When we talk about goalkeepers we tend to think of magnificent saves, strong punches, loud cries to organize the defense. But what is often overlooked is the desire that every goalkeeper has to be fielded as an outfield player. In the modern era Manuel Neuer among others has shown how good he can be with the ball at his feet redefining the term “sweeper keeper”.
When Liverpool Football club played their 4th preseason friendly against Huddersfield town, one small incident in the dying embers of the game became the talking point for players and fans alike.
For young Shamal George, this dream to play as an outfield player became reality. Around the hour mark veteran midfielder Lucas Leiva suffered an injury. With no outfield players on the substitute bench, the Reds had the uphill task of seeing out the remainder of the game with 10 men.
But gaffer Jurgen Klopp the self-proclaimed “normal one” had other ideas. He did something truly abnormal, fielding in reserve keeper Shamal George as a substitute for the injured Lucas.
The 18-year old’s first contribution was defending a free kick and once that was out of the way he was thrown up front by the boss. Surprisingly young Shamal never looked out of place.
At one point in the game, he showed great awareness to release Lazar Markovic with a neat through ball. If that wasn’t enough, he almost had his moment of glory when he was through on goal with only the keeper to beat. But the dream didn’t last long as the flag had gone up on the far side.
Replays suggested that Shamal had timed his run to near perfection as he dropped in to beat the offside trap.
After the game manager, Jurgen was full of praise for the teenager. "I was watching the game and organizing the system with 10 and then they came and said, 'Come on, we have Shamal' so we changed it,” he said. He further added, "We played a strange formation with Shamal as a striker but he did wonderfully!”.
That definitely settled the argument if Jurgen Klopp is a football madman. Shamal though is not the first Liverpool keeper to play in an outfield position. Pepe Reina and David James had both made a customary appearance for the Merseysiders in midfield.
Following his impressive cameo, social media was flooded with jokes and appreciation posts. Being a teenager young Shamal wanted a piece of the limelight for himself and updated his twitter profile bio with “Goalkeeper/Striker Liverpool FC”.
The fun did not end there with various other jokes flooding the teenagers twitter timeline. Here was the pick of the lot.
Football these days has become so result oriented that we forget to enjoy the small pleasures in the game. Incidents like these help us realize why the beautiful game is played. We sincerely hope Shamal goes to achieve big things for Liverpool FC, be it keeping clean sheets or banging in them goals.
