Manuel Neuer beats Taffarel’s record and becomes the goalkeeper with the most games in World Cups

Despite Germany’s elimination from the World Cup, Manuel Neuer broke yet another record. He is now the tournament’s most capped goalkeeper, beating compatriot Sepp Maier and Brazilian Claudio Taffarel. Neuer is 19 while the other two are 18.

At the age of 36, Neuer competed in his fourth World Cup in Qatar. The trajectory began in South Africa, in 2010, when he debuted in a 4-0 victory against Australia. His highest point was in Brazil, in 2014, with the title. He became Germany’s captain in 2016, but he has racked up failures in both 2018 and this year, with exits still in the group stage.

Germany’s performance this year has been below expectations. The team suffered a turnaround from Japan in the first round, drew with Spain and even beat Costa Rica, but needed to build a very high goal difference to qualify.

“We didn’t expect to see Japan win [a Espanha], it’s like a horror movie for us,” said Kai Havertz. “We have to be honest: the last five years things haven’t gone very well, and it’s our fault. We can only take responsibility. Hopefully things change soon.”

Neuer was also part of a protest against FIFA’s decision to ban the use of a rainbow and diversity armband. Before the match against Japan, for group E of the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, the eleven starting players posed for the official photo with their hand over their mouth, in a sign of censorship.

“With our captain’s armband, we wanted to set an example for the values ​​we live by in the national team: diversity and mutual respect. This is not a political message: human rights are not negotiable”, said the German federation in a note on the networks social.

In the note, the selection states that the decision to bar the armband was like “banning our mouths. Our stance remains”.