Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann has been announced as the goalkeeping coach for the World XI at Sunday’s Soccer Aid match at Old Trafford.
Soccer Aid is one of the highest profile sporting charity events of the year, and usually draws a huge crowd both at the stadium and on terrestrial TV.
Austrian international Bachmann was named as part of the coaching squad of World XI manager Mauricio Pochettino, alongside Robbie Keane, Line of Duty star Martin Compston and former Spice Girl Mel C.
Curiously, one of the World XI’s goalkeepers is Bachmann’s former Watford teammate Ben Foster, who is actually an England international.
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Bachmann was back-up to Foster for most of his time at the club until the former Man Utd keeper left last summer.
Foster was criticised by Watford chairman Scott Duxbury about his use of a Go-Pro camera when he spoke to the Watford Observer a year ago.
Since leaving Vicarage Road, Foster has come out of retirement to play the last eight games of the season for Wrexham, who won the National League and were promoted to League Two.
Bachmann, who has 13 caps for his country, became the first choice keeper at Watford this season, keeping €5m signing Maduka Okoye out of the team when he arrived in the summer.
The Soccer Aid match, played to raise funds for Unicef, is competitive but not the most serious of games of the season.
It’s hard to know exactly how much coaching Bachmann will be getting involved in and, with the rules of the match stating that each team must field a celebrity goalkeeper in the second half, he may find that’s where he needs to spend most of his time.
The World XI haven’t confirmed who their celebrity keeper will be this year: last year it was Scotsman Tom Stoltman, twice winner of World’s Strongest Man.
Among the other star names in the World XI team are Usain Bolt, Roberto Carlos, Francesco Totti and Gabriel Batistuta.
The England team will be managed by Harry Redknapp and Emma Hayes, and their goalkeeping coach will be David Seaman. England also have Line of Duty star Vicky McClure and grime artist Stormzy on their coaching staff.
Among the England squad of players are Euro 2022 winner Jill Scott, former Watford keeper David James, Sir Mo Farah, Jermaine Defoe and Danny Dyer.
The game will be shown live on ITV1, with coverage starting at 6.30pm on Sunday.
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