Whilst gloves are important, so are boots for a goalkeeper on the football pitch, if you’re looking for the best to wear on your feet this page looks to help you make that decision, from the options available to you. We’ve tried and tested a variety to help, you can find more about them here.
What You’ll Find On This Page:
What You’ll Find On This Page:The goalkeeper is the player directly responsible for preventing the opposition from scoring by defending the goal. He is the only player in the side who may use hands and arms (within the penalty area) to play the ball.
Top 7 Boots for Goalies
Some goalkeepers, like outfield players, strictly stick to leather-like constructed football boots and Nike’s Tiempo are worn by Belgium’s No.1 Thibaut Courtois and Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League winner Alisson. With GKs being utilised more in initiating play from the back, the Tiempo’s dampening ball touch can only do good for this type of keepers.
One of Puma’s big shot-stopper is Manchester City’s Ederson. The Future has a Dynamic Motion Outsole that has multi-directional twisting, perfect for a keeper who needs to react and jumped in as the last line of defence.
adidas provide top-level goalkeepers with premium football boots in the form of their Predator Edge range, with some like Emiliano Martinez preferring the laced option while Andre Onana opts for the + laceless version. You can convert defence into offence in an instant with a well-placed long pass using the High-Definition rubber grip elements.
Only a perfectly timed jump and an outstretch an arm can reach and block a screamer. Increased your chances in doing so as a keeper with the added bounce of the Mercurial Vapor’s Air Zoom technology . The Vapor is one of the most popular boots on the market with professional footballers and that means they suit a lot of players feet, they could well suit you too.
Like the idea of a springy outsole in an adidas boot to go for the saving dive? Go for the X Crazyfasts!
Usually worn up front, the Ultra Ultimate can also be a suitable option to the last person of the backline. The goalkeeper needs explosive verticals to block well-placed shots, and the lightweight nature of the Ultra surely does not serve as a burden to that cause. In fact, Puma’s speed boot now has an aggressive snapback for that springy sensation.
With additional blades bordering the soleplate itself, the Tekela helps you dig in when you are on the edge and preparing to make the angular dive for that immaculate save.
Some of the popular goalkeepers in today’s age are David de Gea with his extraordinary reflexes to block close-range goal attempts, Liverpool & Brazil’s Alisson with his excellent distribution, and Bayern Munich & Germany’s Manuel Neuer with his fantastic sweeping.
Expectations from a Goalkeeper
While there can be multiple defenders, midfielders, and/or forwards in a football team’s starting 11, there is only one player who can and is required to be assigned to the most specialised role, the No. 1, more commonly known as the goalkeeper.
Primarily stationed inside the the 18-yard box, the goalkeeper’s main purpose is to prevent the opposing team from putting the ball past the goal line they are defending. These are placed right at the end of the pitch and are equidistant to the corner flags. They are marked by goal posts placed 24 feet apart and are joined together by a horizontal crossbar at a height of 8 feet, with nets attached to this frame primarily to catch goals scored.
To perform this role of preventing goals, the goalkeeper has the privilege of blocking strikes (most especially during free kicks and penalties), handling, and passing the balls using his hands and arms as long as he is within the 18-yard box. However, as indicated in the back-pass rule, the goalkeeper cannot use this privilege during the following sequence: a) the ball is kicked back to him by a teammate b) that the said action is deliberate and not a result of a deflection or miskick, and c) there is no intervening touch of the ball by anyone else. Because of the novelty of his role, the No. 1 normally has a different uniform from the rest and has gloves for protection.
It is also this role that makes the goalkeeping position inherently a defensive position. He usually organizes the backline in front of him as well as the ‘wall’ during freekicks. He is expected to have exceptional reflexes to block the incoming goal attempts aided by intelligent defensive positioning and proper diving techniques, which are what one can expect in a goalkeeper’s highlight reel.
The role does not prevent the goalkeeper from going outside the box and joining the other outfield players. Aside from those balls that were not cleared by the opposition and went straight past the demarcated goal line, some goalkeepers were able to score goals and earn a place in history.
In the same way, that big men in the NBA are being asked to do more in terms of shooting and passing other than blocking and rebounding, the modern goalkeepers are being asked to handle the ball well with their feet and be able passers either to build play from the back or to pick out long passes and jumpstart the attack. Goalkeepers who have a great sense of anticipating dangers are encouraged to step in and intercept in any way possible. As such, from simply being shot-stoppers goalkeepers are now expected to be good distributors and sweepers from the back.
