At the World Cup in Russia, only eight teams remain, writes lrt.lt. In the quarter-finals, three times a penalty shootout was needed to determine the winner, so ESPN compiled a list of the remaining championship teams' main goalkeepers in penalty shootouts from best to worst. 1. Danijel Subasic - Croatia No one wants to play against Croatia in a penalty shootout, especially after D. Subasic's performance in the quarter-finals, where he saved penalties from three Danish national team players. The "Monaco" club goalkeeper, "Ligue 1" winner in France and participant in the Champions League semi-finals, was famous everywhere for driving fear into everyone who stood in front of him to take penalties. This player's statistics are also impressive - over the past six seasons, he only missed 57.9% of penalties, which is the best result among all the remaining goalkeepers in the championship. 2. Jordan Pickford - England "Air Jordan" is now what England's goalkeeper J. Pickford is called after helping England eliminate the Colombian national team. In the penalty shootout, the Englishman could remember his performance at the 2011 U-17 World Cup, where he saved two penalties and shattered the hopes of the Argentine national team. This time he performed just as well, or even better. J. Pickford saved one crucial last penalty from Carlos Bacca in the quarter-finals, while previously Colombian Mateus Uribe hit the crossbar. The English goalkeeper said that his homework paid off and he knew where each player would shoot, with Radamel Falcao being the exception. Now the confidence of the England national team players in themselves has grown significantly, so in the next penalty shootout, they should feel better than the first one. By the way, this was the first penalty shootout at the World Cup where the English celebrated victory. 3. Alisson Becker - Brazil Alisson has often been considered the best goalkeeper in the world in recent years while playing in Italy. In Russia, Alisson had little work to do - the Brazilian national team only allowed their opponents to shoot five times on goal in four matches. However, playing for "Roma" last season, he saved two out of five penalties. It should also be noted that his mentor was Claudio Taffarel. 4. Fernando Muslera - Uruguay It is often emphasized how experienced F. Muslera is. The Uruguayan goalkeeper celebrated his 100th international match in the group stage without conceding a goal. Most still remember the 2011 Copa America final, where after a penalty shootout with Uruguay, host Argentina was forced to leave the tournament. Uruguay hopes for the same performance in this championship if a penalty shootout is needed. He has not had to save penalties yet in this championship. 5. Igor Akinfeev - Russia Russia cried for the first time when Koke's penalty was saved, and Iago Aspas's shot was probably one of the most beautiful moments in this World Cup, when the Russian goalkeeper, like a ballerina, kicked the Spaniard's sent ball away with his foot. I. Akinfeev was often the subject of jokes, as in Champions League matches, he did not keep a clean sheet for 43 consecutive games, but the match against the Spanish national team in the quarter-finals showed why this goalkeeper has been Russia's number one choice for 14 years. 6. Thibaut Courtois - Belgium The Belgian is the tallest goalkeeper in the championship (1.99 m), but he is better known to football fans for his penalty saves rather than saves during a shootout. 7. Robin Olsen - Sweden Among all Scandinavian goalkeepers at the World Cup, Danish Kasper Schmeichel surprised the most. His saved penalties in the match against Croatia were not enough to be crowned perhaps even the best goalkeeper of this championship, Croatian D. Subasic. Another Dane who grew up in Sweden, R. Olsen, should have carefully watched Schmeichel's performance. 8. Hugo Lloris - France Over the past six years, H. Lloris saved many shots, but his penalty shootout save percentage is not the best. Out of 20 penalties, he saved only 2, at a rate of just 10 percent. The question arises whether Didier Deschamps would risk changing the goalkeeper for a penalty shootout, as on the French bench is Alphonse Areola, who has saved 35 percent of penalties in his career.
lrt.lt
