Howard puts case for stronger defence

If the USA are to develop into genuine FIFA World Cup™ title contenders then their defence has got to improve, says goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Howard, who was beaten twice on Saturday by stunning strikes from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Asamoah Gyan during the last-16 defeat by Ghana, said that the best teams did not concede soft early goals like the Americans had during the tournament.

"We need to make teams work a lot harder for goals," the 31-year-old Everton star said. "Look at the best teams. Goals don't come very easy against them. They've been coming too much at the heart of things for us. At this level, when guys are inside the heart of the penalty area, you're asking for trouble. That's happening too many times."

Read full article here.

World Cup: Germany vs England 4-1 27 June 2010

The match Germany vs England has just started. I'm not a fan of any of this teams but I think Germany is going to win.

So let's keep fingers crossed for David James and wish him that he is not going to throw himself a howler into the net.

Wow, it's 5' and James had already made one brilliant save.

Perhaps this match is going to be really interesting.

Edit: After 1st half. Already allowed Klose's goal which he should save. Podolski send the second between his legs. Well, after all James is just James.

Huge mistake of the referee! The second goal for England was in. What a game!

Edit 2:4-1. A slaughter! Despite the referee's mistake and good moments of England at the beginning of the second half, Germany showed how dangerous they could be. James has to put this match on shelf between "bad" and "fatal". At least two goals on his account, and close to a blunder when the third was scored. He turned away from the ball! Defenders also have nothing to be proud off. German counter-attack did with them everything they wanted.

'I don't fear penalty shoot-out', says James

England had never won penalty shoot-outs. Will it come to it in todays England - Germany match?

Found an interesting article in Dialy Telegraph. Some excerpts:

James's German counterpart, Manuel Neuer, talks of playing the "memory game" if Sunday's World Cup round of 16 game climaxes in a shoot-out. This involves Neuer remembering all the advice from the German technical staff on which way to dive for which player. At the last World Cup, Jens Lehmann frustrated Argentina by checking on their players' preference from a slip of paper shoved down his sock. (...)

James would not reveal his intentions, saying: "I'll probably look over to the physio!" Most of the information will be absorbed on Saturday, leaving him far better prepared than in Euro 2004. "We played Portugal [in the quarter-final shoot-out] and didn't have the access to as much information as we could have done." (...)

England bowed out of Euro 2004 because Portugal's keeper, Ricardo, swept in a majestic penalty. "Of course I am up for taking one. In the preparation, all 23 can practice. There's only 11 and three subs who can end up on the pitch and take one. Whoever the goalkeeper is needs to be prepared," James said.

Read full story here.

It's one of the top stories also on Polish page of Gazeta Wyborcza.



Ricardo is on the photo! But of course his name was even not worth mentioning in the article. Why they always write this or that player wasted a penalty? Beckham in 2004 did waste it shooting over the goal. Ricardo did save Darius Vassell penalty in 2004, and Gerrard's, Lampard's and Carragher's at World Cup 2006.

World Cup 2010: goalkeepers ups and downs - first round summary

The group stage is finished. Time to a do a small summary of goalkeepers' ups and downs.

In every sum up of the group stage we learn how many goals were scored. So at the page about goalkeepers it should be about saves. In 48 matches 302 saves was made in total. It means 6,3 saves per every match.

Most saves overall



Both Vincent Enyeama of Nigeria and Ri Myong-Guk of North Korea made 21 saves in their three games. Sadly their teams finished World Cup on the group stage.

Thomas Sorensen of Denmark is second with 16 saves. Mark Schwarzer (Australia), Alexandros Tzorvas (Greece), Samir Handanovic (Slovakia) and Diego Benaglio (Switzerland) made 13 saves each which place all of them on the third place.

Most conceded goals overall



The stats are merciless. Ri Myong-Guk of North Korea allowed 12 goals. Actually most of them should be put on his teammates account.

The last line of defence - best saves in a match



M'Bohli in US - Algeria. He made 9 saves and was on the best way to keep that 0:0 result. Unfortunately for him, in 91' his own defender found himself on his way and he let the ball out of his hands. Donovan used the opportunity and scored a goal which guaranteed US team a place in the 1/8 final.

The best save of a penalty



Vladimir Stojkovic in Serbia - Germany match. Priceless.

Most clean sheets



Only two goalkeepers managed to keep 3 clean sheets. Eduardo of Portugal (10 saves made) and Fernando Muslera of Uruguay (7 saves).

The best defence



Something should be put here. But I've seen so many great saves that I can't choose one!

A goal allowed in the most awkward way



Spain - Switzerland. I'm not sure what Iker Casillas intended to do in that situation. Perhaps he even himself doesn't know.

It could be a brilliant save...



But it was not. Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo raced out of his area to stop Fernando Torres. He cleared the ball but it went straight to the feet of David Villa who shot it into the empty net from the distance.

Most effort put in the match but it gave nothing



Vincent Enyeama in Nigeria - Greece match performed brilliant saves, 9 in total. But all this effort was wasted when he bounced the ball away straight to the opponent's feet.

The most dissapointing performance



Frederico Marchetti. Marchetti replaced in the goal injured Buffon. It might be his chance but he wasn't able to help his team. Made only 1 save and allowed 4 goals. Would Buffon save it? Maybe yes, maybe no. The whole team played bad, defenders were horrible, but one might expect more from the Italy's goalkeeper.

The most lucky save



Diego Benaglio in Spain - Switzerland performed some decent saves but his the most stunning was made with left knee.

The best redemption



Villar in Paraguay - Italy match did misjudge the corner and that gave Italy an equalizer. However, in the second half he performed good saves and helped to keep 1:1 draw.

The scariest moment



Heskey clashing with US goalkeeper Tim Howard in US - England match. It looked horrible and Howard was not getting up for so long time I thought he might be seriously injuried. Fortunately he wasn't.

The most commited to signing the anthem



Eduardo (Portugal).

Best look of doom



Tim Howard (US).

The most funny story



Julio Cesar (Brazil) complaining about being cold. A bit riddiculus is the fact that a piece of news about him buying some warm clothes in the market before the match with Ivory Coast became one of the top stories on some sport pages.

The most lovely scene



Eduardo (Portugal) and Julio Cesar (Brazil) congratulating themselves after Portugal - Brazil match. A goalless draw was enough to ensure both teams a place in the second round.

The saddest expression



Iker Casillas after conceding a goal in Spain - Switzerland match.

The most surprised expression



Khune after being showed a red card (South Africa - Uruguay).

The most unlucky goalkeeper



Rober Green. US - England. A fatal blunder. No more explanations needed.

The most unexpected return



David James was suppoused to be only a back up goalkeeper while Robert Green was England's first choice. But after you-know-what Green lost his position James is again in the goal. Aged 39, he is the oldest goalkeeper in the tournament. So far he kept clean sheet and made 4 saves in his two games.

The most awkward moment



The fly in the net (Slovakia's goalkeeper surname "mucha" means "a fly"). Jan Mucha found himself in a dangerous situation in Italy - Slovakia match, when two angry Italians literally attacked him just after Italy scored its first goal. Fabio Quagliarella apparently was faking that Mucha did hit him in the face. Actually he did touch him but I would call this a self-defence. Nevertheless he was lucky that it did finish only on getting a yellow card.

The goalkeeper who did fine although his team didn't made through



Mark Paston of New Zealand. Good performance. 9 saves made. 2 goals allowed but one was from an offside...

It shouldn't be like that...



The World Cup finished for Buffon too quickly. The returing spine injury makes his future uncertain, both in the national team and in Juve. Devastating thought that he might never come back on the pitch.

The goalkeeper who you should pity



Ri Myong-Guk (North Korea). As well as the rest of the team. It doesn't need any explanations if you are aware of political situation in the country.

Well, the goalkeepers can't feel safe because I'm going to do another summary like this after the second round.

Penalties at the World Cup

On Friday three of the best goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn, Petr Cech and Sergio Goycochea took a part in Adidas's press conference. One of the topic there was saving penalties. It's merely a luck? A lottery? Not at all!

Fragment of Andrew Warshaw's article:

Of the 198 penalties in World Cup history, 160 of them have been converted - excluding shootouts. The significance of well-prepared goalkeepers is never more important than at this stage of the tournament. "It's in the knockout stages where having a good goalkeeper will be most important," said Cech. "It's early days and we'll see what will happen. But this is where keepers will be most important. You need to keep your nerve. In shootouts, if you move too early or if your if your decision-making is wrong, you will never save a kick. You need to be mentally stronger than the taker."

But surely penalty shootouts are merely a case of Russian roulette? Not so, says Goycochea. "I used to tell people that it was all down to luck but in fact a good goalkeeper in shootsouts needs talent, skill, strength in the legs and a cool head. I don't like it when I hear people say a shootout is just a lottery."

Kahn, whose shootout heroics won the 2001 Champions League for Bayern Munich against Valencia, also talked up the virtues of thorough preparation. "It is a psychological game between the two of you which is often invisible to the fans. You can read a lot from the kicker's body language, about whether he's afraid.

"You can do a lot with eye contact and you can also irritate the taker with your body language. In a shootout the only one who can lose is the kicker, never the goalkeeper. The goalkeepers here so far have not yet been really tested or had too many opportunities to show their talent."

Read full story here.

World Cup: Chile vs Spain 1-2 25 June 2010 Iker Casillas photos

Made 3 saves in the game, allowed 1 goal. No chance to stop that one. Casilla's overall stats doesn't look too impressive, but he rarely had to face dangerous situations. Will Portugal - Spain be a test both for Casillas and for Eduardo?



Iker Casillas