While it was great to see Jozy Altidore continue his exploits in front of goal for the USMNT (and Toronto FC...seriously, how disfunctional is Sunderland??) the back four continued to struggle.
Here's the highlights ... see the bottom of the page for some good video breakdown on the US back line:
To be fair, it's lots harder to get the group play ironed out than to find the big target forward, but there is a disconcerting trend of USMNT squads with underwhelming center back pairings. This goes back to Alexi Lalas and Thomas Dooley...but think of Matt Besler getting torched twice by Belgium in the Round of 16 in Brazil...
In this space the global shortage of excellent center backs has been touched on before through the lens of Arsene Wenger...
When asked whether there was a lack of top class defenders to buy in the last transfer window, Wenger said: "That is exactly [the issue], you sum it up very well...There is not a lot on the market and if you look at the other clubs, they had exactly the same problem. If you went anywhere, everybody is looking for defenders."
I've written before in this space about PKs and the aspects of that situation that the GK can have some control over (read that post - with video - here). Young goalkeepers dread it, but there's a few strategies they can learn easily to help their cause. Here we'll take out the notion of "knowing" the opponent, as youth level GKs simply won't have pre-kick information. At the top level it's all game theory, as Edwin Van Der Sar found out after he joined Man U (which was late in his career...odd to get good advice so late in his career):
So, what does a kid have going for herself if not video to analize, and other sources of information to cull through for tips on where a given shooter will aim? Most importantly is the mental strength to accept the probability of failure, but still make a great effort. This skill is lost on too many young players, but it's particularly crucial in a PK situation for GKs. Without some information to work with, it's guesswork, and there are abundant theories as to what to look for prior to the contact of foot to ball. Any GK hoping to stop PKs should be talking with other GKs, coaches, and even shooters to get some idea of cues might help. There are theories pertaining to where the shooter looks last, which foot moves first after the whistle, the angle at which the shooter runs to the ball, and so on. After the years I've put in, I'd offer that any theory a GK believes in, is a good one; confidence is the key.
One theme that penalty saves seems to have is that they are almost all low balls. The odd 36" or higher shot will get saved, but the majority are saved below that mark. So, a GK ought to be able to dive low and explosively...all that is needed is good technique to cover to the post. Harder for the shorter kids, but not impossible. Remember, too, that any ref will take enough pity that the GK can usually step one long step forward prior to the kick (but only just...don't take advantage of the official's largesse!), thereby giving some momentum to the GK, as well as trimming down the angle ever so slightly.
Here's the 2015 matchup of Bayer Leverkusen V. Athletico Madrid in the Champions League:
The GKs at the 2013 Confederations Cup gave some great examples. But do recall that they will have had scouting information of varying qualities. For an amateur GK, the trick is to go as hard as these GKs do, and just accept that whatever method used to choose the side to go to, is still just a guess. At least a couple will go the other way, and that'll sting.
If you didn't see the Man City tie with Barca, go find the two legs on foxsoccer2go.com or the app by the same name. Two terrific matches. One player who simply towers above the rest:
A measure of Messi's greatness is that he makes world class players like Aguero and Suarez look distinctly ordinary by comparison.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 18, 2015
Even the commentators said very softly at one point (as one of their undoubtedly beloved English clubs was being shredded) something to the effect of "just sit and enjoy him."
Just to add my two cents, here's a heat map of Messi's first 400 professional goals:
For all the goals, and all the glory, it's remarkable how concentrated even an all-time-great's goals are. Of the 41 free play goals scored in zone 13, all but two or three were struck from the arc (22 yards from goal) or less and none were wider than the 6 yard area (central 22 yards). He's great, in part, because he has the ability to get to these areas with the ball over and over and over. Either by running without the ball in ways that his teammates can find him, or by carrying the ball ever so cleverly into those spaces...so simple, but as with all true genius, it is the very simplicity that belies the gifts.
Oh, and yeah, if Messi is shut out in a game, as City managed to do in the second leg...he'll just pick up the game-winning assist:
Youth GKs kill me The adults who allow/encourage this sort of thing kill me when youth GKs camp out under the crossbar of their goal for the full match. A very wise GK coach I work with time to time advised me the other day that a good teacher of the game will train a young GK for the way they will play as an adult, and simply accept the consequences at the youth level that will bring. Meaning, play high off the goal line where appropriate, and understand that a 4-foot-10 kid will give up goals over their head...but when they're 18, stand closer (or hopefully over) six feet tall, those'll be easy saves. "Positioning should be based on where they are going to evolve to...not based on short-term success."
At any rate, take a gander at Ter Stegen's starting position on this cross by Man City's Navas in the 61st minute. In the first still image, Navas has just received the ball off a Barca turnover just in front of the technical area visible at the bottom of the screen:
Ter Stegen can be seen seven or eight yards off his line, and doesn't flinch much as he knows the odds of a successful shot from this location are virtually nil.
Here the cross has just been struck, Ter Stegen will be well aware there's one runner in the area...this means that so long as Ter Stegen & Co. don't allow him to get the ball, there is no danger whatsoever. This is liberating for a GK of his quality as it means he can go anywhere and take all manner of risk so long as the one danger man is dealt with:
Navas has to hit the target, a teammate running on an angle some 25 or 30 yards away, all while missing the Barca player trying to block the cross...not easy (Navas was 0-4 in his substitute shift on crosses). Ter Stegen, for his part, leaves a small opening at the front post to shoot at (and if Navas declines to go at goal here, so will every other mortal soccer player) and his boldness pays off as he takes a couple steps to his right and forward and makes a relatively easy catch. Of course, any error in his handling and it's trouble, but there's risk in everything.
All too often young GKs are instantly back on their line when possession is lost, especially as in this case when the turnover occurs in their own half, and thus this type of easy catch is never made...and while the play wasn't particularly dangerous for Barcelona, had Ter Stegen started too deep, that ball was directly in the path of the runner who was very clearly onside.
