Germany safe in the hands of Matuschak

Germany owes a lot to Lothar Matuschak.

The 66-year-old is barely known outside of German goalkeeping circles, and certainly not for his spell between the sticks at Bundesliga 2 side Westfalia Herne in the late-1970s.

But since 1995, he has been Schalke’s goalkeeping coach, and he is the man who persuaded the club not to reject Germany number one Manuel Neuer despite his size.

“They wanted to get rid of him as he was very small but I fought them and told them he had to stay,” he said. “He grew and became Schalke’s greatest ever goalkeeper.”

Despite opposition from Sepp Maier and Oliver Kahn, Neuer could also become Germany’s greatest ever goalkeeper. The 28-year-old cemented his status as the world’s best with two more outstanding saves from Paulinho in Germany’s semi-final rout of Brazil. In this World Cup, Neuer’s saves have almost become routine: his stop from Karim Benzema in the quarter-final was outstanding, while he was man of the match for his aggressive ‘sweeper-keeper’ performance against Algeria in the Round of 16.

And yet it could all have been very different. Neuer was 13 when Matuschak spotted him, but at that stage, Schalke had dropped him from their regional team, and wanted to release him. “He was the opposite of a goalkeeper, from a physical point of view. But he compensated for that with his intelligence, and also because of his willingness to keep learning and working when he was in goal.”

Matuschak took him to a paediatrician see how tall he’d become. The paediatrician said 1m 90cm. Neuer is now 1m 93cm.

Matuschak likes his goalkeepers to contribute to the team’s outfield play as well, and has a regular coaching exercise in which his young players have to throw balls at three small goals stationed on the halfway line. This is where Neuer always excelled. “Manuel has unusual strength in his arms and would always find the goal in that exercise,” said Matuschak.

Matuschak’s influence is everywhere in the Bundesliga: in October 2012, he set a unique record when five starting goalkeepers on one Bundesliga weekend were trained by him: Mohamed Amsif (Augsburg), Christian Wetklo (Mainz), Patrik Ravkovsky (Nuremberg), Lars Unnerstall (Schalke) and Neuer (Bayern) — and they only let in three goals between them. Neuer’s goalkeeping coach at Bayern is Toni Tapalovic, another graduate of the Matuschak school.

“It’s true that German football gives more respect to the position of goalkeeper, we’ve always thought it a very important position,” Matuschak added. “Germany produces players who want to become goalkeepers because they feel that goalkeepers are important for the team.”

The last Germany side to reach a World Cup final was captained by Oliver Kahn, who almost single-handedly helped them get there. In the final, though, he spilled a shot that led to Ronaldo scoring for Brazil.

“Manuel never saw Kahn as a model for his goalkeeping, but he did watch the likes of Lehmann and Van der Sar a lot,” said Matuschak. The scary thing is that Matuschak thinks Neuer can get even better. “He has the capabilities, and he has the desire for it.” Don’t be surprised if we see the first goalkeeper to have a World Cup final assist on Sunday.