The Yashin Award is given to the best goalkeeper of the World Cup tournament. It is given in honor of USSR’s Lev Yashin.
Before the tournament started, we would have said the favorites would have been:
Iker Casillas – there is a reason why Casillas captains both Real Madrid and Spain at 28 years of age and has a ‘contract for life’ with Real Madrid – he’s just that good. He has great reflexes and is one of the best shot stoppers of the game.
Julio Cesar - arguably the best goalkeeper Brazil ever had. He has been a key component for Inter Millan’s four straight Serie A wins and winners of the Champions League.
Gianluigi Buffon – he only allowed 2 goals during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and is the latest recipient of the Lev Yashin Award. Buffon has lots of experience at the elite level and is a very reliable goalkeeper.
Hugo Lloris – he’s the best goalkeeper in the French league and was a big part of his team qualifying for the World Cup.
Idriss Kameni - he’s one of the best goalkeepers from Africa and is playing on his home continent. Being that Cameroon isn’t one of the strongest teams in the tournament, Kameni would be tested.
Tim Howard - he’s shown tons of improvement during his past seasons with Everton FC and has something to prove.
Manuel Neuer – he’s one of the youngest goalkeepers in this year’s World Cup, Neuer was named the best goalkeeper in the Under-21 FIFA World Championships.
After the group stage was finished we crossed off all goalkeepers whose teams didn’t make it through – Hugo Lloris, Gianluigi Buffon, and Idriss Kameni. We then added Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera and the Netherland’s Maarten Stekelenburg for their great play and part of their teams advancement to the knock-out stage of the tournament.
Now as the Quarterfinals are finished, we crossed off Julio Cesar for his costly mistake against the Netherlands, and Tim Howard for his poor positioning conceding a near post goal.
Who do you think will be the 2010′s World Cup’s best goalkeeper and recipient of the Lev Yashin Award?
Fernando Muslera – after facing 5 penalty shots (1 right before the end of the second half of overtime and 4 during the penalty shootout) against Ghana, Muslera only allowed 2 to go in. He’s a great young keeper and will be a big part of Uruguay’s success for the rest of the tournament.
Maarten Stekelenburg - made a couple of great saves and helped Netherlands beat the favored Brazil in the quarterfinals match. Will he help keep clean sheets and help the Dutch win a world cup?
Iker Casillas – not only saved the penalty shot against Paraguay, but he held it and changed the momentum of the game for Spain. He will see more action in the next coming games.
Manuel Neuer – if Germany wins the next two games, Neuer may receive his next best goalkeeper award.
8 comments
keepercreeper says:
July 4, 2010 at 1:35 pm (UTC 0 )
either germany’s keeper or casillas will get the gold glove for this world cup
USA...all the way. says:
July 5, 2010 at 9:17 am (UTC 0 )
are you kidding me?! How does Tim Howard NOT win?
keepercreeper says:
July 4, 2010 at 1:35 pm (UTC 0 )
either germany’s keeper or casillas will get the gold glove for this world cup
USA...all the way. says:
July 5, 2010 at 9:17 am (UTC 0 )
are you kidding me?! How does Tim Howard NOT win?
Glen Choo says:
July 11, 2010 at 6:03 am (UTC 0 )
Tim Howard made quite a number of blunders… especially against Ghana…
My call would be Justo Villar, Manuel Neuer and Iker Casillas
And Han Jorg Butt…
admin says:
July 11, 2010 at 6:06 am (UTC 0 )
Do you think Neuer sitting out today will hurt him for the Yashin award?
Glen Choo says:
July 11, 2010 at 12:49 pm (UTC 0 )
I don’t think so… The award should be based on overall performance… Neuer’s overall performance has been rather outstanding…
admin says:
July 11, 2010 at 3:38 pm (UTC 0 )
Agreed!