Euro 2004 Where Are They Now?: The Keepers

This is where we take a look at the the 2004 Euros Team of the Tournament and look into their present contributions – if any – to this year’s edition. Starting out with the nutjobs between the sticks.

Keepers

Petr Cech (Czech Republic): Hard to believe he’s just 25, isn’t it? With his 26th birthday next month, it means he made the 2004 team at just 22 years old. A fantastic feat considering goalkeeping isn’t always a position which ripens early. Now? He’s better. Frightening for his Group A foes and a nice little safety blanket for the Czech defense. A Czech defense which conceded the fewest number of goals in qualifying. No, that had nothing to do with him. Nothin’. (Or maybe he did. Just maybe.)

Euro 2008 Impact: His name will almost surely be in competition for this list again, along with Gigi Buffon and Iker Casillas.

Antonios Nikopolidis (Greece): When a team like Greece makes a run like they did in 2004, chances are the goalkeeper is going to being hovering somewhere around the all-tourny team. Antonios is no spring chicken anymore, but he still gets the bulk of the work in between the posts. In a tough group, one including Spain, Russia & Zlatan, a repeat performance might be a bit much to ask.

Euro 2008 Impact: Old reliable, but it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be a game changer and thus back on this list.

Projected Keepers of the Tourny: Here’s the deal, if you’re going to throw money down on keepers of the tournament, the only logical choice is to pick Gigi Buffon and then flip a coin between Petr Cech and Saint Iker. I flipped a coin (honest) and it came up heads, which was Iker. Therefore….Gigi and Iker.