David Beckham Goal Vs. Sydney FC: What’s a Goalkeeper To Do?

Hollywood rained down on Sydney last night, as David Beckham brought along his L.A. Galaxy entourage for a toe-to-toe with Sydney FC. It was great to see 80,000 + fans at a packed Telstra Stadium, and although it was more like an all in brawl at times, the game showed the ‘bend’ that Becks is so famous for, much to the delight of the rumbling crowd.

Sydney FC dominated but it wasn’t about the A-League (and it’s kind of sad), but more about the travelling one man multi million dollar extravaganza that is David Beckham (I even got to see Ruud Gullit). Following is that “bend” that so many women in the crowd last night were seemingly craving for:

Beckham’s goal shows some extremely important aspects of goalkeeping, and although Clint Bolton did well to read the shot, there was nothing much a goalkeeper could do with it (the following points aren’t pointed toward Bolton at all, just a way to assess some of the finer points of a free kick situation):

• Build Your Wall Right The First Time: The wall is your fortress and being able to strategically place your defensive players at the right place in the right time, is half your job done…unless your playing against Beckham or Carlos in his hey day! Regardless, being able to communicate effectively, use strong and clear hand signals (handy in a crowd of 80,000 people) and positioning yourself in the right place (we cover this extensively in our free 10 week course), is a sure bet for any goalkeeper to fend off a tricky free kick attempt.

• In The 18 Yard Box…No One Can Hear You Scream! Being able to talk over noise, and carry your message effectively to your outfield players is vital to the free kick situation. This is were the afore mentioned use of hand signals come into play. If your defense can’t hear you, they can certainly see your hands directing them toward the best position to stand and defend.

• Get a Better View: Navigating your defensive players effectively with a wall, allows you to have a clear view of attack. Making sure that you have a focal view of where the point of attack is coming from. This is important so that you can attack the ball more economically and effectively.

It was a goal with all the glitz and glam associated with Beckham (have I mentioned Sydney FC anywhere in this post?), but it was also great to see my old goalkeeping companion Ivan Necevski get a second half run. Ivan and I played and trained side by side with each other at Marconi in the old Australian National Soccer League back in 1998-1999. It was good to see him lean and mean, and great to see that he gets more of a chance to ply his trade and hopefully we’ll see more of him over the coming few seasons.