Risk And Innovation: The Legacy Of Goal-Scoring Goalkeepers

Risk And Innovation: The Legacy Of Goal-Scoring Goalkeepers
09:53, 17 Jan 2018

In 1999, Carlisle number one Jimmy Glass scored a 90th minute equaliser which saved Carlisle from relegation, still celebrated as perhaps the most dramatic goal by a goalkeeper in British history. On only two occasions in Premier League history has it happened, with Peter Schmeichel and Brad Friedel writing themselves into English folklore. Although, three other goalies have scored freak wind-assisted clearance-cum-goals, bringing the Premiership goalie-goal tally to five.

But in Latin America, the goalie goal is much less mythical. Of the seven highest scoring goalkeepers of all time, six are from Latin America. There’s a precedent for it, in a footballing culture that encourages innovation, which has allowed keepers to build a legacy on scoring goals.

Much has been written about why Latin America continues to produce the world’s best strikers. In Europe, we proudly celebrate our defensive partnerships and shot-stoppers, but in Latin America, defending or keeping is not nearly as valued as flair, skill or goals. Strikers, wingers and attacking midfielders are the ones who get the glory, the ones are who worshipped by the fans, and so children gravitate towards the positions of their idols. The philosophy of the famous 1940s River Plate team summed up the continent’s values, ‘To win, to please, and to score goals.’ In Latin America, teams still need goalkeepers, but the traditional role is far less rigid.

Rogério Ceni, who retired in 2015, is well-known for having scored 131 goals for Sao Paulo, but just one of these was from open play. The Brazilian was noticed in training for having an eye for goal, and was encouraged by manager Muricy Ramalho to practice his dead-ball skills. Eventually, he found himself the club’s number one free-kick taker, so good that leaving an empty net was worth the risk.

Ceni may have been following the example of Paraguay’s José Luis Chilavert, the first of the truly prolific goal-scoring goalies. Again, Chilavert made a name for himself as a dead-ball merchant, but his goal-scoring exploits were not limited to just one club, or even club football. With competition fierce, Ceni never became Brazil’s first choice keeper, claiming only 16 caps without notching for his country. Chilavert, on the other hand, scored eight international goals, four of those during world cup qualifiers.

Chilavert also had the predatory instinct usually reserved for forwards. Whilst playing in Argentina for Velez Sarsfield against River Plate, Chilavert’s side won a free kick, 60 meters from goal. Even from this distance Chilavert checked his opposite number and, catching him off guard, launched the ball into the net. But Chilavert’s want for goals did not detract him from the more traditional goalkeeping duties, as the keeper was also named IFFHS goalkeeper of the year in 1997 and 1998.

Both Ceni and Chilavert were given the freedom to innovate and practice a skill outside the usual realms of keeping. Thanks to their match-winning goals, they are now celebrated with their clubs and countries like famously adored strikers. Their goal-scoring has written them into legend, to the benefit of both them and the clubs they won matches for.

Indeed, Chilavert seems to have inspired a generation of goalkeepers in Latin America to transcend conventional goalkeeping. Mexico’s Jorge Campos went on to score 46 goals, and Peru’s excellently named Johnny Vegas Fernández managed 39. Brazil’s Marcio is on 32 and counting.

Colombia’s René Higuita, most famous for his scorpion-kick save against England, is perhaps Latin American’s finest example of a goalkeeper desperate for some limelight. Unsatisfied with conventional keeping, Higuita transformed his position by pioneering the role of ‘sweeper keeper,’ and scored 41 goals in the process.

In Europe, it is a much rarer scene, and one that always attracts media attention. Peter Schmeichel, with 11 goals from open play to his name, was considered a maverick for his regular and unsolicited charges into the penalty box, doing so even in the first minute of stoppage-time in the 1999 Champions League final. Pat Jennings scored in the 1967 Charity Shield for Spurs against Manchester United, a fluke, but a goal celebrated all the same for its novelty. England fans will painfully remember Portugal’s Ricardo, who surprised everyone in the Quarter-finals of Euro 2004 when he nonchalantly scored the deciding penalty. Manuel Neuer has never even scored a goal, but his adventurous dribbles and sweeper-style have been immortalised in meme culture, as though the sight of a goalie exhibiting footwork is itself enough cause for commemoration. For the most part, we celebrate goalkeepers only for their goalkeeping this side of the Atlantic.

But are we missing something? Dennis Bergkamp thinks that European football is too rule-bound and cosseted for players to develop enough confidence to take the kind of risks that Latin Americans take. He believes that the culture surrounding European football is what inhibits its talent compared to that of Latin America. Uruguay’s Luiz Suarez points towards the almost ‘no-contact football’ that is practiced in Europe’s ‘baby-leagues,’ another example of the early introduction of limits and rules, restricting play, risk, and experimentation.

The recent introduction of statistics-based management may add to the issue, with clubs now looking at expected goals and expected assists. Stats tell players not to shoot from outside the box because it’s much less likely to hit the back of the net. Players must be sure now, which may stop them from having faith in their own skill and ability to do something exceptional, to transcend percentages and try for a worldie. Latin Americans will applaud a failed attempt from distance, a sight often jeered by European crowds and lambasted by managers, but we loved it when Beckham arrogantly lobbed Neil Sullivan from the half-way line, opening the door for others to do the same. Negative feedback may prevent failed attempts, but it will also stop the gloriously successful ones.

For all René Higuita’s showmanship, unnecessary dribbles and unpredictability, the Colombian is credited with creating the role of ‘sweeper-keeper.’ 30 years later, this style is championed by Pep Guardiola and practiced across Europe at some of the very best teams by some of the very best keepers.

A more conservative style of football may lead to duller games, place limits on a players’ development, and prevent similar breakthroughs happening in European football. Innovation does not exist without risk. We don’t want to put the stops on the next player who could revolutionise his position. If we do, it’ll be Latin America that continues to churn out the enigmatic but groundbreaking stars.

We are consistently analysing and trying to understand why it is that Latin America produces such quality. South American nations in particular perform so well at the world cup, while producing some of the most enjoyable, attacking, creative, and entertaining football. The legacy and history of goal-scoring keepers and the cultures in which they develop their skills, should not be ignored when looking at our own game and what’s missing from it.

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