Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow
Taffarel was the best. I never did see Palmeiras play with him in goal so it's impossible to say. He was also mostly 2nd fiddle to Ceni and Dida.
I at least wouldn't him and Ceni as the best goalkeepers for 2 decades. They have 46 caps between them. Dida has 2 the amount and Taffarel is probably the best Brazil goalkeeper ever. Only rivaled by some way in the past.
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Without in any way putting them at the same level, Ceni is a bit like Ryan Giggs. Giggs never had the recognition he deserved due to being Welsh (no WC/Euro winner bragging rights, not even participation
) and he only ever played for one team, which limits his fanbase.
What makes it worse for Ceni is that he was a goalkeeper. Clearly, Sao Paulo wouldn't have him as their keeper, then captain, for ~15 years if he weren't rather good. But he never played outside Brazil/Libertadores Cup, so you have to ask yourself whether you want to go to a World Cup with someone who has never played at anything remotely ressembling that level in nets.
Scolari did that with Marcos because 1. he had been his goalie at Palmeiras and he trusted him, 2. he was a "good bible-thumping egg" at a time when dressing room unity was the most significant challenge Brazil faced.
The only game we can go on to assess Marcos is the Club World Championship final against Liverpool. He got man of the match and pulled some magnificent saves BUT he got away with Liverpool having three goals disallowed (two of them were a bit harsh TBH) so not entirely convincing.
This and the "never faced anything like this before" gave me cold feet, which is why I went for Barthez (and lost Sousa as a result
).
That said, he is also great at saving penalties, and scoring them, and freekicks... This chap has the record for most goals by a goalkeeper (more than 100, about 1/10 games)!
I have a perfect weapon for Cal? when someone hesitates to vote for this guy:
