READING GOALKEEPER ADAM Federici had an absolute nightmare yesterday when his extra-time blunder gifted Arsenal a 2-1 victory in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
The Royals keeper, who had made some important saves earlier in the match, allowed Alexis Sanchez’s weak shot to squirm through his legs, and that was enough to send the Gunners to the final on May 30.
Federici was inconsolable afterwards. But where does his gaffe rank on the all-time list of goalkeeping errors?
10. Shay Given – Newcastle v Coventry
The first error comes from our own Shay Given. It came about from a harmless Coventry cross into the Newcastle box. Given rushed out and easily caught the ball, as you would expect.
To the horror of every Geordie in the stadium and watching at home, he then proceeded to gift Dion Dublin the easiest goal of his career…
9. Andy Dibble -Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest
Coventry keeper Andy Dribble committed one of the cardinal sin’s of goalkeeping. Even as kids, we are told to keep two hands on the ball.
Holding the ball invitingly in one hand, Dibble could only watch as Gary Crosby poached it away and put it in the net.
8. Jerzy Dudek – Liverpool v Manchester United
At 0-0 in a Liverpool and Manchester United match, the last thing you want is your keeper doing what Jerzy Dudek did in the 65th minute of this match.
There seemed to be no danger as Carragher headed the ball back towards his keeper. But Dudek had other ideas, choosing instead to fall on the ball and somehow scoop it between his own legs.
Diego Forlan was hardly the most lethal of Manchester United strikers, but even he could not miss the resulting open goal from a few yards.
7. Hans-Jörg Butt – Leverkusen v Schalke
Everybody loves a goalscoring keeper. The only thing that could be more enjoyable than that is watching a goalkeeper score and then get beaten from the resulting kick off.
That is exactly what happened to poor Hans-Jörg Butt.
6. Tim Flowers – Blackburn v Liverpool
When Stan Collymore struck a fairly harmless long range shot straight towards Tim Flowers, it looked like the goalie would easily collect the ball. Instead, the ball took a huge deflection from a divot in the penalty area and ended up in the back of the net.
The look of confusion on his face says it all.
5. Gianluigi Buffon – Juventus v Atalanta
Federici can take some solace in the knowledge that even one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time occasionally makes a mistake.
Just look at Buffon try and control this back-pass against Atalanta.
4. Rene Higuita – Colombia v Cameroon
Best known for his scorpion kick against England, Higuita’s showboating didn’t always pay off. In this World Cup match against Cameroon in 1990, Higuita tried to be a little too clever and was made look very foolish by Roger Milla.
3. Fabian Barthez – Man United v Arsenal
Filling the boots of a world-class goalkeeper like Peter Schmeichel was never going to be easy. Roy Carroll, Tim Howard, Ben Foster and Massimo Taibi all tried and failed to make the number one jersey at United their own.
In the period of time between Schmeichel and Van der Sar, Fabian Barthez was the one who had the most success. But even he was prone to the odd howler.
2. Massimo Taibi – Manchester United v Southampton
One of the most memorable goalkeeping howlers came from Massimo Taibi. His United career never get off the ground, with three bad mistakes in his opening four matches for the club.
The worst of these came in a 3-3 draw with Southampton. After this goal, the media began calling him “The Blind Venetian”.
1. Peter Enckleman – Aston Villa v Birmingham
Peter Enckleman’s own goal is probably the most memorable on this list. Aston Villa were already 2-0 down to fierce rivals Birmingham when Enckelman added to their woes by letting a simple throw in past him.
This could explain why he spent most of his time at Villa on the fringes of the team.
What do you believe to be the worst World Cup goalkeeping blunder of all time? Are there any not on the list that you can think of?