Does Edwin Van der Sar have the Safest Hands in Soccer?

Records are made to be broken; whether it's laying in a tub of cold baked-beans or participating in the world’s longest conga, it appears that on any given day, someone somewhere will try to break a record of some sort.

One record which may be under threat can be found within the football world; more specifically the English Premiership and the number of consecutive games a goalkeeper has played without conceding a goal.

On 8th February 2009, in a match against West Ham, Dutchman Edwin Van der Sar kept his 13th consecutive clean sheet and in the process amassed a total of 1,212 minutes without having to pick the ball out of the net. The feat surpassed the previous British club record of 1,196 minutes, which had been set by former Rangers goalkeeper Chris Woods during his time at Ibrox, but who has since called Van der Sar’s achievement into question. However, whether or not Van der Sar has indeed broken the British record, he still has a way to go to beat the current world record holder.

According to the FIFA approved International Federation of Football History and Statistics list, the record for the longest time spent without conceding a goal is 1,816 minutes; set by Geraldo Pereira de Matos Filho of Brazilian club, Vasco da Gama between 1977 and 1978, it leaves Van der Sar with some 604 minutes of football to play in order to beat the record.

Van der Sar’s record places him in eleventh place in the list, ahead of Porto goalkeeper Vitor Baia and Bulgarian, Dimitar Ivankov of Levski Sofia; but one more clean sheet will see the Dutchman enter the top ten shutout league at position number six. From there, however, he needs to keep yet another clean sheet for at least 88 minutes to beat the current World record of 1,390 minutes, which is held by Belgian ‘keeper Dany Verlinden.

Even then, though, such a feat would still leave him well short of the all-time record set by the Brazilian, also known as Mazaropi, with a further 426 minutes to be played before the Manchester United ‘keeper could lay claim to the title of World number one.

Mazaropi’s record has, however, been called into question and it is claimed that several of the matches which contributed to Mazaropi’s streak of shutouts were gained at regional level, and not at professional level. Former British record holder, Chris Woods, has also suggested that Van der Sar is some way short of his British record, claiming his own achievement was made in consecutive matches, whereas the Dutchman’s tally has been interspersed with rest periods in some matches where he did not play.

But regardless of whether Van der Sar achieves the milestone of most consecutive shutouts or not, few can deny the Manchester United goalkeeper his place among the world’s great goalkeepers.

Article Source: http://www.mycontentbuilder.com

Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

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