It begins tomorrow, finally, and at last we reach #1, on the eve of the opening
match of Qatar'2022.

#1 is a number almost exclusively worn by goalkeepers, which is quite a peculiar
position. There have been so many great keepers in every edition of the tournament,
playing for so many different sides, that trying to list them all is a difficult
endeavour to say the least. So, let's try something a little different and see
what happens when we list them by some records lists.

The goalkeepers with most World Cup games under their belt are Brasil's Claudio
Taffarel and West Germany's Sepp Maier, with 18 games each as their countries'
#1. Taffarel played every WC game for Brasil in 1990 (4), 1994 (7) and 1998 (7),
as well as every qualifier Brasil played in the period (12 in total, though
these don't enter the calculations). Sepp Maier was Hans Tillkowski's deputy
in 1966 and didn't play any game there, but he played in almost every game of
West Germany in 1970, 1974 and 1978, excepting the earlier's third place playoff.
Both won the WC with their countries.

One game short of the above, on 17 games, we see France's Fabien Barthez (1998
to 2006, twice finalist like Taffarel), Italy's Dino Zoff (1974 to 1982), Spain's
Iker Casillas (2002 to 2014) and England's Peter Shilton (1982 to 1990). Except
for Shilton, all of them won the World Cup for their countries.

Antonio Carbajal was the goalkeeper who wore #1 in most World Cups, featuring
in five from 1950 to 1966. Since Mexico always had early exits at the time,
he only accumulated 11 games in this period. He also shares the less happy
record of most goals conceded, at 25, tied with Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Al-Deayea.
Al-Deayea played in four World Cups, from 1994 to 2006, and conceded his 25
goals in 10 games overall.

Italy's Gianluigi Buffon has also been called up to five World Cups, from
1998 to 2014, but was a reserve in the first of them. He was Italy's #1 and
starter in the other four, though, winning the 2006 Cup. Other keepers on
four World Cups as #1 are Spain's Andoni Zubizarreta (1986 to 1998) and Iker
Casillas (2002 to 2014).

The longest runs without conceding a goal begin with Italy's Walter Zenga,
who stood 517 minutes unbeaten in 1990, all the way to the semifinals, when
Caniggia scored a 67th minute equalizer. The previous holder was Peter Shilton,
on 502 minutes in 1982 and 1986, from England's opener in 1982 (3-1 win over
France) to England's opener in 1986 (0-1 loss to Portugal), though he wore #22
for most of it. Sepp Maier had a run of 475 minutes in 1974 and 1978, which
started and ended with the Dutch: from Neeskens' goal in the first minute of
the 1974 final to Arie Haan's equalizer in a second round match in 1978. Gianluigi
Buffon stood 460 minutes unbeaten in 2006, between an own goal in the first round
and Zidane's penalty in the final. He edged out Brasil's Emerson Leão by two
minutes, as Leão remained unbeaten for 458 minutes in 1978, from Brasil's opener
against Sweden to the last second round game against Poland.

And above we haven't even mentioned some all time greats such as Lev Yashin,
Gordon Banks or Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, for example. Or others such as Jean-Marie
Pfaff, Rinat Dasayev, Oliver Kahn, Thomas N'Kono, etc etc...

I wrote above that #1 is a number ALMOST exclusively worn by goalkeepers. There
have been exceptions. Five outfield players have been given #1: Chile's Pedro
Araya, in 1966; Netherlands' Ruud Geels, in 1974; Argentina's Norberto Alonso
in 1978, Osvaldo Ardiles in 1982 and Sergio Almirón in 1986. The top goalscorer
is Osvaldo Ardiles, who scored Argentina's last goal in their 4-1 victory over
Hungary in WC 1982 group stage and became the only ever goalscorer wearing #1 in
World Cup history.

And just for trivia, here is the distribution of numbers given to goalkeepers
from 1954 to 1998. Apart from 4, 6, 10 and 11, every number has been on a goalie's
back at least once.

#1: 396
#2: 15
#3: 11
#5: 1
#7: 1
#8: 2
#9: 2
#12: 208
#13: 50
#14: 4
#15: 4
#16: 55
#17: 8
#18: 25
#19: 11
#20: 16
#21: 80
#22: 213
#23: 71

Lots of them getting the "classic" 1, 12 and 22, with some attention to 21 and 23, and
then to 13 and 16.

So, we've done it. You know the drill, let me know if I forgot anyone important or got
anything wrong in the above. We've seen all squad numbers from 23 to 1. The Cup is due
to begin tomorrow and our countdown seems to be over. But is it?

Best regards,

Lléo

On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:24:54 AM UTC-5, Lléo wrote:
>
> Antonio Carbajal was the goalkeeper who wore #1 in most World Cups, featuring
> in five from 1950 to 1966. Since Mexico always had early exits at the time,
> he only accumulated 11 games in this period.

I wonder if Mexico can keep on its streak (currently on 7 world cups) of advancing past the group stage (only other team that has done so: Brazil) and being eliminate in the R16.

Other piece of trivia related to goalkeepers that I recently saw:
Alessandro Del Piero is the player with most WC minutes played without his team ever conceding a goal.

Thanks for these fantastic threads, by the way!