WHEN GOALIES ATTACK!
Everyone loves it when an outfield player has to go in goal. The reverse situation, a keeper playing outfield, is rarer and perhaps more enjoyable. The rarity is due to the circumstance: a goalkeeper being sent off is a fairly common occurrence, but a situation that requires a stopper to suddenly leave his penalty area involves a far more complex set of circumstances.
It happened last summer, though. In a friendly at Huddersfield, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were forced to play 18-year-old keeper Shamal George in attack for 30 minutes. Lucas went off with an injury and the Reds had used up all of their outfield replacements.
The Wirral-born youngster played just off Danny Ings and did a pretty decent job. He even scored a cheeky lob, only to see the goal disallowed for offside. Liverpool fans bayed for George to take a penalty later in the tie, but Klopp made Alberto Moreno step up. “At 1-0 in no match should you make a ‘funny’
decision,” said the killjoy.
Speaking of funny decisions, Stuart Pearce once deployed a No.1 upfront as a genuine tactical move. Managing Manchester City on the final day of the 2004-05 season, he subbed on reserve keeper Nicky Weaver and then chucked David James up top for the final seven minutes of a 1-1 home draw against Middlesbrough. “I wanted to unsettle them and in some ways it did,” Pearce recalls. “It unsettled everyone – them and us.” In reality, James just lumbered about kicking bemused Boro defenders.
There are a few goalkeepers who do actually possess decent outfield skills. Perennial Barça back-up Jose Manuel Pinto was a good defensive midfielder, while the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich shot-stopper Pepe Reina was once tipped to make it in the game as a striker. But only one man has truly pulled off playing at a high level both outfield and in goal: Jorge Campos.
The luminous Mexican was initially kept out of his preferred position for club side Pumas by Adolfo Rios and instead played upfront for a season, scoring 14 goals in 1989-90. He was back in nets the following campaign and eventually won 130 international caps for El Tri, but was occasionally pushed further forward if his teams were in need of a goal. What a man.