00:06Manuel Neuer is a different breed of goalkeeper, and while his unique and aggressive playing
00:12style could be interpreted as dangerous or risky, it has led him to big things on football's
00:18greatest stage. While he didn't invent the role of sweeper-keeper, Neuer certainly took it to a
00:25new level. Lightning quick for such an imposing physical figure, almost daring opposition strikers
00:33to take him on as he takes risks to launch attack from defence, the German international has made
00:40goalkeeping fashionable, and in 2014 he made it the key to Germany's World Cup success.
00:50For 20 years, Neuer was entrenched at his home club Schalke, where he started at age five. He debuted in
00:59the Bundesliga in 2006, but was snatched by Bayern Munich in 2011, the team for which he really
01:05blossomed. His Schalke fan base were not pleased when he announced he would be leaving, and surprisingly,
01:14nor were the fans of Bayern, when word reached them that a rival player was entering their midst.
01:21But they were silenced quickly by the match-winning theatrics of their new stopper. He won a string of
01:28Bundesliga titles, two of them as part of a treble, along with the DFB-Pakal and Champions League in 2013
01:34and 2020. Neuer named the world's best goalkeeper five times in that span. But as good as Neuer has been
01:44for
01:45Bayern Munich over the journey, it all seemed to lead to football's greatest stage in 2014.
01:52Germany qualified with ease for the World Cup in Brazil, and earned two wins from the group stage to
01:58progress to what would be a hard-fought knockout phase. But that's when Neuer's aggressive mid-air
02:06acrobatics came to the fore, holding off Algeria in a tense 2-1, extra-time victory in the round of
02:1216.
02:13The Germans got through against France 1-0 in the quarter-finals, before an unprecedented 7-1
02:20rout of host nation Brazil. Neuer's heroics continued in the decider against Argentina,
02:28making breakaway forays, forcing countless errors from the opposition,
02:34leaving the Argentinians remarkably without a shot on target, before Mario Goetze scored the winner in
02:40extra time. While Goetze got the glory for the match winner, Neuer was hailed a colossus. He won the
02:50Golden Glove for the tournament's best goalkeeper, but finished only third in the ensuing Ballon d'Or,
02:56behind strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The 2014 Ballon d'Or sparked widespread
03:04condemnation of the voting system. German legend Franz Beckenbauer just one of many to label Neuer's lack
03:11of recognition unjust. But while Manuel Neuer didn't win football's greatest individual prize,
03:18his feats on football's greatest stage in 2014, will be cherished forever.
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