"The strikers will face him
thinking about what to do. His
figure is so large and has
grown over time. Rivals would
always feel he commands
respect and even fear. In one
on ones, he is the best. I
always want to have Iker on
my team as a goalkeeper." -
Italy's World Cup-winning
goalkeeper and captain Dino
Zoff.
High praise indeed from one of
football's greatest-ever
goalkeepers. Praise that
followed Iker Casillas equalling
Andoni Zubizarreta as not only
the most capped Spanish
goalkeeper, but the most
capped Spanish footballer of all
time last year. A year on and
15 international caps later,
the Madrid number one has
added another European
Championship medal to his
collection -- he helped Spain
become the first nation to win
back-to-back championships --
and guided Los Blancos to La
Liga glory, all while smashing
another Spanish record -- his
own -- in minutes unbeaten
for his country.
Friday's 4-0 win over Belarus
at the Dynama Stadium in
Minsk took Casillas's unbeaten
run with Spain to 727 minutes,
surpassing his previous record
of 708. In fact Spain and
Madrid's very own "Captain
Marvel" has smashed the
record no fewer than three
times. The first in 2005 when
he went unbeaten for 685
minutes, breaking
Zubizarreta's 567-minute
unbeaten run two decades
earlier. The second time was in
2008 with 708 minutes.
Casillas is still only 31 -- you'd
be forgiven for thinking he
was closer to 40 given the
time he's been playing at the
very top level -- and it would
take a brave man to bet
against him breaking the
record again in the future.
Who's to say this one will end
anytime soon, though?
The run spans nine matches
and, for the "average" team
at least, the matches were far
from a stroll in the park. Five
of them came at the very top
level in this summer's Euro
2012. Things didn't start so
well when Antonio Di Natale
scored the opener in Spain's
1-1 draw against Italy in the
opening group match, a goal
that certainly acted as a bit
of a wake-up call for the
Spanish. They then thrashed
the Republic of Ireland 4-0 in
the next match and edged out
Croatia 1-0 before going on to
beat France 2-0 in the
quarter-finals. A penalty
shoot-out victory followed in
the 0-0 semi-final draw
against Portugal followed and
La Roja exacted some revenge
on the Italians in the final with
a thumping 4-0 win.
Spain did concede in the
recent friendly clash against
Puerto Rico but Casillas came
on as a substitute after the
goal had already been
conceded. He then kept clean
sheets in the 1-0 win over
Georgia and Friday's success in
Belarus.
The biggest threat to San Iker
(as Madridistas affectionately
know him by) and his run will
undoubtedly be France, who
Spain must face twice in their
next four matches -- first at
the Santiago Bernabeu next
Tuesday night and then, after
a friendly clash in Panama and
World Cup Qualifier against
Finland on home soil, in Paris
next March. Winning breeds
winners and Casillas will be fully
aware of his current record,
surely desperate to continue
it as long as he can. I'm sure
France's Karim Benzema, his
Madrid teammate, will be all
too aware of the record, too...
It won't go unnoticed that
Casillas's records have come
with Spain in their best-ever
form on the international
front. The team tops the FIFA
World Rankings and has won
the last three major
tournaments: the last two
European Championships and
the World Cup. They're the
team to catch and the team
whose dominance of world
football doesn't look set to
end anytime soon, though I'm
sure Brazil will have something
to say about that when they
host the next World Cup on
their home soil. Everyone looks
to the "tika taka" approach
used so effectively by
Barcelona rather than their
defensive qualities. No
surprises there with Barca's
David Villa, Xavi, Andres Iniesta,
Pedro, Sergio Busquets,
Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and
now Jordi Alba being key
components in Spain's success.
It's true that the Madrid shot-
stopper's records have been
undoubtedly helped by the
men in front of him. He's been
in the national squad at times
when Spain were serial
underachievers, when the
squad was still packed full of
quality but perhaps not as
much so as the last five or six
years. La Roja play the
possession game and hardly
give opponents a sniff of a
chance throughout 90 minutes,
making life for Casillas easier
than most other goalkeepers.
At the same time, however,
having a goalkeeper of the
quality of San Iker, whose
shot-stopping abilities are
matches only matched by his
leadership skills, will give
Spain's defence (and,
invariably, the midfield and
attack) plenty of confidence.
They say successful teams
always build from the back,
and in Casillas, Spain has the
ultimate building block.
The benchmark of the 31-
year-old's international
success can be seen in the
Spanish caps of Victor Valdes,
Barcelona's number one, who
has made well over 300
appearances for the Catalans
yet been handed just nine
international caps. Other
Spaniards such as Liverpool's
Pepe Reina has made only 26
outings in goal for his country
while Manchester United's
David De Gea has yet to gain a
senior cap. The first name on
the Spanish team-sheet is,
undoubtedly, Casillas. This
despite players such as Xavi,
Iniesta, Xabi Alonso and David
Villa being amongst the star-
stubbed Roja squad. If you're a
Spanish goalkeeper and you're
not Iker Casillas, you're around
in the wrong era.
That era isn't set to end
anytime soon, either.
Footballers are usually in their
prime at the age of 31 and
while the same could be said of
Casillas, a goalkeeper's prime
can certainly last longer than
an outfield player. Just look at
Dino Zoff, the oldest-ever
winner of a World Cup. Or
Santiago Canizares, the former
Madrid man who played well
into his late 30's with Valencia.
Even Brad Friedel, who is still
Tottenham Hotspur's number
one in the English Premier
League at the age of 41.
There's still plenty of fuel left
in the Casillas tank, good news
for Spain and Real Madrid.
Five Spanish league titles, two
Champions League triumphs,
one Spanish Cup, two Spanish
Supercups, one UEFA Supercup,
one Intercontinental Cup, two
European Championships and
one World Cup -- not a bad
trophy cabinet to have. That's
not including the individual
accolades the man from
Mostoles (a Madrid suburb)
has, including the FIFA World's
Best Goalkeeper for the last
four years, making the UEFA
Team of the Year for the last
five and winning La Liga's
Zamora Trophy in 2007-08.
Valdes has won the Zamora
trophy the last four seasons,
something that highlights how
Madrid haven't always been
the best at the back.
Florentino Perez's millions have
been spent on attacking flair
but Casillas has seen relatively
little spent on the back four in
front of him. If only.
Despite him being a firm fan's
favourite at the Bernabeu,
Casillas hasn't really ever had
the Galactico tag so often
thrown on the club's star
signings. Maybe it's down to
him coming through the youth
system rather than being
bought with Perez's millions,
but Los Blancos' number one
has been a Galactico for the
club in every other sense. He
has a street named after him
in his hometown, the Avenida
Iker Casillas, and that street
surely has a few more miles,
and trophies, to go for his club
and country.