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Neuer versus ter Stegen: Myth Goalkeeper Nation

2019-09-19T11:25:33.382Z


If in Germany two goalies argue about their use, then this gets the rank of a state affair. The goalkeeper has hero status in this country. It has nothing to do with modern games.



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The German oak, the German forest, the German beer, the German goalkeeper. This country has its myths, and the man between the posts is one of them. The goalkeeper in Germany is not one of eleven on the court, there is the number one and the ten others, the word national goalkeeper has its special sound. Nobody talks about the National Midfielder, but the national goalkeeper is a monument.

Against this backdrop, the outrage expressed by Barcelona keeper Marc-André ter Stegen becomes a state affair. One who has been performing well for years at one of the world's leading clubs is not satisfied with the fact that there are hardly any operational times at the DFB: It is understandable. But not in goalkeeper Germany. Where the national goalkeeper must be at least the "best in the world", as Bayern President Uli Hoeneß on Wednesday repeatedly emphasized in a gesture, as if this was a scientifically proven fact.

Oh, the others can do something too?

Probably nowhere is there the haughty look on the gate people of other countries as in Germany. The English keeper? All laughs, flypaper, subject of countless jokes. Germany, on the other hand, is a goalkeeping nation. Does this word exist in any other language? And always the public astonishment in big tournaments, when suddenly Tor teams of other teams bring outstanding achievements, even if they come from Costa Rica, Mexico or Slovenia. Oh, they can do something too?

Bert Trautmann, who played with a broken neck, Toni "you are a football god" Turek, Sepp Maier, Toni Schumacher, Uli Stein, Oliver Kahn, Jens Lehmann, now Manuel Neuer - goalkeepers are larger than life in this country. If they bicker for the position in the national team, then this is a message in the news, as in 2006, when Jürgen Klinsmann decided before the home World Cup for Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn. And when Kahn Lehmann gave courage to Argentina in the quarter-finals before the penalty shoot-out, it was interpreted as a hero's story and not as a collegial matter of course. The T-question comes in Germany directly after the K-question. Or before that.

Set to number one before the season

This also includes the belief that a goalkeeper, once he is team-internally chosen as the number one, this place may forever claim for themselves. Everywhere in the field is rotated, in modern football, large squads of course, each position should be at least twice occupied. But in the goal you are still stuck in Germany in the days of Sepp Herberger, here has the coach usually set before the season, who is "his number one". Two, maybe even three, almost equally good scorers in the squad - that "stirs up trouble". Because only one person can play. Carved in stone. There can only be one. As if a goalkeeper of the Highlander.

A goalkeeper does not change, a goalkeeper does not rotate, "there must be a clear hierarchy," as Hoeneß said on Wednesday. Only if the alleged number one is injured, then of course comes the saying: "We have complete confidence in our number two." Otherwise, apparently not.

Good goalkeeping is part of the game structure, the ability to handle the ball, with the foot, not just by hand, which has not much to do with modern gameplay, which has been recognized for decades. The goalkeeper has his special skills, his special requirements, but he is a teammate. He is one of eleven. He is even one of 23.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2019-09-19

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