Here are the 4 semifinal goalkeepers

Qatar 2022 is the World Cup for goalkeepers. There are some who, as one of the best in their team, such as Szczesny (Poland) and Diogo Costa (Portugal) failed to get their team into the semi-finals, but the four that made it through that round had a lot to do with it.

Emiliano Martinez

Argentina

It’s been a long time since Argentina had a goalkeeper of Emiliano Martínez’s caliber. The Aston Villa goalkeeper is a bit of a latecomer considering he didn’t make his Albiceleste debut until last year, when he was 29 years old, but he has arrived at the Argentine’s goal of staying long-term.

He is one of those goalkeepers who, in his good work in terms of the virtues of a goalkeeper, adds the characteristic of those who spread competitiveness to others.
In memory is how he dismissed the Colombian pitchers in the penalty shootout of the semifinals of the Copa América conquered by Argentina more than a year ago and how he made Cristiano Ronaldo nervous in a Manchester United-Aston Villa match. But what is more recent is their good performance in the penalty shootout where Argentina defeated the Netherlands to reach the semifinals that they will play tomorrow against Croatia. Even, as happened against Colombia and CR, he was encouraged to celebrate one of his stops by dancing.

A few years ago, there was a lot of debate in Argentina about the figure of the goalkeeper, but that is now history. No one doubts that Emiliano’Dibu’ Martínez will have to play against Rulli and Armani

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Dominik Livakovic

Croatia

The phone at the Maksimir offices certainly doesn’t stop ringing these days. Dinamo Zagreb plays there, a team that, oddly enough, owns the federative rights to a great goalkeeper like Dominik Livakovic.

The successor of Danijel Subasic, a goalkeeper who defended the Croatian goal in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, is known for being outstanding in recent years with great performances in the Champions League and Europa League, but the performance he offered in this World Cup in Qatar 2022 is even higher.

Beyond comment is how good he was in the round of 16 penalty shootouts against Japan and in the quarterfinals against Brazil, but the truth is that during regulation he also established himself as a much safer goalkeeper, one of they. serve to achieve victories.
His performance in the aforementioned match against ‘canarinha’ was to frame. Nothing else and less than 11 stops were signed to despair Neymar, Richarlison, Vinicius, Raphinha and co, who promised them great fun, with dances prepared for the occasion, and see how they left Croatia without a ticket for the semifinals.
Tall and lanky but at the same time agile and gifted with good reflexes against rival shots, he made his debut with the Croatian senior team in 2017 though he didn’t get a starting position until 2019. Since then, it’s only grown he as a goalkeeper, became a mainstay for Zlatko Dalic.

At the age of 27, Livakovic seems to have reached the peak of his maturity as a goalkeeper and everything indicates that in the next transfer markets he will leave Dinamo Zagreb to arrive in one of the major leagues in Europe. He earned more and the price his transfer fetched remains to be seen.

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Hugo Lloris

France

He is the goalkeeper but also the captain of this France. And as such, it carries some intangibles beyond its stops. Hugo Lloris is an exceptional goalkeeper and also a leader who is essential in a dressing room like the team led by Didier Deschamps.
Self-demanding and always poker face, game after game he continues to star in saves that give points and wins and at the same time has the ability to condition the opponent in certain moments. Proof of this happened on Saturday, with the penalty sent by Harry Kane into the clouds. The imposition by Hugo Lloris, his teammate at Tottenham, certainly influenced how badly the English forward put his body to hit the ball so much that it missed the target. With an archer, not everything stops, and what happened is a good example of this.

Safe in the area, the French goalkeeper is also one of the most commanding and improves all the team’s defenders.

At the age of 35, Lloris is playing in what, barring a surprise, will be his last World Cup, and he has made it clear that he wants to say goodbye by lifting the Cup.

Against Morocco, it is predictable that he will not have much work, but he will definitely have to intervene, and with an important goalkeeper it is to accumulate a large number of saves and to appear when the game requires some interventions

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Yassine Bounou

Morocco

One of the keys to Walid Regragui’s surprising Morocco is his defensive solvency. The numbers speak for themselves. So far in the World Cup he has conceded only 1 goal (and it was an own goal). Yassine Bounou (31 years old), better known as ‘Bono’, was under the sticks in four of the five games played in Qatar (he left the match against Belgium due to stomach problems) and was unable to of Portugal or Spain or Croatia. to hit him.goal. Yes, Canada did, or rather his teammate Nayef Aguerd in the rivalry against the said North American team (1-2).

But looking back a little, the statistics speak of a more worthy truth. Adding three friendlies ahead of Qatar 2022, played between September and November, Bono has conceded just 1 goal in his last 7 games defending the Moroccan goal. Neither Chile nor Paraguay nor Georgia scored in Regragui’s first, second and third games in charge of this team.

Bono is known in Spain for his career in the youth ranks of Atlético de Madrid, Zaragoza, Girona and Sevilla, but in this World Cup in Qatar 2022 he will go one step further, placing himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the moment. Strong and confident in the air, he is an agile and decisive goalkeeper at key moments in matches. Proof of this was, without further ado, how much it relied on in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 against Spain. One from Sarabia went to the post, but he guessed the edge, and those of Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets ended up in his hands.

It will not be easy for Morocco in the semifinal duel against France next Wednesday, but with Bono, one of the stars of this team, everything is possible.