Manchester United's main counterattack is 40 years old, Juventus is not optimistic about 30 years old, luck is better than strength and cause controversy
In the green world, there is a situation where when people are analysing the defeat of a team and a player, they don't think about chances, they look at the lineup, tactics and character.
But in football, luck is very important. Fluke aside, most of the time, they don't see the big picture either. The reason why many teams and athletes lose has little to do with their lineups, tactics, and personalities, but more about luck. If you're still not convinced, take a look at today's protagonist, Van der Sar.
Edwin van der Sar was born on 29 October 1977 in Flchot, a small town in the western part of the Netherlands. Like most children, Van der Sar had the idea of being a striker as a child. In his hometown, a local amateur team started out on the pitch as a goalscorer. However, Van der Sar's attacking dreams were shattered and he had to change places on the pitch to defend his own door.
From a striker to a goalkeeper, the gap is not small. It will take a long, long time for Van der Sar to catch up with a goalkeeper of his age. As a result, Van der Sar did not perform well until he was 20 years old. Compared to a young talent like Casillas, it is simply a world of difference.
Van der Sar made his debut for the Dutch national team in 1991 as an alternate goalkeeper for Ajax. By that time, he had become Ajax's number two, playing as a substitute for Stanley Menzo in the Dutch national team.
A young goalkeeper who wants to climb to a higher position must not only have enough strength, but also have enough luck. By this time, Van der Sar's luck was still high. First, he met Louis van Gaal, a former Ajax manager who is known for promoting new talent. Secondly, his number one rival, Stanley Menzo, was dropped by Louis van Gaal for making the same big mistake in the Europa League as Karius. So, in the second half of the 1992-93 season, Van der Sar returned to the team.
In the days that followed, Van der Sar did not lose his starting line-up. As a former goalscorer, he has a good dribbling hand and he can get the ball out and easily from outside the box. With him on the pitch, Ajax is equivalent to an extra centre-back. If Van der Sar is not injured, he will be Van Gaal's first choice. Louis van Gaal's team, under the tutelage of Edwin van der Sar, has become not only the dominance of the Netherlands, but also the champions of the Champions Cup.
Van der Sar's form will of course be followed by the Dutch players. Since 1994, he has knocked on the door of the orange national team. A year later, he was only the first goalkeeper of the Dutch national team. Van der Sar was the Netherlands' number one goalkeeper at Euro 1996 and the World Cup '98.
To be honest, Van der Sar has played very well individually in the last two years, not only did he not make any big mistakes, but even made several dangerous saves. In addition to completing his own tasks, Van der Sar also affects the mental state of the other party. Take the red card of Argentina's No.10 Ortega, for example, because Van der Sar was deliberately disturbing his emotions.
He can defend steadily, but he can also maintain a certain amount of space to make the opponent lose confidence, which is the best form of Van der Sar. Objectively speaking, Van der Sar is a world-class goalkeeper who deserves to be a goalkeeper because of his consistency and comprehensiveness. But if you really want to say who the best goalkeeper in the world is, then neither journalists nor fans will mention Van der Sar.
How so?This is mainly due to the fact that Van der Sar's team are often sent off. Whether it was the 1996 Champions League final, the 1996 European Championship group stage or the 1998 World Cup semi-finals, Van der Sar's side died from a single penalty. Therefore, many reporters and fans believe that Van der Sar is a player who can't shoot on goal, and his defensive ability has obvious flaws.
But what the hell is going on?I have to say that Van der Sar is still inferior to a talented goalkeeper like Goyechea. However, this does not mean that Van der Sar is poor at saving penalties. For example, in the UEFA Champions Cup in '96, Van der Sar was able to get all the penalties accurately every time, but he always saved a few goals narrowly.
If it was just because of his mistake on the penalty, it would be fine, but unfortunately Van der Sar's players are not very good at awarding penalties. Look at the Netherlands, the world's best Bergkamp won't give him a penalty. And Seedorf and others, although they behaved very positively, their performance was really speechless.
Losing a couple of penalties in quick succession has clearly changed the perception of Van der Sar. Still, there are smart people. Juventus brought in Van der Sar in 1999 and made him the team's first choice.
Truth be told, at Juventus, Van der Sar has always had good results. Regardless, the goal statistics don't lie. Van der Sar played for Juventus for two years and he led the team to the smallest victory. However, Van der Sar's performance at Juventus had nothing to do with the victory, and everything he did was a defeat.
The reason for this is that there is a lot to be said about this match between Van der Sar and Juventus. The first was the final of the 1999-00 season, which Juve had to win to secure the league title. However, Perugia's Caroli's goal, which was not lethal, directly penetrated Van der Sar's ten fingers and missed the Serie A title that was originally within reach.
In the 2000-01 season, if they can beat Roma, then the Bianconeri will win the league title. Van der Sar met Hidetoshi Nakata in the game, and Nakata smashed his goal into his arms with one kick, while the other narrowly escaped the ball as Montella slotted the ball into the box and Juve had to settle for a 2-2 scoreline.
This means that Juve lost a second title, and Van der Sar, as the goalkeeper, became the scapegoat. However, if you look carefully, you will know that Van der Sar is not too much at fault, more because of his luck.
First of all, Carory's kick really didn't seem to be threatening. However, it was a rainy game and it was difficult to get the ball on the field. The flight path of this ball is completely different from usual. In such a situation, it is not unforgivable for Van der Sar to concede a goal. Besides, the quality of Nakata's long-range shots is still good, and it is not surprising that the goalkeeper failed to save the ball. Moreover, Hidetoshi Nakata is also a famous victim of Juventus, scoring goals every time he plays against Juventus. Peruzzi and Gianluigi Buffon defended in front of Juventus and also allowed Nakata to score. The only difference is that these Juventus goalkeepers showed different importance after Nakata's goal.
Therefore, it has to be said that Van der Sar's loss at Juventus has nothing to do with his ability, he just took shit luck. However, having lost the Premier League title in such a good situation, someone has to take the blame. Journalists made all sorts of accusations against Van der Sar, and even mentioned Van der Sar's short-sightedness. In such a situation, everyone at Juventus will question Van der Sar's quality.
In the summer of 2001, Van der Sar had just turned 31 years old, technically 30 years old, and Juve had a very low opinion of him. Juventus have made a change, they have changed the transfer record, they have chosen Gianluigi Buffon. Van der Sar, on the other hand, was sold by Fulham for a transfer fee of £5 million.
Thankfully, Van der Sar has the skills to show his quality again at Fulham. It wasn't until the summer of 2005 that Van der Sar again got a ** from a big club and joined a team. Now, his luck is finally starting to change for the better, as he swept the Premier League with his new team and won the European Cup.
The final Champions League game against Chelsea was definitely the best performance Van der Sar has ever performed. After 120 minutes of hard-fought battle, Van der Sar once again faced a penalty decision. Originally, Chelsea were in control, and once John Terry scored a penalty, then Van der Sar would be eliminated again. However, it was at the heart of Chelsea's heart that he accidentally tripped over his opponent at this point, leading to Van der Sar sending Nicolas Anelka into the net in the final minute to win the title.
Van der Sar played for United until the 2010/11 season, when Van der Sar was not yet 41 years old, technically 40 years old, but he was still part of the team. With him, everyone is at ease. At the end of the season, he was selected for the first team in the league. However, Van der Sar, who still has strength, finally chose to retire.
Throughout Van der Sar's entire career, he has been outstanding from the start. But even so, he could not avoid the fate of bad luck, and at the age of 30, he will still be abandoned by Juventus. From this you can see that luck is important in professional athletes.