Editorial (July 22, 2018) – Goalkeeper is undoubtedly the hardest position to play in football. It requires mental strength more than physical strength, and not everyone is ready to take on the big stage.
Halfway through 2018, there have been some horrendous goalkeeping mistakes.
The recently ended 2018 FIFA World Cup is the best proof of it, where some of the best goalkeepers in the world ruined changed the results due to their errors.
2018: The Year With The Worst Goalkeeper Mistakes
Furthermore, weeks before the World Cup Liverpool FC’s Loris Karius committed two mistakes in the UEFA Champions League final that led Real Madrid winning the trophy. It is hard to believe he can recover from the aberration of such a poor showing.
However, this list does not reflect what these goalkeepers really are. They play in the world’s best club because they are great players. Still, everyone makes mistakes and no one can avoid having at least one bad day professionally.
Here are the worst goalkeepers mistakes so far in 2018:
David de Gea vs Portugal
Spaniards expected so much more in the World Cup from one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, and for sure, the greatest in this list.
De Gea’s error let Portugal take the lead 2-1 before finishing the first half, Cristiano Ronaldo left footed shot was an easy ball for the Manchester United guardian, but he ended up ruining up.
Portugal and Spain drew 3-3 in the Group B’s opener.
Fernando Muslera vs France
France beat Uruguay 2-0 to advance to the World Cup semifinals, but Uruguay’s goalkeeper took his part on it.
Muslera failed to catch an easy Antoine Griezmann shot in the second half when France was leading 1-0, the ball slipped from his hands and eventually crossed the goal line.
The blooper tore the team apart, Uruguay did not recover from this mistake and were sent home.
Willy Caballero vs Croatia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5LcIfxVQoI
Argentina had a terrible World Cup run; it doesn’t matter they reached the knockout stage, the South Americans were far from the level everyone thought La Albiceleste would be.
Willy Caballero was part of this poor performance, having an awful tournament that included a mistake that cost Argentia the game against Croatia in the Group stage.
Caballero tried to pass the ball to his teammate Gabriel Mercado but ended up serving a dish to Ante Rebic, who scored with a superb stroke without leaving the ball touch the pitch.
Croatia dismantled Argentina 3-0 and Caballero stayed at the bench for the rest of the competition.
Hugo Lloris vs Croatia
France World Cup final celebration could have been a catastrophe because of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Les Bleus dominated the match with a comfortable 4-1 with still 30 minutes remaining, so the confetti was about to come early in the final. Yet, Lloris mistake in the 69th minute brought hope for the Croatians, who try so hard to net one two more times to send the final to extra time.
France ultimately won the World Cup, yet, they suffered unnecessarily in the last minutes due to Lloris fault.
Loris Karius vs Real Madrid
https://youtu.be/-VAWsgsGRUM
Maybe one the saddest moments in football history took place in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League final.
Liverpool’s goalkeeper Loris Karius made two critical mistakes thanks to his mental blunders.
Karius wrecked Liverpool chances to lift their fifth cup at Europe’s top club competition when he deflected the ball off Karim Benzema’s right foot and later he could not catch a Gareth Bale’s painless shot from outside the box to give Real Madrid their third straight crown at the Champions League.
At the moment of Karius’s first miscalculation, the game was tied 0-0.
Many doubt whether Karius will get back from such an unfortunate situation or his mental blunder will bother him for the rest of his career.
