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How to Save a Penalty Shot In Soccer

At no other time in the game does a goalie’s blood pressure rise higher than when a penalty shot is taken at the goal. After all, during a game there are defenders who will do their level best to ensure that nobody comes too close to the goal, yet during a penalty kick, the opposing player and the goalie are the only participants. And since the kick is taken from about twelve yards away, the odds of its hitting the goal are more than just good.

Penalty kicks may occur at any time during the game when a foul is incurred against the other team within their 18 yard box. Because penalty kicks almost always result in goals, these kinds of goals are the easiest to score, and it is not at all surprising that players will at times attempt to manipulate the system to score a penalty kick for their team against the opponents, by purposely either running into the path of another player or by employing theatrics to goad a referee into believing their have been fouled.

What makes the shot so hard for a goalie to capture is the fact that she or he will have to remain on the goal-line between the posts until after the ball is kicked. This only affords her or him a split-second to make a decision where to dive to. Soccer tips on how to save a penalty shot are plentiful, and it is not surprising that each goal coach has his or her own philosophy on how to stop the guaranteed goal from happening.

A goalie has to understand two things about a penalty kick: it will happen quickly, and there is only a split second after the kick to decide on a side.

The only way a goal keeper will be able to defend against this kind of kick is by making his or her best guess as to where the ball will go. There is no scientific method of ascertaining the trajectory of the ball, or the corner for which the kicker may be aiming.

Veteran players have devised a number of strategies, such as studying their opponents closely. Very often a player has a sweet spot that he will try to aim for whenever he or she will have the opportunity to take a penalty kick. When the goalie knows of this habit, it will be much easier to guess in which corner the ball will most likely be headed. In addition to the foregoing, little bits of information, such as whether a player is right or left handed, whether she or he may have some superstitions, and even if she or he is using a pattern in other games, will frequently be considered as extremely helpful to a goalie.

Some goalies have found that many players will actually aim their kicks to a certain spot in the net rather than just kicking toward the goal in general. Keeping this in mind, the goalies are then able to see which leg the player will kick with, and thereby calculate the ball’s trajectory. While this may not be foolproof, it is the closest to scientific methodology a goalie can get. Adding to this the psychology of the game, for example it is common knowledge that most kickers who will kick with their right legs will also aim to the left, a goalie may stay closer to the goal post away from the left than to the one which is on the side for which the kicker will most likely aim, thus giving her or him the illusion of a bigger entry surface. In reality, the goalie is ready to pounce on the ball the second the kick has occurred, and by anticipating the left side, the goalie will begin moving in that direction before she or he had even a chance to process the information.

Of course, the reverse is sometimes the case as well. Seasoned kickers notice when a goalie is trying to offer them a corner of the net on a silver platter, and may try something different to throw off the goalie.

Some goalies have come to the conclusion that the weight bearing foot almost always points in the direction of the kick. For this reason they pay no attention to the leg with which the player will be kicking the ball, but instead they will look for the direction of the weight bearing foot.

Of course, some penalty kicks have become a matter of psychological warfare between the kicker and the goalie. Both parties are trying hard to unsettle the other, and it is not uncommon to see them wink at each other, making little jerky movements in an effort to out-fake each other.

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