Sometimes even the best goalkeepers in the world make the most horrifying mistakes that will keep them awake at night for years.
We’ve put together a collection of some of the most shocking mistakes that the pros have made over the years in the hopes that you can avoid making them too!
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Jim Leighton: Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace, 1990 FA Cup final
For United fans at the time, this was a tough game to endure. The game ended as a 3-3 draw, which United ended up winning in the second leg allowing them to take the Cup.
Now in terms of goalkeeping, this wasn’t one HUGE mistake made by Leighton that led to his team losing their two goal lead but a few critical bad choices made. Either way, the manager of Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, replaced him for the second leg. Leighton even handed back his medals after United ended up winning the cup.
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Rob Green: England vs. USA, 2010 World Cup
It’s fair to say that most England fans thought Rob Green shouldn’t have even been on the pitch. Joe Hart, who was at the time, the younger and more appropriate choice for the starting line up was left on the bench for England’s opener against the USA.
Unfortunately, the fans were proven right when just before half-time, Green fumbled a shot from Clint Dempsey which crept across the line to give the USA an equalizer.
As an Englishman myself, this one was hard to watch!
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Petr Cech: Czech Republic vs. Turkey, Euro 2008
It’s not often that we hear about a goalkeeping legend such as Petr Cech slipping up, but in Czech Republic’s game against Turkey, we saw just that. What should have been a fairly routine and easy catch for any goalkeeper turned into a nightmare for Cech but a blessing for Nihat Kahveci who couldn’t believe his luck as he tapped in the ball that landed at his feet to give his team the second goal they needed to equalize.
On top of that, Turkey managed to snatch the final goal for the win and the Czech Republic were kicked from the tournament.
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David Seaman: England vs. Brazil, 2002 World Cup Quarter Final
There have been a few times when England International goalkeeper David Seaman was caught out by long balls from down the field. First was in 1995, Arsenal against Zaragoza when a striker spotted seaman off his line and put in the long shot.
You’d think he’d learned his lesson from that one, but unfortunately, it happened again in 2002 in the World Cup Quarter Final when Ronaldinho struck the ball from long range and again, the England keeper couldn’t even get his ponytail to it, never mind his hands.
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Rob Green: Norwich vs Nottingham Forest, 2006
The same goalkeeper appearing twice in this list? Really? Yep. Watch the video and you'll see why!
When Norwich goalkeeper, Rob Green, rolled the ball forward to kick it he didn’t realize that Forest player, Rob Earnshaw, was behind him. Unfortunately for Green when the ball was loose, Earnshaw just casually stole the ball and knocked it into the net whilst the Norwich keeper stood in shock.
It’s just one of those moments that will go down in history and something that every keeper should watch so that they don’t fall prey to this sneaky tactic that’ll keep you awake at night for years to come.
And yeah. It was that bad.
So now I’ve shown you some of my favorite and most ridiculous goalkeeper mistakes, post down in the comments if you have any you’d like to share with us too - I’m sure there are plenty more that I’ve missed. The worse the mistake, the better (for us at least)...
As you’ve seen, mistakes happen. Even some of the most incredibly skilled goalkeepers can make some terrible mistakes. And also Rob Green (totally not bitter). The important thing is that you don’t let them affect your game. The game is never over until the final whistle and even then, there’s always next game.
