Lev Yashin
Lev Ivanovich Yashin (Russian: Лев Ива́нович Я́шин) (October 22, 1929 – March 20, 1990) was a Russian Soviet football goalkeeper, known for his supreme athleticism in goal, imposing stature (he was 6′ 3″, 189 cm) and amazing reflex saves. He was voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS.
Yashin was born in Moscow in a family of industrial workers. Still twelve years old in summer of 1942, during World War II, he started to work as the helper at metal workshops. He played his entire career for Dynamo Moscow sports club, from 1949 to 1971, winning the football championship of the USSR five times and the USSR Cup three times. He also won a USSR ice hockey championship (1953) as a goalkeeper for his club after three disastrous tryout attempts to get his place in the starting line-up of the main football team. Yashin’s club team-mate, rival and mentor was ‘Tiger’ Khomich, the keeper of the Soviet national team, who had become famous for his role in Dynamo Moscow’s British tour.
In 1954, Yashin was finally called up to the national team, with which he would win 78 caps and the titles at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 European Championship. As a member of the USSR team he played in three World Cup (1958, 1962 and 1966, below at Roker Park.) Always ready to give advice to his comrades, he even made his fourth trip to the World Cup finals in 1970 as the third-choice back-up and an aide. Yashin is credited for four clean sheets out of 13 games played in WC finals. In 1971 in Moscow he played his last match for Dynamo Moscow against European stars.
One of his best performances was the 1963 FA Centenary match when he appeared in the ‘Rest of the World XI’ against England at Wembley Stadium and made a number of breathtaking and almost unbelievable saves. Known all over the world as the “Black Spider” for his distinctive all-black outfit, and because it seemed like he had eight arms as he save almost everything, he was feared by his opponents. But for his fans he was always the fearless Black Panther. He often played wearing a cloth cap of burnt-brick colour.
Yashin was always managing the defensive game of his team, so fierce that even his wife accused him of yelling too much at the pitch; however he hardly ever captained teams - to appoint a goalkeeper as a captain was a relatively new custom.
Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year Award (1963). He is also believed to have blocked around 150 penalty kicks during his career; far more than any other goalkeeper in history. When asked for his secret, he would say the trick was “to have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles.”
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January 1st, 2010 at 7:20 am
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