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Article: Save the World, a Shot at a Time; Goalies Bear Burden Of Instant Stress
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 11, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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There is a brief, tongue-in-cheek story that exemplifies the
plight of the soccer goalie, and it comes from, of all people,
novelist Albert Camus. Writing once about his own brief playing
career for the University of Algiers, Camus recalled how the ground
always seemed bumpier than "the {oft-kicked} shin of a visiting
center-forward." And how "the ball never came where you expected
it." And how the toughest team he played was Olympic Hussein Dey.
As Camus explained: "The stadium there is beside the cemetery. They
made us realize, without mercy, that there was direct access."
So it is in soccer, as goalkeepers shoulder the daunting,
sometimes impossible expectation of preventing a ball ...