Four goalkeepers chasing one dream (News Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jul 5, 2010, 8:10 GMT

Cape Town - Between them, the four goalkeepers involved in the semi-finals of the World Cup have well over 150 caps.

But if you take away the 109 caps that Spanish captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas has, it becomes obvious that the three others - Manuel Neuer of Germany, Dutch Maarten Stekelenburg and Fernando Muslera of Uruguay - must be pretty inexperienced.

And so they are.

Uruguay's Muslera and Germany's Neuer only turned 24 this year, while Stekelenburg is 27. Surprisingly, Casillas, although he has played so many more games, has only just turned 29.

Ahead of the tournament, there was much debate about the number one position in the German team and after Robert Enke's suicide last year, four goalkeepers were vying for the honour.

Bayer Leverkusen's Rene Adler was then given the nod, but he broke a rib at the end of the season and Schalke's Neuer became first choice.

Although he is fairly experienced at club level, he has only played 10 games for Germany, with the first coming against the United Arab Emirates last year.

Neuer looked at fault when Matthew Upton scored for England in Germany's 4-1 victory in the round of the last 16 and many people believe that reserve goalkeeper Tim Wiese is better, but is not playing because he is too outspoken.

However, German goalkeeping icon Oliver Kahn rates Neuer highly.

'Even though he still lacks experience, he has shown at this tournament that he can become a great goalkeeper. He pulled off a number of fantastic saves in the game against Ghana, which Germany had to win,' said Kahn.

Muslera, who turned 24 on the day Uruguay trounced hosts South Africa 3-0, has experienced highs and lows at this tournament.

He gifted South Korea an equaliser in the round of 16, but then proved the match-winner against Ghana in the quarter-finals, when he saved two penalties in the shoot-out.

A regular with Lazio Rome in the Italian Serie A, Muslera was first picked for the La Celeste in March 2009 for two World Cup qualifiers, but did not play.

It was only for the second-last game of the qualifiers that he was given an opportunity to play and since then, he has been Oscar Tabarez's first choice between the posts.

Ajax Amsterdam's Stekelenburg has had the misfortune of being behind Dutch great Edwin van der Sar in the pecking order for the Netherlands' goalkeeping jersey.

And although he has been a part of the national team set-up for six years, he has played just 32 games, which is hardly surprising as the now retired van der Sar featured 130 times for the Oranjes.

One of only three goalkeepers at the tournament (the others are Muslera and surprisingly New Zealand's Mark Paston) who has not tasted defeat, Stekelenburg is aware that he will - at least for the time being - be measured by van der Sar.

'If I commit a blunder, they will say to me `That ball there, Van der Sar would have saved,' he said.

'But now it's my turn. I'm loving being here as my country's first choice ­ it's the highest level you can play at, and I'm enjoying it every time I step out there.'

Compared to the three other remaining number one goalkeepers, Casillas seems like a Methuselah in his third World Cup appearance.

Known by Real Madrid fans as San Iker (Saint Iker), Casillas has managed to take the La Roja to where they have never been before - to the semi finals of the World Cup.

Casillas, who has quick reflexes and excels in one-on-one situations, has already tasted victory at world championship level as a member of the winning Spanish side at the 1999 Under-20 World Cup - the very same tournament where top Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan also played.

He also finished third with Spain at the under-17 world championships in 1997.

Casillas made history in South Africa by becoming the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in regulation at two different World Cup finals.

He parried Oscar Cardozo's spot kick in Spain's 1-0 quarter-final victory against Paraguay on Saturday after saving from Ireland's Ian Harte in 2002.

Casillars is now hoping to become only the third goalkeeper to captain a World Cup-winning side, following Italians Gianpiero Combi (1934) and Dino Zoff (1982).