You Say Who Is The 6th Best Keeper In The World?

By: chris | January 16th, 2008

With 2007 getting further and further down the road in the rear view, more time for analysis has been allowed, but it doesn’t seem to have helped any. IFFHS, which is basically an acronym for “statistical everything”, has come out with their annual listing of the best keeper in the world for last year, which is assumed to be January to December; otherwise it makes no sense. Even though they managed to get the clear number one right, despite spending half his year doing penance in Serie B, much of it makes no sense whatsoever. I think the lot of Milan fans will agree, ditto for Arsenal. And I suppose the reason this matters is because IFFHS is fairly respected, and often hits things at least close to the nose. Not here.

Keeper/Club/Nationality/Points

1. Gianluigi Buffon Juventus Italia 209
2. Petr Čech Chelsea Česká Republika 172
3. Iker Casillas Real Madrid España 124
4. Edwin van der Sar Manchester United Nederland 62
5. Rogério Ceni São Paulo Brasil 37
6. José Manuel Reina Liverpool España 36
Dida Milan Brasil 36
8. Andrés Palop Sevilla FC España 29
9. Júlio César Internazionale Brasil 24
10. Jens Lehmann Arsenal London Deutschland 20
11. Doni AS Roma Brasil 17
12. Roberto Abbondanzieri Getafe Argentina 14
Víctor Valdés Barcelona España 14
14. Guillermo Ochoa CF América Ciudad de México México 9
15. Agustín Julio CCD Tolima Ibague Colombia 8
16. Artur Boruc Celtic Polska 7
17. René Adler TSV Bayer Leverkusen Deutschland 5
Manuel Almunia Arsenal España 5
Grégory Coupet Olympique Lyonnais France 5
= Francesco Toldo Internazionale Italia 5

Top three you won’t see any complaints from anybody. Jose Reina probably belongs next in the discussion for his exploits in Europe last spring alone. But Dida? Really? Is this the same Dida who put out the worst thespian performance since Sly Stallone acted in anything? And also dives for imaginary balls?

Then there’s Jens, who doesn’t even play; and when he has this season has made scarecrows look like God’s gift to goalkeeping. Which means they’re either going on springtime or how phenomenal he’s looked sitting on the bench. And considering Almunia only got half the points, I guess Jens looked twice as good during the spring as Manuel has during the first half of this campaign?

Same goes for Francesco Toldo, who is a permanent backup in Milan, and was taken behind the woodshed by Roma last spring during their 6 goal shellacking of Inter in one of his 14 appearances all season. (He’s had 3 this year, one a substitution when Julio Cesar started playing grab ass with the ball about 20 yards outside of the box.) So maybe Francesco’s relatives get a vote?

But of all, this list is absurd for me due to the simple omission of Fiorentina’s Sebastian Frey, who is clearly the second best keeper in Serie A, and easily in the top 10 in the world. Especially at the expense of Dida.