By Andy Hampson, PA Sport

You have to feel sorry for Gordon Banks.

As if winning the World Cup in 1966 was not enough, he had to wait until he produced 'that' save from Pele four years later to carve his name into folklore.

How standards have dropped. These days goalkeepers seem to be able to make their names by far easier and less conventional means.

Certainly, in the case of Fabien Barthez, all he found he needed to do to create one of the tournament's lasting images was get kissed on the head by Laurent Blanc.

The pictures of the French duo embracing four years ago are almost as well remembered now as those of the cup being lifted itself.

Barthez is not the only keeper to have his mark by literally using his head either. At USA '94, Borislav Mikhailov stunned everyone by radically changing his image mid-tournament.

At first, few had cause to comment on the Bulgarian stopper's receding hairline, but that all changed when he trotted out for one of the later games with a full head of hair.

As toupees go it was not a bad one, but the change could hardly have been less subtle.

Four years earlier in Italy, it was the cascading locks of Rene Higuita which caught everyone's attention.

It was during that tournament that the Colombia number one set new standards for goalkeeping lunacy by introducing the world to the 'sweeper-keeper'.

Giving the defenders an extra hand may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it certainly did not look too clever when Cameroon's Roger Miller, grinning all the way, robbed him on the halfway line and coolly tucked the ball home.

Five years later, Higuita turned to acrobatics to keep himself in the limelight, producing his memorable 'Scorpion' back kick to beat away a Jamie Redknapp cross during a friendly at Wembley.

Goalkeepers have also been known to help out up front and in 1998, the odds on seeing a goal from one of them looked good with Peter Schmeichel and Jose Luis Chilavert both involved.

But whilst Schmeichel has only netted the occasional goal during his career, Paraguay star Chilavert is something else.

He takes all the team's close-range free-kicks and penalties and has over 50 strikes to his name. Football will not be the end of him either. The man almost as much renowned for his fiery temper next plans to become Paraguay president.

When it comes to colourful characters however, few can match Mexico's Jorge Campos. The technicolour monstrosities that were his self-designed shirts in 1994 and 1998 guaranteed him fame, not to mention notoriety.

But where notoriety is concerned, no-one can really hold a candle to Harald Schumacher.

The 1982 semi-final between France and West Germany is remembered as a World Cup classic, although Patrick Battiston may have cause to disagree.

The French substitute was knocked unconscious as Schumacher raced out of his goal with all the haste of his current-day Formula One namesakes and made little attempt to play the ball.

The foul became known as football's crime of the century and Schumacher beat Adolf Hitler in a French poll to find the world's most hated man.

To make matters worse for France, the referee ignored the foul and gave a goal-kick. Schumacher would later win the match with two saves in the penalty shootout. Now, how crazy is that?