The Next Big Thing?

I love Hugo Lloris, and not just because he's skinny.

If you like your goalkeeper compilation videos to be artsy, with shots of city skylines reflected on the water, then you'll love this.

It's All About Me

I rarely make this blog about yours truly, but wanted to share this video of me diving around at age 43. Not because I'm so brilliant, or so incredibly fit for my age (that part is true), but because I think it shows the pure joy of goalkeeping. If my body would let me, I'd do this every day.

Happy Holidays to all!

Retro Heaven

The picture above is Italian legend Dino Zoff in 1982, wearing the Uhlsport 040 glove.

Responding to strong consumer demand, Uhlsport has released a retro version of that classic glove (below). It's available now, very reasonably priced at $41. This is exactly what all us oldtimers have been waiting for: a return to the classic look and the fantastic 'Pro' badge. I'm hopeful Uhlsport will make this an annual thing, and release modern versions of the 034 and, especially, 031.



You can get yours from Great Save.com. They ship to the US as well as UK.

http://www.great-save.com/goalkeeper-gloves/uhlsport/uhlsport-limited-edition-zoff-1982-retro.html

Shit

By now, the news is well known: Hannover 96 and German National Team keeper Robert Enke is dead, after an apparent suicide. Enke, 32, lost his baby daughter Lara in 2006, and evidently has struggled with severe depression ever since.

I know suicide is selfish, and he leaves behind not only a wife but a recently adopted baby daughter, which greatly magnifies the tragedy. But clearly he was deeply depressed, and lived every day in emotional agony. It's certainly not for me to judge him. I prefer to remember the humanitarian (he was a spokesman for PETA) and the footballer.

1977-2009

Balls

The beach ball. Fair or not, it was funny, unless you're a Liverpool supporter. We now know the referee should have disallowed the goal. But what many people don't seem to realize is that the ball wasn't knocked on the pitch just before the goal, giving Pepe Reina no chance to pop it with his studs. No siree. It came on the pitch almost from the start, and Reina made the odd decision to stick it in the back of his net. This screen shot from the first minutes of the game shows the ball nestled snugly in his netting, as the Spanish keeper waits for the ball to come back from the crowd after a stray shot.

Why did Pepe put it in his net? My guess is that he saw the official club badge on it, knew it came from his team's supporters directly behind him, and didn't want to appear disrespectful by popping it. Fair enough, but he might have considered giving it to a steward. Putting it in his net was asking for trouble, though clearly the odds against it blowing onto the pitch and deflecting the only goal of the game past him were astronomically small. Unfortunately (or hilariously, depending on your perspective), that's exactly what happened.

In other news, the big Milan vs Madrid game turned into a sad showcase of goalkeeper errors. Nobody does braindead loss of concentration like Dida, and his early clanger was so offensive it seemed to poison the usually brilliant Iker Casillas for the rest of the game. He allowed two curious goals as Milan ably demonstrated that those who proclaimed Madrid as Champions League favorites need to remember that to win ol' big ears, a team has to defend as well as they attack.

Thumbs Down

I want to be supportive. I want to have belief. I want to uphold goalkeeper union bylaws, which state that you don't slag off other goalkeepers (especially when they're a million times better than you ever were, which is certainly the case here). But when you play at the highest level, criticism comes as part of the territory, which also happens to include huge wages. And for me it's simple: Ben Foster is simply not taking his chance to be the successor to Edwin Van der Sar between the posts at Old Trafford.

Every goalkeeper makes errors, but unfortunately for Ben, he is making them in a team chasing its fourth consecutive league title, with Fabio Capello sitting in the stands, and with Van der Sar rapidly approaching full fitness.

The English press has delighted in noting Ben's errors, specifically the poor decision to try to dribble a ball back into his box against City, a near post equalizer in the same game, and a failure to beat Kenwyne Jones to a floated cross. But for me, equally worrying would be goals which don't seem to be mistakes as much as limitations to Foster's game.

Although he has good footwork and excellent reflexes, I've noticed since he was at Watford that Foster struggles to get his body off the ground, either when jumping for crosses or diving. Andriy Arshavin's goal for Arsenal highlighted this, as did Darren Bent's opener for Sunderland. The latter might be harsh, but United fans are used to seeing Van der Sar deal with such shots with a minimum of fuss. The Dutchman is not an explosive shot stopper himself, but his excellent positioning, anticipation, and enormous wingspan make him difficult to beat. I frequently see Foster referred to as a "great shot stopper." I just don't see much evidence of it. He seems very ordinary at this by top flight standards.

Ben still has many supporters, but the only opinion that matters belongs to Sir Alex Ferguson. Van der Sar is back in training, United don't play again for nearly two weeks, and with a trip to Anfield looming in the not too distant future, it looks to me like Ben will have to wait for another chance to impress. This one has come and gone.

Review: HO Aqua Grip 4

Rain. We'll all die without it. Rain is important and fine. But it's generally no friend to the goalkeeper.

Luckily, glove manufacturers these days all have specialty wet weather gloves in their lineup. For years, HO's Aqua Grip has been one of the better aqua gloves on offer, and one of the only ones featuring internal latex. I've been testing the latest version, the Aqua Grip 4, for the last month. First, the specs:

Latex: Duo Mega Grip, 4mm plus 1mm internal latex and 2mm backing foam.
Cut: HO has both a flat and rollfinger version.
Backhand: Embossed latex and fabric.
Features: Micro Adjust Strap, Dry+ lining for moisture management.
Wrist: Bandage wrist, 9 cm strap, three fasten points.

HO offers Mega Grip on several glove models, so it's not unreasonable to ask what makes this model a wet weather specific glove. HO is a little vague about this. They say the glove features a "special wet grip latex palm," which suggest the Mega Grip here is slightly different than what is found on their other models. From my own experience, I can say this is almost certainly true. The latex is far softer than the Mega Grip on the Kontrol 4 or the Elite Pro Rollfinger.

In any case, what matters is performance. The Aqua Grip 4 grips the hell out of a ball in wet or dry. The internal latex gives the glove a snug feel without it actually being a tight fitting glove, and it has plenty of palm thickness for shock absorption. Durability, in recent years a major problem with Mega Grip, seems to have greatly improved. After a half dozen wears on 3G turf, the palms show only tiny nicks on a couple of fingertips. This is very impressive given how incredibly soft this latex is.

I have only one quibble, which is the Micro Adjust Strap: it works, but when pulled tight, the end of the strap extends nearly an inch past the end of the velcro fastening spot. In the picture above, you can see the M.A.S. sticking out about a quarter of an inch. Imagine it sticking out a full inch. Nobody wants that. It would be like some kind of nightmare. Granted, I have skinny hands, so this might be more my problem than HO's.

HO still seems to be sorting out their distributors. You might have to hunt around a bit to find them (Pro Direct has the rollfinger version), but it's worth the effort. Solid 8 out of 10 from me.