Gordon Banks : England's Last Line Of defense
To be the best you have bear the best.
England vs Brazil. In the second match of the group stage of the 1970 World Cup in front of 55,110 supporters at the Estadio Jalisco Stadium in Mexico. In that event, Brazil was one of the hot contenders of the World Cup. Defending champions Sir Bobby Charlton, Gordon Banks, Terry Cooper, Alan Mulleri's England would face a Brazil team of Jairzinho, Pele, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto.
Understandably, England's play against Brazil will undoubtedly be quite the show. In fact, England goalkeeper Gordon Banks was holding the Brazilian warhorse at bay all alone that day. Blocking Pele and Jairzinho's shot, Gordon Banks literally sent the challenge Brazil's way. Jairzinho suddenly got the ball and he collected it near the touchline of the right wing. He then pulls the ball and crosses diagonally aimed at Pele who was in the box. Gordon Banks saved the team with a great save after pele beated a defender and gave a perfectly powerful head. The moment was like this, Pele's powerful header bounced right in front of the goal line, then Gordon Banks reflected the ball on rebound.
The legendary goalkeeper was born on December 30, 1937 in Sheffield, England.
Gordon Banks was consistently a good performer in the goalkeeping position. His shot stopping ability was great. Most likely he had the best reflex ability in the entirety of the previous century. In his time, he was considered one of the best goalkeepers of all time. Moreover, Banks' positioning sense in front of goal was remarkable. It was mainly because of these qualities that he was far ahead of the others. The beginning of the football career of this legendary goalkeeper was not so easy. Yes it's pretty obvious at this point. He began his professional career at Chesterfield. Although there he stayed only 1 season. From there he joined Leicester City. The story of his turning point begins at Leicester City. His early days at Leicester City were very difficult. He started his career as a reserve goalkeeper for Leicester in the 1959-60 season. McLaren was Leicester City's main goalkeeper at the time. Leicester coach gave Banks a chance between the sticks due to a sudden injury to McLaren. His side drew 1-1 in his debut match for Leicester and lost 2-0 to Newcastle United in the next match. After McLaren returned to the team after recovering from injury, Leicester City conceded 14 goals in the first 5 matches. Due to such a poor performance of the goalkeeper, the coach saw to it that Banks is playing again. Leicester then suffered a huge defeat to Everton while Banks was the goalkeeper. However, even though the team lost, Banks' improvement in each match was noticeable.
Banks worked hard at the training ground to strengthen his position, and at the end of the day he did extra training. He would solve his own mistakes by himself. Because, at that time, there was no special goalkeeping coach like in today's world. But Gordon Banks won't give up that easily. He has not looked back since then and has played 293 matches in his entire Leicester City career. Along the way they won a league cup. Gordon was in great form at the 1966 World Cup and suddenly Leicester released him. After that he later joined Stoke City. There too he impressed Stoke City fans with his goalkeeping skills. He played 194 matches throughout Stoke City's career and won another League Cup there. He retired in 1977 after playing for a few more clubs.
Banks has performed well for his clubs as well as for the England national team. He won the World Cup, the highest crown in football for England. And this gentleman has quietly fulfilled his responsibility to help England win the World Cup. He has not conceded a goal in four consecutive World Cup matches against Uruguay, Mexico, North Korea and Argentina. Keeping a clean sheet of 4 matches in a row in the World Cup is not a joke at all. Despite conceding one goal each to Portugal in the semi finals and to Russia in the final, he played a key role in helping the team become world champions. He got a place in the best XI of the World Cup that year. Banks also played a key role in helping England reach third place in the 1968 Euro Cup. He has been named FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year six times in a row from 1966 to 1971 for his consistent performances for club and country.
He played 63 matches for England in his entire career. His outstanding save against Pele in the 1970 World Cup is arguably the best one. Banks has been given the status of a legend in his lifetime. A feat not so easy to achieve. This gentleman reached the peak of his popularity by saving Pele's goal in the World Cup match between Brazil and England in a spectacular way. It's also considered the best save of the century. Banks is the second best goalkeeper of the twentieth century according to the International Federation of Football and History and Statistics.
If Gordon Banks had survived, he would have celebrated his 84th birthday today! But legends never die.