Goalkeepers

This poor kid from North Korea experiences enough tragedy and woe and heartbreak in this 42-second video to fill a Russian novel. Let's trace his journey.

First, the goalie appears. Then the ball appears. The ball is nowhere near the goalie. This confuses him and he starts running for the ball. But then he hesitates. Is this really what he wants? To get the ball? Or is it already too late. No, he decides. It's not too late. Besides, Kim Jong Un will probably be mad at me if I don't try hard, he reasons. You know how Kim Jon Un gets.

34-year-old journeyman keeper Brad Jones has thrust himself into the limelight this week. First, he kept a clean sheet in Feyenoord’s improbable Europa League victory over Manchester United. Then, in today’s Dutch Eredivisie match against PSV, Jones pulled off this amazing last-second save to preserve Feyenoord’s 1-0 advantage.

With literally the last action of the match, PSV looked certain to score from a towering header from five yards out. It was a thudding attempt that looked destined to fly in under the bar, only for Jones to claw it out.