Everton and Chelsea keepers also feature…
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For as brilliant as the attacking player and excitement of this summer’s World Cup has been so far, the quality of the goalkeeping has arguably topped it.
Here are you five best stoppers of the tournament so far.
5) Keylor Navas – Costa Rica
Algeria’s Rais M’bolhi is very unlucky not to make our five, but we couldn’t ignore Costa Rica’s no.1 – who’s been so good La Liga champions Atletico Madrid are now chasing him. Verses Italy and England, Navas kept clean sheets, and he performed heroics against Greece to win on penalties too.
4) Thibaut Courtois – Belgium
In the group stages, Courtois conceded just the one goal – and he performed superbly against USA in the Last 16 fixture as well – although his performance went unnoticed due to the record breaking show put on by his defeated opposite number…
3) Guillermo Ochoa – Mexico
Ochoa is available on a free transfer this summer, and it’s no surprise Liverpool and Arsenal are interested in his services, after his jaw-dropping performance against Brazil in the group stages. Ochoa made arguably the save of the tournament against Neymar, and was unlucky to be on the losing side against Holland in the Last 16.
2) Manuel Neuer – Germany
Arguably the best keeper in the world, Neuer’s ‘sweeper’ performance verses Algeria was simply stunning. Time and time again he shot out from his goal to clear danger, timing every interception to perfection. Here’s his heat map from the particular match!
1) Tim Howard – USA
The World Cup will be a sorer place without the veteran Everton owned American. Against Belgium in the Last 16, Howard made a tournament record 15 saves in a single match – keeping his side in the game until the very last minutes of extra time. It was stunning, and naturally #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave trended worldwide on Twitter.
Here’s one of the various memes that circled the internet following his performance!
