Spain’s World Cup experience in Brazil was a massive disappointment in the end with the 2010 champions being eliminated in the first round.
And it was a pretty traumatic time for Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas, who shipped five goals in the loss to Holland, and another two against Chile, before being dropped from the side as La Roja ended with a 3-0 win over Australia.
But among the doom and gloom surrounding recent events, by playing in two games Casillas became the Spanish player with the most ever appearances in World Cup finals.
His two games took him to 17 in total, one more than former goalkeeper Zubizarreta, and two ahead of Barcelona man Xavi, who has most likely made his last ever appearance in the Spain shirt following his country’s exit.
Casillas has featured in four World Cup tournaments – South Korea in 2002, Germany in 2006, and South Africa in 2010 before the current version in Brazil. In total, he was on the winning side eight times. He drew four matches and was on the losing team on five occasions.
In terms of the overall number of appearances made in World Cup finals, he still has some way to go. Casillas is four behind Diego Maradona, six away from legendary Italy defender Paolo Maldini, and eight short of Luther Matthäus who tops the list.
Short but very good article based on facts. Iker Casillas is a unique and marvellous goalkeeper. Spain’s farewell from the 2014 FIFA World Cup like this has indeed been a great disappointment. Someone even made a video about it on youtube and wrote a special version of the song Tragedy to this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQb0C0gjea0