Getting Beat From Far, Far Away…

Has it happened to you? The goal that you felt a turkey could gobble up nice and easy, and an eagle could spot from a couple of miles away, but somehow, miraculously, slid past you into the back of the net? It happens to the best (whatever you consider the best to be) goalkeepers on the planet. Today I was browsing the online Croatian news and discovered this 60 metre effort in the Polish league that left one hapless goalkeeper befuddled and his team mates baying for some blood.

Michal Peskovic of Polonia copped this fantastic effort from Tomasz Hajto of Gornik Zabrezeu which left him curled up and dumbfounded in his goal:

Jokes aside, there are many facets that led to this goal, that could otherwise be overcome with some prior thought. Some of these suggestions listed are related to flaws in the human genetic makeup, whereas other can be prevented with a solid training plan:

React quickly, retract quickly: Peskovic seemed to react slowly to his defender being displaced, and while teetering around his 18 yard box, possibly did not think that his opposition would take a chance from such a distance. Regardless, being able to move back toward your goal quickly, or attack an opposing player (whatever the decision is you have to make), the goalkeeper should aim at moving as quickly as possible to defend a situation. All well and good to say, but the ability to quickly curb an attack comes down to really tight fitness and agility, something that Peskovic did not utilize to his advantage.

Limited Vision: In this article we discussed previously the inherent flaw in the human visual system that does not allow goalkeepers to decipher oncoming attack in situations like free kicks for example. Phenomena like the Magnus Force, which deviates the trajectory of the ball, or a simple split second loss of focus on the ball during attack can help manipulate the reaction of the goalkeeper. Hajto’s shot on goal could have also been well struck, enough to limit Peskovic’s vision of the ball. Nothing can really curb the effect of these flaws in the human visual system, other than training them to the best of your ability.

Getting Back To The Ball Is An Artform: I often talk about attacking the ball, but sometimes the goalkeeper needs to move backward to cut the flight of the ball during downward trajectory toward goal, and especially when they are caught off their line. Now, Peskovic’s technique was there, but the chink in his armour showed that instead of pushing the ball up over the bar, he pushed it back down into his own goal. Looking at the video points to Peskovic pushing the ball down into the net in an arc-like motion, where he should have pushed it up and away over his bar.

The key is not feeling like a dodo when goals such as the above effort pan out in a competitive match. Many of these fundamental flaws are well out of your reach like the human visual system for instance. Other facets of your game such as poor technique and utilizing powerful fitness prescriptions will iron out many of the above imperfections. Situations as shown in the above video can and do happen, being prepared will allow any goalkeeper to enhance the way they attack these types of situations with gusto.