The Eagle Has Landed!

The future is now as Germany are hit by injury to Robert Enke. Not that I wanted any injury to Enke, as I think he is a fantastic keeper and seems like an all around good guy; however, he has broken his hand during the run up to this round of World Cup qualifiers for Germany.

So Bayer’s Rene Adler, who many writing this column have thought should have been starting back at the European Championship, will now take over for the upcoming games against Russia and Wales. While we in the Bundesliga have long known that Adler is one of the best keepers on the planet, the international exposure provides the platform for the rest of the world to get to know the kid from Leipzig.

I have always thought he was one big game away from super stardom. Last year Manuel Neuer’s performance against Porto in the Champions League started getting him notice on the continent. This is all that Adler needs. Adler had a similar performance in the UEFA Cup against Galatasaray last year, but it just wasn’t a big enough stage.

Now he goes to Russia to face a team that is strong in attack, with the likes of Andrei Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebnyak. Guus Hiddink’s side should give him ample opportunity to show his shot-stopping and distributing ability to the rest of Europe. And perhaps they will get a glimpse of why he will soon replace Buffon and Casillas as the best keeper in the world.