World Soccer - UK (2022-01)

AChampionsLeague-winningandtrailblazinggoalkeeper

EDOUARD MENDY

helist of Africangoalkeepers
toplayinthePremierLeague
isa shortone.Betweenthem,
BruceGrobbelaar (Zimbabwe),Richard
Kingson(Ghana)andCarlIkeme(Nigeria)
made 92 appearancesinthe competition.
Ofthattrio,onlytheformer canclaim
tohavehad a majorimpactonEnglish
football, accountingfor twothirdsofthose
appearances– althoughhispeakcame
inthe1980sbefore thePremierLeague
wasformed.Kingsonwasaback-upat
BirminghamCity, BlackpoolandWigan
Athletic,whileIkemewas Wolverhampton
Wanderers’long-serving understudy,
playingonlyonetop-flightgame.
Itisfairtosay,then,thatSenegal’s
EdouardMendycan alreadyclaimto
bethe finest Africangoalkeeperthat
thePremierLeaguehaseverseen.
Andthathashugesignificance.
AsRorySmithwroteintheNewYork
Timeslastyear:“Black goalkeepers
arechronicallyunderrepresentedin
Europeansoccer. Africanonesare even
moreuncommon.” Mendyisbuckingthe
trend, andbecominga trailblazerfor
otherblackandAfricangoalkeepers.
WhenChelsea recruitedhimat
thestartofthe 2 02 0-2 1 season,they
insisted he wasbroughtintoprovide
competitionforthen-record signing
KepaArrizabalaga.In reality, he quickly
becamethe undisputedfirstchoice.
After makinghisdebutat theendof
September, he keptsixconsecutive
cleansheetsin allcompetitions.Bythe
endof 2020 , he hadonly conceded
tengoalsin 18 gamesfor hisnewclub.
Thatformcontinuedinto 202 1.
Mendy endedthe seasonwith 16
PremierLeaguecleansheets,second
onlytoEdersonofManchesterCity. In
theChampionsLeague,notonlydid
hekeepmore cleansheetsthanany
othergoalkeeper, he alsomatchedthe
competition’s all-timerecord,withnine.

Thattally,ofcourse,includedthe final

itself. In Porto, Chelsea’swell-organised

defensive shape,themidfieldscreen

providedbymanofthematchN’Golo

Kante,and ManchesterCity’s toothless-

nessmeantthe Senegalesekeeperhad

relativelylittletodo,onlymakingone

saveonthe night.Yet justas he had

doneall season,hebroughta calmness

andassurednessthathadbeensorely

lackingunderhispredecessor.

Healso madehistory, becoming

thefirstAfricangoalkeepertostarta

EuropeanCup finalsinceGrobbelaar

in 19 85,andonlythethirdin historyto

beonthewinningside,followingthe

Zimbabwean(1984)andBenfica’s

Mozambique-bornshot-stopper,

Costa Pereira ( 1961 and 19 62).

Thisseasonhascontinuedinmuch

thesamewayasthelastone.Thomas

Tuchelhasbuiltoneofthe tightest

defencesinEuropean football,with

Mendy an integralpart of it.Bythe

start of December, Chelseahadonly

concededsixgoals– thefewestinthe

PremierLeague– with Mendyjoint-

topof thecleansheetschartwith

EdersonandAlisson.

Incidentally, theBrazilianpair have

doneplentytobanishmisconceptions

abouttheircountry’sabilitytoproduce

world-classgoalkeepers.Mendy, it

seems,iswellonthe waytodoing

thesameforAfrican keepers.

JamieEvans

Unbeatable...

Mendycelebrates

a man-of-the-match

displayv Brentford

T

P L A Y

E R

PEOPLEOFTHEYEAR

PEDRI

202 1 wasanexhausting

yearfortheteenager,who

becameundroppablefor

bothclubandcountry.

WonEuro2020’s Young

Playerofthe Tournament,

andthe Golden Boyand

KopaTrophies.

BENBRERETONDIAZ

Stoke-born Brereton’scall-

uptotheChilenational

teamfortheCopa

Americawasoneof the

mostremarkablestories

oftheyear. He hasgone

ontoscoretwiceinfour

World Cupqualifiers, too.

EMILESMITHROWE

A breakthroughyearfor

theArsenalstarletsaw

himhandedthe No. 10

shirt at theEmiratesand

anEngland debut.Despite

histenderyears,he has

playedamassive rolein

rejuvenating theGunners.

H O N OU R A BL EM EN T I ON S