Taffarel was very good... kicking technique was exquisite. Toward the end of his career he had one or two instances where he would get caught in no-man's land but to say he was error prone is harsh for me. In both WC '90 and '94 he was very solid....Also at the time he broke into the Serie A I believe he was one of the first, if not the first int'l goalkeeper to play in the Serie A....remember dem days had lots of restrictions on int'l players... He is also renowned to be a ridiculous pk stopper at the youth levels - def a Brazilian keeper of legendary status domestically.
Two things you reminded me here: I clean forget the man was Brazil's No.1 in Italy '90 and yes, he was solid in that tournament and I also forgot that he was (probably) the first international GK to play in Italy, which further lends itself to my point that he was no mere shithong. I was just coming to remind dinho of his heroics, too, in '98 when he practically put the dutch to sleep in the semifinal PK shoot out so one can say that he really did more than his part to get them to the final. I think dinho, yuh would make for a rel tough GK coach because even Barthez, to me, wasn't as bad as his critics made him out to be. I do believe he did get a free ride when he was awarded the best GK in France '98, an award that shoulda been pre-delivered to Chilavert that year but as eccentric and crazy as Barthez was, (probably affecting his decision-making at times) he was an exceptional shot-stopper with agility and reflexes to burn. Come to think of it.....I doh even think Barthez shoulda even be France's No.1 in that WC anyway.....Bernard Lama, I find was the better of the two.....but I digress...