogs will focus on goalies that have played for the national team. I will post my picks, and you can post yours
as well. There are only two rules, if you want to call them that: one, you must
have watched the player play in matches (either in person or on TV), so players
from your era only; and second, you can disagree/criticize with someone’s
choice(s) but do so politely and without insults; I don’t think I can moderate
your posts but I’ll send plenty of frowny face smilies your way if you break
this last rule. Hope you will be
entertained, amused (if not bemused) by
my choices; players will be listed in chronological order:
Dino Zoff: active on the national team from 1968 until 1983
with a total of 112 caps. He is a World Cup winner (Spain 1982), and the oldest
winner of the trophy (40 years old). I first saw Zoff (with the national team)
during the Argentina 1978 campaign. Was too young at the time, not even a
teenager, to feel the disappointment of that, too early, exit by the Azzurri. However,
he went to captain one of the best Italian sides, arguably, to an improbable
win at the 1982 World Cup in Spain; the team left in its wake the carcasses of
Brazil, Argentina and West Germany to capture the trophy for the third time.
Walter Zenga: active on the national team from 1987 to 1995
having made a total of 58 appearances for the senior team. Zenga was the
starting goalkeeper for Italy ’90. Though the team beat England for the third
place finish, it was a disappointing tournament for one of the most talented,
and balanced, Italian teams in World Cup competitions; this point can be argued
back and forth until the end of time with no clear cut winner.
Gianluca Pagliuca: active on the national team from 1991 to
1998 with a total of 39 appearances for the team; a surprisingly, at least for
me, low figure. He is probably best remembered
for two incidents during the USA 1994 campaign: one, became the first
goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup match, when he was dismissed for
handling the ball outside his area against Norway; and, during the final against
Brazil, “kissing” the goal post that “helped” Pagliuca save a shot on goal. As we all well
know, both his appearances ended with exit by the team after losing in PKs.
Gianluigi Buffon:
active on the team since 1997 and with no clear challenger to unseat Saint
Gigi. He has made 120 appearances (and counting) for the team; he’s the third most
capped member in the history of the national team, as well as the most capped goalkeeper in
its history (taking the honor from Dino Zoff). His stay with the national team
has seen the farcical elimination of the team during Japan/Korea 2002, the
absolutely outstanding performance of the World Cup winning squad of Germany
2006 to his injury in the first group game of South Africa 2010 that led to an
atrocious and embarrassing early exit. Buffon is considered the best Italian
goalkeeper ever, as well as one of the best (if not the best) in the world.
These are my
choices. Feel free to include as many or as few names in your post as you want.
