What is Goalkeeper?

Or what exactly is a goalkeeper?

Coach Jose Mourinho sat at his table with a copy of "The History of Modern Football" in his hand.

A little further away from the Portuguese is a 26-inch colour TV, with the screen frozen in the far corner of a camera. On the green field, together with the referee and goalkeeper, a total of 22 people can be seen.

The missing man is the away goalkeeper.

Since losing to Liverpool in the second half of the league, a ridiculous thought has planted a seed in the heart of the Portuguese young coach - whether he is outdated!

The video of the match played on the screen was the match between Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, and next to the video recorder, there was a video with the words "Liverpool vs Chelsea".

Mourinho's never felt that it was a mistake to sell Tang Wu. In the view of the Portuguese young coach, a player who does not suit his tactical style of play, no matter how good, will be eliminated from the starting list.

However, the Liverpool game has refreshed his perception time and time again.

What is Goalkeeper?

What does a goalkeeper do?

In recent days, the Portuguese coach has been thinking about this issue even more than the team, so much so that the team not only lost to the Magpies in the FA Cup, but also lost 2-1 in the first leg of the Champions League at Camp Nou.

The back-to-back defeats have left Blues fans wondering if the team is not going to play any cup competitions for the league?

Or will a cup defeat be representative of the team's current form? Will it be the next league loss?

Jose Mourinho, who is a man of personality and solitude, did not answer questions from fans and the media, but instead curled himself up in his room and carefully studied the opponent for the next match.

Boom Boom.

"Mr. José, are you looking for me?"

A handsome Czech teenager stood at the door.

"Peter? You've come just in time to come and see this. Mourinho said, pressing the play button on the remote control.

The freezer on the screen immediately moved.

The Liverpool players were pressing high and close to the press, while Tang Wu continued to retreat after taking a free-kick.

"He's ugly running!" Mourinho shook his head and said with a smile.

Tang Wu had six fingers on his left hand, and he couldn't see anything when he was sprinting. When he runs longer in a straight line, even the nearsighted eye can see the difference in his running style.

"And it's not fast." Cech also commented.

The one-meter-ninety-six Petr Cech ran hard with the same physical strength, and he was still confident that he could catch up with Tang Wu.

"But Bayer Leverkusen don't even have the ball, do they?" Mourinho asked rhetorically.

It's true that even the ball is not stable, let alone a counter-attacking shot.

In this way, Tang Wupin's best tried his best to "slowly" run back to his own defensive penalty area.

"He reminds me of the former goalkeeper! That was a long time ago. Mourinho hugged his shoulders and began to tell Cech what it was like to be a goalkeeper in the past.

More than a hundred years ago, goalkeepers and non-goalkeepers were not distinguished, and handball was allowed. It wasn't until 1871 that handball by a non-goalkeeper began to count as a foul.

Despite this, the goalkeeper is still an "ordinary position" in the team.

There were no specific goalkeeper suits, no gloves, and there were even substitutions in the game. Most outfielders simply put aside their temporary goalkeeping experience after becoming goalkeepers.

But there's always something different.

Gardner of Scotland has chosen a different path.

He chose to continue on the path of goalkeeping and has since become a top goalkeeper.

At that time, he developed a new goalkeeping technique based on the experience he gained from the field, and when he rushed out to block the ball, he could make the goalkeeper's shot less angled. Other goalkeepers at the same time were still holding on to the goal line.

A journalist who watched Gardner's game described the goalkeeper who came out of the middle of the way as a striker, the best player of his era.

With the development of football, football began to be professionalized. Coupled with the development of football leagues, goalkeepers began to be recognized as professional and technical players.

A slew of star goalkeepers are starting to emerge, with the likes of Preston's Jimmy Trainner, Sunderland goalkeeper Ted Doig and Sheffield United's William Falcher (the world's fattest goalkeeper). However, goalkeepers and outfielders are still confused at this stage.

In the 1888 FA Cup final against Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion sent Bob Roberts as goalkeeper.

The six-foot-and-four-inch former plasterer used to play as a defender, midfielder and striker.

After the defender's position shifted between the goal posts, he used his size advantage to make a huge difference. Roberts made a series of important saves in the final, which ended in a 2-1 victory for West Bromwich Albion.

There are many players like Roberts, such as Arthur Walton, an African player from Ghana who was the first black professional player in football history.

Wharton is an athletic athlete and a former world record holder in the 100-meter dash.

Due to his speed advantage, coaches generally placed him as a winger until his shooting skills, which he could never find his direction, led to his eventual transfer to goal.

Initially playing for Darlington and Preston North End and shortly after becoming goalkeeper, Wharton was hailed as one of the best early goalkeepers in football history.

One newspaper described him as "no one can match him even half as well as goalkeeping skills." ”

Many teams have tasted the sweetness of a relatively high-level goalkeeper, or have suffered from a poor goalkeeper.

Gradually, the idea of fixing the goalkeeper player was born and put it into practice.

By the mid-to-early 20th century, almost every club had a dedicated goalkeeper and a substitute goalkeeper. Moreover, at this time, there was also a special goalkeeper uniform to distinguish it from other players on the field.

It's just that the goalkeepers in this period are still in the very early stage. The vast majority of goalkeepers are just trapped in the corner of the goalline, either because of their huge size or their outstanding reaction speed, which is quite similar to many college students who are guest goalkeepers today.

In those days, because there were no substitutions in the game, it was common for a "reluctant outfielder" to wear a goalkeeper's suit when the goalkeeper was injured during a match.

In football, everyone is willing to run on the green field to score a goal and enjoy the joy of scoring goals. No one wants to be bored in front of the backcourt and watch everyone else play.

"Do you know who is the most famous guest goalkeeper?" Mourinho asked suddenly.

"Uh" Cech tilted his head, and for a moment his mind didn't turn.

"It's Bailey!" Mourinho laughed like a child whose friend hadn't answered his brain teaser.

That was in 1963, when Pele's Santos team fought against Gremio. Pele scored a hat-trick to give Santos a 4-3 lead just before the end of the game.

However, with five minutes left to end the game, Santos' main goalkeeper Kimar unfortunately left the field injured. Pele, who was in good form, had to retreat from the front to his own penalty area and made a cameo appearance as goalkeeper. And made a couple of crucial saves that allowed Santos to retreat.

What is quite interesting is that in the same year (1963) as Pele's cameo as goalkeeper, his contemporary legendary superstar Yashin actually won the Ballon d'Or as a goalkeeper.

Yashin also became the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or so far.

The reason why Yashin can win the Golden Globe Award naturally has his reasons. In addition to his goal-line skills, which lived up to the nickname "Octopus", he also had a mindset that was ahead of his time.

Compared with those peers who stubbornly stuck near the goal line and did not dare to cross the thunder pool for half a step, Yashin's range of movement was extremely large, and he frequently rushed out of the penalty area to clear the siege.

At the same time, Yashin also plays the role of playmaker of the defence, reminding his teammates to set up their defenses through gestures and shouting, and occasionally throwing precise passes with his hands to make his teammates switch from defense to attack in the first place.

Not only can save on the goal line, but also can rush out of the penalty area to play the role of an additional defender, but also can command the team's defense, waiting for opportunities to launch counterattacks, Yashin's body has undoubtedly had the prototype of a modern goalkeeper, which has earned him the honorific title of "the father of modern goalkeepers".

After the end of the Second World War, FIFA began to implement new rules on the international stage that allowed substitutions, which meant that injured outfielders could be taken off the pitch in the first half, and goalkeepers could be substituted at any time after an injury. However, at this time, many countries, such as the United Kingdom, still do not allow substitutions in domestic competitions.

It wasn't until 1965 that the national football leagues finally introduced a substitute system, although it was still rarely allowed to change goalkeepers. This means that the outfield players still have to play goalkeepers occasionally.

Even after the number of substitutes on the sidelines has increased, the outfield players still have to go to the goal often. Because the head coach would rather bring a few more outfielders on the bench and not go far to bring a goalkeeper as a substitute.

When the Premier League came into the spotlight in 1992, due to injuries and red cards and an immature substitution system, fans could still often see outfielders standing in front of the goal line as heroes.

"But now it's different. The goal-line skills of the goalkeeper and the other rules of football make scoring goals hard-won, and if a goalkeeper is not professional, then it is likely to be a big loss. ”

"And this is not allowed by the fans!" Mourinho finally said, "I won't allow it either!" ”