Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Shahril Jantan (SAFFC)
To say the keeper played well after losing 4-2 sounds like the final words of a coach desperately looking for a silver lining amid the debris of elimination. But despite SAFFC's loss last night at home to Gamba Osaka in the ACL he did play bloody well.
He's been around a bit and no doubt like the good pro he undoubtedly is he will be waking up this morning and digging into his Frosties in a pretty bad mood. 'Cos his heroics apart his team still lost.
Shahril has been in impressive form all season with the Warriors leading some to call for his call up to the national side.
Against Suwon Bluewings at the Jalan Besar he showed Asia what a top shot stopper he is. He maybe the wrong side of thirty, or in my case the right side of forty, but his agility belies his birth certificate. For long periods against Suwon, as last night, he held the more glamourous visitors at bay with reflex save after reflex save.
Unfortunately for goalkeepers for every spectacular finger tip save there is the more glaring mistakes. Obvious errors which give this special breed of player nightmares for years after.
No keeper will like to be beaten at the near post. Positioning is half his job, perhaps more, get that wrong and everything else becomes academic. I'm sure Bob Wilson still relives that moment in the 1971 FA Cup Final when Steve Heighway beat him on his right hand side, the gap between keeper and post just too inviting. Come on son, can you do it?
Leaving the gap is one thing. Exploiting it is another. The finish needs power and accuracy and last night the Gomba striker had both.
In all my years of watching football I can only recall three flawless goalkeeping performances. Where everything came off the man and ricochetted away from danger. The first was Jim Montgomery in the 1973 FA Cup Final between Sunderland and Leeds United. The next was David Seaman while he was playing for Birmingham City against Arsenal at Highbury in 1985. The most recent example was Achmad Kurniawan for Arema away to Deltras in the Liga Indonesia.
Flawless in that they got in the way of every bloody thing that was thrown at them. It was a day when they got them breaks so cruelly denied on a regular day at the office. It goes without saying they kept clean sheets.
Jantan, or Macho in English, will not need some geezer with a laptop and way too much free time to tell him what he did right or where he erred. His heroics between the sticks this season for SAFFC will have made people sit up and take notice of the champions keeper. Whether he is able to build on that, whether he is able to make clubs consider taking a punt is down to him identifying the errors and taking steps to correct them. And of course lashings of lady luck.
He's been around a bit and no doubt like the good pro he undoubtedly is he will be waking up this morning and digging into his Frosties in a pretty bad mood. 'Cos his heroics apart his team still lost.
Shahril has been in impressive form all season with the Warriors leading some to call for his call up to the national side.
Against Suwon Bluewings at the Jalan Besar he showed Asia what a top shot stopper he is. He maybe the wrong side of thirty, or in my case the right side of forty, but his agility belies his birth certificate. For long periods against Suwon, as last night, he held the more glamourous visitors at bay with reflex save after reflex save.
Unfortunately for goalkeepers for every spectacular finger tip save there is the more glaring mistakes. Obvious errors which give this special breed of player nightmares for years after.
No keeper will like to be beaten at the near post. Positioning is half his job, perhaps more, get that wrong and everything else becomes academic. I'm sure Bob Wilson still relives that moment in the 1971 FA Cup Final when Steve Heighway beat him on his right hand side, the gap between keeper and post just too inviting. Come on son, can you do it?
Leaving the gap is one thing. Exploiting it is another. The finish needs power and accuracy and last night the Gomba striker had both.
In all my years of watching football I can only recall three flawless goalkeeping performances. Where everything came off the man and ricochetted away from danger. The first was Jim Montgomery in the 1973 FA Cup Final between Sunderland and Leeds United. The next was David Seaman while he was playing for Birmingham City against Arsenal at Highbury in 1985. The most recent example was Achmad Kurniawan for Arema away to Deltras in the Liga Indonesia.
Flawless in that they got in the way of every bloody thing that was thrown at them. It was a day when they got them breaks so cruelly denied on a regular day at the office. It goes without saying they kept clean sheets.
Jantan, or Macho in English, will not need some geezer with a laptop and way too much free time to tell him what he did right or where he erred. His heroics between the sticks this season for SAFFC will have made people sit up and take notice of the champions keeper. Whether he is able to build on that, whether he is able to make clubs consider taking a punt is down to him identifying the errors and taking steps to correct them. And of course lashings of lady luck.
# posted by Me @ 7:48 AM 
Comments:
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Could Sharil be a great d for himself for the top dogs in Asia?
I am sure he would not be out of place in J League or K League though the clubs always felt a big waste to utilize a foreign talent spot in between the sticks
- fishoutwaterspfc
I am sure he would not be out of place in J League or K League though the clubs always felt a big waste to utilize a foreign talent spot in between the sticks
- fishoutwaterspfc
true about goalkeepers. kosin of course made the move to persib and was very successful but he is an exception i think
thinking about it persitara signed a well travelled japanese keeper...
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thinking about it persitara signed a well travelled japanese keeper...
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