Friday, February 10, 2023 – 2:02 PM
From / Ahmed Zahran.
ABU DHABI, 10th February, 2020 (WAM) — Although the Belgian goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, is famous for his distinguished performances with his former teams, Chelsea, and the current Real Madrid, he is in fierce competition for the award for the best goalkeeper in the world for the year 2022.
FIFA announced the final list for the 2022 Best Goalkeeper Award, which included Courtois and Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine national team goalkeeper, and Yassin Bono, the Moroccan national team goalkeeper.
FIFA will hand over the award to the winner among the three goalkeepers during its annual “Best” awards ceremony, which is scheduled to take place in the French capital, Paris, on February 27.
Yassin Bono firmly imposed himself on the final list of candidates for the “Best” goalkeeper award through his unique and historic achievement with his country in the 2022 World Cup; Where Bono played a prominent role in the team’s access to the World Cup golden square, becoming the first Arab and African team to achieve this achievement.
Bono’s performance, as confirmed by FIFA on its website, was characterized by calmness and confidence, conceding one goal during his career with the Moroccan national team until the semi-finals, in which he lost to the French national team 0-2, then the team lost 1-2 to his Croatian counterpart in the match for third place.
Bono, 31, won the admiration of the followers of the tournament when he saved two penalties in the round of 16 of the tournament to lead his team well to the quarter-finals after overcoming the Spanish national team, then Bono shone again against the Portuguese national team in the quarter-finals, so that the Moroccan team won 1-0
On the other hand, Courtois continued his distinguished career full of brilliance and achievements with Real Madrid, and crowned the team with the Spanish League and European Champions League titles.
And with these distinguished saves against the English team, Courtois paved the way for his team towards the podium, as the only goal scored by his Brazilian colleague Vinicius Junior was enough for the team to win the match and the title.
This performance of Courtois, 30, with Real Madrid, may be enough for the Belgian goalkeeper to compete strongly for the FIFA award, despite his early and disappointing exit with his country from the first round of the 2022 World Cup.
At the same time, the 2022 World Cup may be decisive in winning the award for the third candidate, Argentine Emiliano Martinez, 30, after the great role played by the Argentine goalkeeper in his country’s victory in the World Cup.
Martinez won the Golden Glove Award for the best goalkeeper in the tournament, especially after he succeeded in saving more than one penalty kick against the Dutch teams in the quarter-finals, and the French in the final of the tournament, in leading his team to the world title for the first time since 1986.
During the final, and before the penalty shootout was decided, Martinez blocked a cunning shot from Randall Kolo Mwani, the French national team player, in the 123rd minute of the match, to preserve the 3-3 tie, which led the two teams to a penalty shootout.
At the level of the same award for the women’s category, the final list of candidates, which was announced by FIFA, also included 3 female goalkeepers.
Competing for the award for the year 2022, German goalkeeper Anne-Kathine Berger, 32, who led her country to the final of the European Nations Cup (Euro 2022) for women, despite the fact that medical examinations revealed to her in the middle of the tournament that cancer had returned to haunt her.
Berger insisted on continuing to play with her country’s national team in the tournament, and she also returned to participate with her English team, Chelsea, last September, despite receiving treatment at that time, and Berger played a prominent role in the team winning the league and FA Cup titles for the second season in a row.
Competing with Berger for the award is English goalkeeper Marie Erbes, who led her country to win the European Championship (Euro 2022), and Chilean Christiane Endler, winner of the award for the year 2021, who moved from Paris Saint-Germain to French Lyon to achieve tremendous success in his first season with the new team; With him, she won the French League and the European Champions League double.
Ahmed Al-Boutli / Ahmed Zahran