Club World Cup Standouts – Goalkeepers | OneFootball

We’re down to one final game, so what better time to look back and give shout outs to the standout performers of the tournament. Here we look at the lads between the posts, the goalkeepers.

The Hooligan Ranking

We’re using Sofascore data here, and have generated a list based on the following criteria: Saves; Clean Sheets; Saves from Inside the Box; Runs Out; High Claims. The list is sorted descending by Saves.

Top Goalkeepers (Source: Sofascore)

It’s pretty self-explanatory. You’ll see lots of familiar names from the big clubs that moved on past the group stage. But there are some details that the list fails to convey, but in my mind are relevant.

The first is average saves per game. Some of these keepers played five games, thereby padding their stats; others only played two. So here’s a smaller list of keepers ordered by saves per game:

The second is inside box save percentage. This is easily calculated by dividing the inside box saved value by the total number of stops. To make it fair, I’m implementing a three-game minimum to exclude single game outliers (of which there were many). Here are the top five:

Penalty Stoppers

There were eighteen penalty kicks during normal run of play (we do not count penalty shootouts here). Three of those were saved. Here are the penalty stopping heroes.

Age Ain’t No Thang

Given the reduced cardio-vascular requirements of goalkeeping, the position has its share of… to put it kindly… elder statesmen in the role. I will say this, however, the position is extraordinarily demanding mentally and physically, even if the letter doesn’t involve sprinting up and down the pitch.

Below are your oldest keepers:

The average age of goalkeepers who played (bench keepers excluded) was 31.9 years old. The median age was 33 years old.

Here are the youngest keepers:

So Who’s The Best?

Picking any one is immensely challenging, as there so many variables to take into account. It would be too easy to give the prize to one of the two who made it to the Finals, even though Donnarumma and Sanchéz each had critical moments to help their sides advance. But relying on pure statistics doesn’t always work either.

So we look at weighing as many different aspects that the position requires, and settle on a few final candidates. First, Al-Hilal’s Bono. He stopped a PK. His stats were above average. In terms of game impact, he delivered on multiple occasions. Second, Nathan Garrow. Though he only played two games, his stats went above and beyond any other keeper. And let’s not forget he’s a full-time student at Auckland University, not a full-time professional.

I flipped a coin, and Garrow won. So he got the picture, and maybe he attracted the interest of some scouts and can graduate from university into a professional contract.