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It is quite an honour to be the chosen custodian, ahead of several others in the reckoning, to be bestowed the honour of guarding the citadel for the national team.
Donning a range of diverse paraphernalia that includes specialized helmets, leg guards, kickers, abdo-guards, chest guards, arm pads, hand pads, and goalkeeping sticks, the men under the bar may well resemble knights in shining armour, but a momentary lapse in concentration, in a big match, is all it takes to destroy a reputation that has taken years to build.
Decisions, more often than not, need to be taken in the space of a split-second, the failure or success of which can change the colour of a potential medal, and result in a team either basking in glory or returning home empty-handed.
The position of a goalkeeper at the far end of the pitch can be lonely, but the performance of the last-man-standing can well determine the fortune of an entire team.
All sixteen teams at the Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 in Bhubaneswar have tried-and-tested goalkeepers -- 39-year-old Kumar Subramaniam has been in the Malaysian squad since 1999, while England has George Pinner who seems to have no trouble getting behind shots fired from point-blank range.
We take a look at five men in front of goal who have influenced the course of matches on their own and continue to grow in stature as the years roll on.
#5 David Harte (Ireland)
In a pool match of the FINTRO Hockey World League Semifinal at Antwerp in 2015, three Irish players -- Chris Cargo, Ronan Gormley, and Paul Gleghorne all picked up yellow cards one after another against the hosts Belgium with the scoreline reading 1-1.
The Irish goal seemed to be at the mercy of the Red Lions as Conor Harte had gone off the field following a shoulder injury, but the Belgian strikers still had goalkeeper David Harte to get past. Harte stood like a rock, pulling off some incredible saves and denied the opposition time and again.
It was only when Harte was taken off in the dying stages of the contest that the hosts managed to find a winner with John-John Dohmen scoring in the very last minute.
Playing alongside twin brother, Conor Harte, for HIL franchise Dabang Mumbai, the Irish goalkeeper became the second-most expensive player in the league during the 2015 season after being picked up for a mammoth $51,000.
In spite of a less-than-satisfactory last-place finish for the debutant Mumbai side, Harte was retained the following year for an even larger sum of $65,000, which effectively made him the most expensive goalkeeper of the HIL at the time.
The 30-year-old, who won the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Award twice in a row in 2015, and 2016, will be the key for an Irish side who are drawn alongside Australia and England in the World Cup.
#4 Vincent Vanasch (Belgium)
Michael Nobbs' side lost all their pool matches in the 2012 Olympics, including their last one against a rising Belgian side, but goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch rates his own performance against the Indians at London as one of his very best.
The ace goalie, by his own admission, recalls the fact that he made ten vital saves in that particular encounter, and four years later found himself in the limelight by virtue of being the star goalkeeper of the silver-medal winning squad at Rio.
At the intensely competitive Rabobank EuroHockey Championships, Vanasch, voted Goalkeeper of the Tournament, was instrumental in helping his side finish second
At the Champions Trophy, earlier this year, Vanasch displayed, with his superb reflexes, that he continues to be in peak form, and will be a force to reckon with at Bhubaneswar.
#3 Quico Cortes (Spain)
Goalkeepers of the top sides in the world have the comfort of being positioned behind an array of world-class talent and are called into action only when the opposition have painstakingly managed to get past a formidable defensive structure.
Spare a thought for those custodians who do not have the benefit of an elaborate cover, but have faced the odds primarily by themselves -- the Spaniards need to thank their veteran goalkeeper for helping them make it all the way to Bhubaneswar by virtue of a stupendous show at the HWL Semifinals in Johannesburg last year.
The Red Sticks have often resorted to a stubborn and dogged defensive strategy but in spite of withdrawing all their troops into their own territory, find themselves perched at the eighth position of the world rankings largely due to the efforts of their stalwart in goal -- Quico Cortes.
When the pool stages of the World Cup begin, the biggest challenge for Argentina and New Zealand in Pool A may well be to get one past the Catalan goalie who was instrumental in catapulting the Ranchi Rhinos all the way to the top in the inaugural season of the Hockey India League.
Cortes and Sergi Enrique were part of a squad that witnessed the heights of glory over a decade ago when Spain won bronze at the 2006 World Cup in Mönchengladbach and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Age, and time, it appears have failed to blunt either their prowess or their enthusiasm for the game.
#2 Tyler Lovell (Australia)
If one man stood between India and a historic maiden Champions Trophy gold, it was Australian goalkeeper Tyler Lovell.
At Breda, Lovell had not had the best of tournaments by his own standards but came vigorously to life in the big final, denying the Indian forwards a winning goal in regulation time and saving four penalties in the shootout.
Back in the 2016 edition of the Champions Trophy at London too, Lovell was chosen to defend India's penalties in the final instead of the more experienced Andrew Charter and helped his side prevail in the one-on-one battle.
India's Analytical Coach, Chris Ciriello, who used to be Lovell's roommate when he was part of the Aussie squad, was emphatic that it was the Kookaburras goalie who proved to be the only difference between the two sides in the big final.
"Tyler Lovell who used to be my roommate was by far the player of the final. He saved some near-certain goals. He had conceded three PC goals against Argentina and had not played well against them, but in the final, he did. Under pressure is when you stand out."
As the Aussies aim to create history by winning their third successive World Cup title at Bhubaneswar, Lovell's form will be crucial for Colin Batch's boys to succeed.
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#1 PR Sreejesh (India)
The Great Wall of India is certainly not infallible -- in the big final of the Champions Trophy against the Aussies at Breda, the celebrated goalkeeper seemed a trifle confused as he failed to stop a drag flick from Blake Govers which, on television replays, seemed stoppable by a man of Sreejesh's calibre.
While analysing the tournament for Sportskeeda, India's champion goalkeeper who singlehandedly resisted a fierce onslaught of attacks from the Belgians and the Dutch to power India to the final, explained that Govers' flick came on a lot slower than he had expected and may have been deliberate.
Sreejesh won the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award at Breda. Even for a man who has won many such accolades for a decade now, the award was significant, coming as it did just a year after a right knee injury which forced him out of action for the better part of last year.
Yet, like a true champion, the veteran not only made his way back to the national team but regained his stellar form in the prestigious event.
While most teams now prefer to employ the services of two goalkeepers for varying durations in a match, the Indian camp decided against exerting early big-match pressure on Suraj Karkera and Krishan Pathak during the Commonwealth Games and Champions Trophy, as a result of which Sreejesh stood guarding the Indian citadel for the entire sixty minutes.
Sreejesh's ability to shout out instructions to his defenders and inspire the team was aptly summed by Indian striker Mandeep Singh.
"Sreejesh, for us, is like a precious diamond and he has saved the day for us many a time. I often tell Sreejesh that he is the best goalkeeper in the world. He not only saves goals but uses his booming voice to good effect."
"I do not know of any other goalkeeper who screams out instructions as much, and as loudly as Sreejesh does to tell us how to position ourselves to engage in man-to-man tackles. He has an energy that is infectious and even though he does not run as much as we do, he makes up for it with his vociferous encouragement and instructions."
Can Sreejesh inspire the Indians to conquer the hockey world at Bhubaneswar? As the seniormost member of the team, the Indian goalkeeper will have to play the role of guide and mentor as the hosts look to register their best-ever finish in four decades.
