SolveYourProblem
Article Series: Soccer
Teach Me About Soccer
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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SolveYourProblem.com
: 2009
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