CHENNAI: “A striker can miss nine chances, score one, and be the hero. We can have nine amazing saves, make a last-minute mistake, and suddenly we're at zero," Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois once was quoted saying this a few years ago. That turned to reality when Senne Lammens, his deputy, had to replace him midway through Belgium’s World Cup quarterfinal match against Spain. With the game level at 1-1, Lammens spilled a powerful shot off Pau Cubarsi into the path of Mikel Merino, who slotted the ball in the 88th minute to knock Belgium out of the tournament. The criticisms followed. Zlatan Ibrahimovic called him an ‘overrated keeper.’
As goals are scored at record-pace, goalkeepers in the ongoing World Cup, at large, remain in the shadows. While they are trained to be mentally stern and not hold any emotional baggage, small, key factors, hold them back. One of them is the match ball itself.
It may not be as 'frightening' as the Jabulani in 2010, but the Trionda, the official match ball for this year, has been a subject of debate. With the ongoing tournament witnessing more shots from outside, and correspondingly the most goals scored so far (41), former goalkeepers have claimed that reading the ball as a keeper has not been the easiest.
Former England No 1 Joe Hart explained how goalkeepers' calculations have gone wrong. “When they hit flat shots, which do not spin, that is when goalkeepers are losing their timing. When the ball is hit like that, they are not picking up as quickly off the foot,” he had said in a video put out by BBC. “In any situation, you make quick calculations in your head. But that is not coming into play when the shots are hit with less spin. I feel the ball is coming onto the guys a little bit quicker than it looks off the foot. With top goalkeepers, if the shot comes slightly off the right or left, you calculate in the head, how much of a hand you need to keep out fully, or get a fingertip, or tip it over or wide,” he explains with the Trionda ball. Then, he adds, “But it is not quite not matching up their calculations to where the ball hits. For example, rather than tipping it wide, it is catching the top or the bottom of the hand, and not doing what they usually do with it.”
“Hey, why are you only making the balls for the strikers?,” Former goalkeeping great Oliver Kahn recalled a conversation he had with the manufacturer, Adidas in 1994. That, the Zee5 expert believes, continues to be the trend, with balls getting "faster and faster."
"I remember a ball in Euro 2004. I think it was a silver ball, it made absolutely weird movements in the air, but that's what they wanted. So the game should always be more complex for the goalkeeper, especially with set pieces and corners. So life as a goalkeeper, I think, is quite hard,” he said in an interaction facilitated by the broadcaster.
Goalies have edge in pens
But one advantage Kahn believes keepers have is in the penalties. Unlike his era, where keepers had little to no chance of saving a penalty, the custodian between the sticks have data to rely on. “You cannot compare a penalty in a World Cup with a penalty in a league game or somewhere else, because the pressure on the penalty takers is enormous. And maybe there lies a big chance for the goalkeeper,” he explained. “But nevertheless,” he said, “if the taker is clear and makes a strong penalty, then the keeper has no chance,” he said.
Yassine Bounou of Morocco is a living example of how goalkeepers capitalise on pressure. His judgement of the Dutch penalty taker in Morocco’s shootout victory in the round of 32 has captured the imaginations of many, including India No 1 Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who is also part of the expert panel. “He did things which usually keepers don't do, which is move in the goal without diving when the penalty is being taken. Sandhu believed that the Moroccan No 1 had done his ‘homework’ properly. “I also feel, as a keeper, it's a bit easier if homework is done in terms of who the penalty takers are in the other team. And if the game is being played in regular time, if this guy is talking, then this is what he usually does. His run-up is like that and that's what he thinks. So, I think homework helps and Bounou has been one of them that has done it well," he explained.