10 World Cup 2018 Talking Points

#5 Goalkeeping mistakes

Hugo Lloris reacts after his goalkeeping error against Croatia

For a goalkeeper, a single mistake in a game can tarnish its reputation more than a striker who has not scored a goal for many games. As far as the top goalkeepers in this World Cup are concerned, both David De Gea and Manuel Neuer could not save their reputation as the world’s two best goalkeepers.

While De Gea could not save a routine shot from Cristiano Ronaldo, Neuer made the mistake of thinking he was a left winger when conceding South Korea’s second goal. Both could not recover from their mistakes as their teams faltered early in the tournament.

The goalkeeping errors don’t end there as the likes of Willy Caballero gifting Croatia their first against in their 3-0 loss and Fernando Muslera letting slip a shot from Antoine Griezmann for their quater-final loss.

When we thought that the goalkeepers have steadied their ship after some brilliant saves during the latter stages of the knockout rounds, Hugo Lloris made an awful mistake to embarrass himself in the final.

The goalkeepers will surely want to make amends for their costly mistakes during the World Cup, while at the same time make themselves as important as a goal scorer.