Despite another error, write off ter Stegen at your peril

Ahead of Germany’s first Euro 2016 match against Ukraine next Sunday, Bundestrainer Joachim Löw has tested his options for his second choice goalkeeper. Criticism of Marc-André ter Stegen has been unfair.

Obviously, Manuel Neuer is unassailable as number one at this point, but just in case of injury it is useful to know who could do a good job if called upon.

The battle, currently, is between Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen and Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno; Sunday’s friendly against Slovakia in Augsburg provided another twist to the tale.

TODAY 31-05-2016 RECOMMENDED SURE-BET.
‪#‎GET_Filtered_Soccer_Match With 1.70-1.75
ODDS Daily. BET $10 And Roll-Over To EARN
$410 In Every 7 Days.1OO% STREAMS Of
INCOME You Can Trust. Call +234 7046498734
Now. Terms & Conditions apply.
MATCH STARTS BY 12:00GMT(12:00pm).
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK TO GET EVERYDAY WINING GAME https://m.facebook.com/Soccer-Explorers-Sports-25508669816…/
International Friendly Games:
Luxembourg - Nigeria
12@ 1.20
Vietnam - Syrian Arab Republic
(2:0) 1 H@ 1.23
Zimbabwe - Uganda
(0:2) 2 H@ 1.15
Serbia - Israel
1@ 1.48
Austria - Malta
(0:1) 1 H@ 1.23
Republic of Ireland - Belarus
1X@ 1.08
International Friendly Games, Women:
Hungary - Bosnia & Herzegovina
1@ 1.60
Italy Serie B, Promotion Playoffs:
Trapani - Spezia
(2:0) 1 H@ 1.07
1034 Premier League:
Enppi Club - Al Ittihad Al Sakandary
1X@ 1.13
Greece Super League, Playoffs:
Panionios Athens - AEK Athens FC
(0:2) 2 H 1.13
PAOK Saloniki - Panathinaikos
Athens
(2:0) 1 H@ 1.04
Isreal
National League, Relegation/Promotion:
Hapoel Jerusalem - SC Kfar Qasem
(2:0) 1 H@ 1.05
Russia PFL:
Strogino - FK Dolgoprudny
X2@ 1.28
FK Kolomna - Volga Tver
1@ 2.48
FC Pskov - 747 - Solaris
1X@ 1.47
Spartak Kostroma - Domodedovo
1@ 1.72
FC Torpedo Vladimir - FC
Tekstilshchik Ivanovo
1X@ 1.30
Dnepr Smolensk - Znamya Truda
1X@ 1.12
FC Chelyabinsk - FC Nosta
Novotroitsk
12@ 1.23
FC Volga Ulyanovsk - Dinamo Kirov
1X@ 1.07
Odd 122.52
Amount 5,000 ₦
Bonus 214,414.33 ₦
Potential winning 827,026.71 ₦
BOOKING NUMBER only for bet9ja.com and available for residence in NIGERIA. NQ2R8N. This game is +18 and every bettor assumes the risk involved.(+18) ‪#‎Everyone_is_responsible_for_any_loss_incured.Thisgameis not 100% sure. Our 1000%sure games are 5 ODDs. Call +234 7046498734

The mistake

After an elongated half time break during Sunday evening’s game, thanks to stormy weather in Augsburg, ter Stegen replaced Leno in the Germany goal as a substitute. With one of his first involvements, the former Mönchengladbach man allowed a seemingly easy shot from Juraj Kucka squirm through his legs and over the line.

It goes without saying that this is, in regular cases, a bread and butter save for a goalkeeper at most levels of the professional game. Let alone for a goalkeeper with bags of talent, playing to be second fiddle to Manuel Neuer in the German national team.

What has happened though, at least according to much of the coverage in the media but particularly on social media by some commentators such as Twitter, is a de-contextualisation of the event.

The pitch was not just wet; it was soaked through. If you watched the second half of the game, you realise that the playing surface was, as a result of the storm, not conductive to a proper football match being played.

This affected the events of the game in a number of ways; Slovakian attacks were in some cases halted by the sodden pitch ahead of Germany’s goal, while the game itself became somewhat of a farce.

The wet pitch, wet ball and ter Stegen’s wet gloves, teamed with an unfortunate bobble in front of the goal, made a tame effort by Kucka a difficult task to handle.

The context

Now, this isn’t to absolve ter Stegen of all blame. Despite his mistake being understandable in many ways, the goal conceded still counts as an error against his name, and ter Stegen has had prior.

Back in a 2013 tour of the USA, on his second full international appearance, Benedikt Höwedes played a seemingly inconspicuous backpass to ter Stegen. Under pressure from an unrushing Jermaine Jones, he took a less-than-deft touch which diverted the ball into the goal.
At club level, he did much the same from an altogether worse backpass by former Borussia colleague Filip Daems against Braunschweig a year later.

Those two mistakes have clearly been learnt from. Ter Stegen’s looked assured with the ball at his feet ever since. In fairness, he always has been, with those two lapses in concentration perhaps the only notable moments in which you would doubt that he is an incredible sweeper-keeper,if tuning in without any knowledge of the Barça custodian as a player. The reputation however prevails.

Many point to the fact that ter Stegen has now conceded fourteen goals in six games while wearing Germany’s colours. This in itself is a stupid metric by which to judge his worth to the national team. Ter Stegen’s six caps to date have all come in international friendlies, games in which Joachim Löw has experimented with the core of his team.

Sunday saw Löw’s men play a 3-1-4-2 formation, a system virtually untried during qualification. On balance, probably won’t be the system employed against Ukraine, or in subsequent games against Poland or Northern Ireland.

Otherwise, there probably won’t be any more games to try the system in – Germany would crash out. This level of experimentation is not unheard of and was, for example, also the case during ter Stegen’s international debut (a 5-3 loss to Switzerland).

Even ignoring all of this, since 2013, ter Stegen has conceded just two goals for his country. The sample size – three games – is admittedly miniscule, but bashing ter Stegen’s future chances for Germany on the basis of six games thus far is absolutely ridiculous.

Thankfully, it appears that Löw understands what ter Stegen’s managers at club level have seen in the 24-year old so far. His long-term future in the national setup should be secure.

The future

This is just the thing: ter Stegen is young and talented. At 24, the Mönchengladbach-born goalkeeper has 174 games behind him in professional football stretching over five years. He has been a key player in the reignition of Borussia as a footballing force in the top half of the Bundesliga. He has won the Champions League for Barcelona, a club who coveted his signature for over two years before his eventual move in 2014.

There are reports that ter Stegen should finally overhaul his club teammate and positional rival Claudio Bravo at the beginning of next season. This makes sense. Bravo is another good goalkeeper, but with time ter Stegen can become an absolute sensation and perhaps one day even better than Neuer. It is easy to forget that until reaching his 27^th birthday, Manuel Neuer was an error-prone, ridiculously talented goalkeeper with number one status at a top club.

Don’t write off ter Stegen because of a stupid, understandable error in a meaningless game against Slovakia. It is a one-way ticket to looking stupid further down the line. His pedigree is too strong, his talent too obvious, and future far too bright for ter Stegen not to go down as one of Germany’s goalkeeping greats.

CREDIT TO:http://www.bayerncentral.com/2016/05/ter-stegen-goal-slovakia-opinion/