In Brazil, there’s a popular saying among football lovers that (badly) translates like, “for a guy to be a goalie he has either to be crazy or gay”. Macho attitude aside, there’s one thing that it is clear: goalies are different characters on the pitch. And not only because they’re allowed to use their hands. Goalies are the only ones with unique jerseys on the pitch. This is so powerful that today’s post is about a man who got his nickname in football because of his jersey.
Of course, I’m talking about the “Black Spider”, Russian-Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Yashin won the 1960 Eurocup and the 1956 Olympics with the Soviet Union. But his performances landed him a place in history as one of the best goalkeepers in history. He, for instance, denied over 150 penalties in his career. That’s where the “Spider” comes from. He played like he had 8 arms, always protecting his net.
The Black part came from the color of his uniforms. With the potential of choosing any color, Yashin made his position look classy. The black uniform turned him almost in a cold secret agent of KGB. His mission was to deny goals. With that cold look, Yashin was like a Matrix agent in charge of waking people up from the illusions of a goal celebration. Never a shirt color made so much sense to a position.
Cool replica here:
