Notes on highlights of Germany 3 Portugal 1 2006 World Cup
See: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060708/1/8ohc.html
5' Here a ball headed by a fellow German bounced to Kehl from in front of him 10 yds away from him from the 12 O'Clock angle from the direction his body was facing; he swiveled to hit it at the 2 O'Clock angle. When he started his kick the nearest Portuguese was 7 yds away from him at 2 O'Clock; by the time he contacted the ball, this Portuguese was 4 yds away, jumping in the air, wincing, preparing for the impact of the blasted ball.
Kehl shot from 15 yds from the Portugal goal. He got the shot to the inside of the Portuguese defender, it bounced twice as it hit the ground, it missed outside Portugal's left goalpost by a yard.
Kehl here showed the wisdom of volleying the ball towards the ground, because then you avoid firing over the crossbar. Problem was, that in the direction he shot it at there were a couple more Ports blocking the shot-path; the shot-path went as close as possible to them without hitting them; the shot-path ended missing the goalpost by 3 feet. Thus what Kehl was attempting here was the impossible--He shot in an area where it was actually not possible to get the shot on target without hitting a defender's body.
750 Klose raced forward and to his right to run down a ground ball from his right that was led to him, he stopped the ball and turned counter clockwise to face a Portuguese 2 yds to his left; he then dribbled once towards the goal and shot with his right foot. The ball missed outside Portugal's left goalpost by a yard. The ESPN announcers were up in arms about how Podolski, behind and to the left of Klose, was wide open for a pass. Sounds like they had read my earlier post about how Klose had ignored a wide open Podolski.
15' Sabrosa ground dribbled forward and to his right while Pauleta ran forward and to Sabrosa's left. Here the Ports refuted stereotypes by cleverly fooling the Germans. Pauleta ended up wde open as Portugal converted a 2 Ports on 3 Germans into a 1 Port on 0 Germans (the goalie does not count) situation.
Sabrosa reached the ball 25 yds from the german goal near the left outside corner of the penalty box, he dribbled once towards the goal, shot in the direction of Germany's left goalpost, The German goalie Kahn who was at the corner of the goalie box dove to his left to deflect the shot away. I would guess the goalie was 6 yds away from Pauleta when Pauleta shot, and a pursuing German was 3 yds to his right, when Pauleta shot the ball.
Seems there are situations where everyone expects a shot or a dribble and a shot, as with Kehl earlier, even though such a dribble and shot strategy has a low chance of success because the shooter is off to the side and the goalie has come out to cut down the angle and defenders are blocking off certain possible shot paths. This despite the fact that even the shooter is near the goal, and has an unimpeded pathway towards a part of the goal.
1937 Kehl 27 yds from Port goal in center of field, had ball time and space, shot chip over goalie who was out 4 yds in front of his goal at beginning of shot. The Port goalie jumped backwards and up to barely deflect the ball with his outstretched arm.
This incident showed how even when a goalie is out just four yards in front of his goal, he is vulnerable to a ball chipped over him; and it showed how it is difficult for goalies to judge chipped balls--had the goalie judged the ball correctly from the beginning, he would have first taken a step backwards and then jumped straight upwards, but what he ended up doing was awkwardly leaning backwards as he jumped upwards and backwards to extend his arm and punch the ball which would have gone into the goal had he missed it, away.
All this 2006 World Cup I have been talking about how it would be an improvement if there was more air-dribbling, bounce-dribbling, chipping. Balls shot off the air dribble are even harder for the goalie to judge than grounded chipped balls. Balls shot off the air dribble spin and bounce weirdly to further confuse goalies. In this instance the goalie was only 4 yd out in front of his goal when the chip shot that made him stagger like an awkward puppet was launched at him. But when Klose of Germany and Sabrosa of Portugal missed chances close in from the side earlier in the game, the goalies were 10 yds away from the center of their goal line!!!
5530 Germany scores-- Schweinsteiger dribbled on a diagonal approx 12 yds towards the middle of the field and 3 yds backwards, ended up 27 yds from Portugal goal, in left middle, fired a shot that beat the goalie.
Portugal had vs France, been giving the famous Zidane a chance to shoot from this area and Zidane was not taking the shots. Schweinsteiger is not Zidane, also, he took a running right footed shot firing the ball to his left--you can get alot of power into such a shot.
I had remarked in an earlier post, how this 2006 World Cup attackers had been getting lanes allowing them to dribble parallel to the endline towards the middle of the field, but had not been taking advantage of such lanes, as if they like the defenders did not realize how moving parallel to the endline towards the middle of the field gets a player closer to the other team's goal.
6200 Deco's shot from 15 yds on the dribble in the middle was blocked by diving German goalie diving to his left. Notice how here the goalie engaged in the kind of dive that is used against penalty kicks. Goalies are well practiced vs. such penalty kick shots, for obvious reasons. But what appears even harder for them than the sideways dive of the type used to repel penalty kicks, are the type of dives used to deal with chipped shots--goalies are not well prepared by their practices for such chipped shots.
Here again Portugal worked its cunningly magical strategy, Ronaldo and Deco turned a two Ports vs four Germans situation into an open shot for a Port from just 15 yds away, as Deco ran to his right while the passer Ronaldo cut to Deco's left as he passed to Deco.
7700 here Ronaldo 15 yds from and to the left of the German goal fired a one touch volley at the German goalie who knocked it away. Everyone expects players to just shoot right away in such situations, but their situation is compromised because they are off to the side of the goal, the goalie has the angle of the shot cut down, defenders with their bodies are cutting off certain parts of the goal while the goalie cuts off the other part of the goal.
Ronaldo here could have flipped the ball that rolled towards him up in the air and started a short 10 yd air dribble run towards the middle of the field, caught all the defenders moving to his side of the field while he moved to the middle of the field, and then sent a chip shot or a weirdly spinnng bounced shot at the goalie from a more central position giving the goalie less chance to cut down the angle. But if he had done this most people would complain.
7730 Germany scores-- Schweinsteiger 50 yds from the Port goal, on the left side, dribbled forwards and to the middle of the field on a diagonal until he was 30 yds from the Port goal in the left middle area. He then swerved to his right till he was moving almost parallel to the endline, as he dribbled once took four steps and shot with his right foot from 27 yds again for a goal.
This goal was like a replay of his earlier goal. It took advantage of the weakness in World Cup defenses I mentioned in an earlier post, how they leave a path to the middle open as if they do not realize moving to the middle gets an attacker closer to the opposing goal.
8245 Ronaldo shot a free kick from 45 yds at the goal. The German goalie misjudged it moved to his left but then recovered to dive to his right and save. The announcers shouted about how much was on the shot, afterwards writers wrote about how the shot was a swerving and deceptive shot, but it could be that what happened, was that the goalie for some reason simply misjudged the ball.
Maybe shots that are not a good idea get an inflated reputation, simply because goalies sometimes for sime reason simply misjudge things. Since this was a free kick Portugal had a chance to place players in positions that blocked the goalie's view of Ronaldo as he kicked the ball and of the ball coming at him. 8706 Figo crossed it in Gomes scored with a diving header. The fact that the end result this time happened to be spectacular, does not mean that these cross and header plays are always the best alternative.
CONCLUSION: This game illustrates: the wisdom of an attacker with the ball moving to the middle of the field; the weakness of hard line drive shots from close in and to the side; the strength of chipped shots; the cleverness of Portuguese team-play on the attack.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon
http://davidirgil.blogspot.com
5' Here a ball headed by a fellow German bounced to Kehl from in front of him 10 yds away from him from the 12 O'Clock angle from the direction his body was facing; he swiveled to hit it at the 2 O'Clock angle. When he started his kick the nearest Portuguese was 7 yds away from him at 2 O'Clock; by the time he contacted the ball, this Portuguese was 4 yds away, jumping in the air, wincing, preparing for the impact of the blasted ball.
Kehl shot from 15 yds from the Portugal goal. He got the shot to the inside of the Portuguese defender, it bounced twice as it hit the ground, it missed outside Portugal's left goalpost by a yard.
Kehl here showed the wisdom of volleying the ball towards the ground, because then you avoid firing over the crossbar. Problem was, that in the direction he shot it at there were a couple more Ports blocking the shot-path; the shot-path went as close as possible to them without hitting them; the shot-path ended missing the goalpost by 3 feet. Thus what Kehl was attempting here was the impossible--He shot in an area where it was actually not possible to get the shot on target without hitting a defender's body.
750 Klose raced forward and to his right to run down a ground ball from his right that was led to him, he stopped the ball and turned counter clockwise to face a Portuguese 2 yds to his left; he then dribbled once towards the goal and shot with his right foot. The ball missed outside Portugal's left goalpost by a yard. The ESPN announcers were up in arms about how Podolski, behind and to the left of Klose, was wide open for a pass. Sounds like they had read my earlier post about how Klose had ignored a wide open Podolski.
15' Sabrosa ground dribbled forward and to his right while Pauleta ran forward and to Sabrosa's left. Here the Ports refuted stereotypes by cleverly fooling the Germans. Pauleta ended up wde open as Portugal converted a 2 Ports on 3 Germans into a 1 Port on 0 Germans (the goalie does not count) situation.
Sabrosa reached the ball 25 yds from the german goal near the left outside corner of the penalty box, he dribbled once towards the goal, shot in the direction of Germany's left goalpost, The German goalie Kahn who was at the corner of the goalie box dove to his left to deflect the shot away. I would guess the goalie was 6 yds away from Pauleta when Pauleta shot, and a pursuing German was 3 yds to his right, when Pauleta shot the ball.
Seems there are situations where everyone expects a shot or a dribble and a shot, as with Kehl earlier, even though such a dribble and shot strategy has a low chance of success because the shooter is off to the side and the goalie has come out to cut down the angle and defenders are blocking off certain possible shot paths. This despite the fact that even the shooter is near the goal, and has an unimpeded pathway towards a part of the goal.
1937 Kehl 27 yds from Port goal in center of field, had ball time and space, shot chip over goalie who was out 4 yds in front of his goal at beginning of shot. The Port goalie jumped backwards and up to barely deflect the ball with his outstretched arm.
This incident showed how even when a goalie is out just four yards in front of his goal, he is vulnerable to a ball chipped over him; and it showed how it is difficult for goalies to judge chipped balls--had the goalie judged the ball correctly from the beginning, he would have first taken a step backwards and then jumped straight upwards, but what he ended up doing was awkwardly leaning backwards as he jumped upwards and backwards to extend his arm and punch the ball which would have gone into the goal had he missed it, away.
All this 2006 World Cup I have been talking about how it would be an improvement if there was more air-dribbling, bounce-dribbling, chipping. Balls shot off the air dribble are even harder for the goalie to judge than grounded chipped balls. Balls shot off the air dribble spin and bounce weirdly to further confuse goalies. In this instance the goalie was only 4 yd out in front of his goal when the chip shot that made him stagger like an awkward puppet was launched at him. But when Klose of Germany and Sabrosa of Portugal missed chances close in from the side earlier in the game, the goalies were 10 yds away from the center of their goal line!!!
5530 Germany scores-- Schweinsteiger dribbled on a diagonal approx 12 yds towards the middle of the field and 3 yds backwards, ended up 27 yds from Portugal goal, in left middle, fired a shot that beat the goalie.
Portugal had vs France, been giving the famous Zidane a chance to shoot from this area and Zidane was not taking the shots. Schweinsteiger is not Zidane, also, he took a running right footed shot firing the ball to his left--you can get alot of power into such a shot.
I had remarked in an earlier post, how this 2006 World Cup attackers had been getting lanes allowing them to dribble parallel to the endline towards the middle of the field, but had not been taking advantage of such lanes, as if they like the defenders did not realize how moving parallel to the endline towards the middle of the field gets a player closer to the other team's goal.
6200 Deco's shot from 15 yds on the dribble in the middle was blocked by diving German goalie diving to his left. Notice how here the goalie engaged in the kind of dive that is used against penalty kicks. Goalies are well practiced vs. such penalty kick shots, for obvious reasons. But what appears even harder for them than the sideways dive of the type used to repel penalty kicks, are the type of dives used to deal with chipped shots--goalies are not well prepared by their practices for such chipped shots.
Here again Portugal worked its cunningly magical strategy, Ronaldo and Deco turned a two Ports vs four Germans situation into an open shot for a Port from just 15 yds away, as Deco ran to his right while the passer Ronaldo cut to Deco's left as he passed to Deco.
7700 here Ronaldo 15 yds from and to the left of the German goal fired a one touch volley at the German goalie who knocked it away. Everyone expects players to just shoot right away in such situations, but their situation is compromised because they are off to the side of the goal, the goalie has the angle of the shot cut down, defenders with their bodies are cutting off certain parts of the goal while the goalie cuts off the other part of the goal.
Ronaldo here could have flipped the ball that rolled towards him up in the air and started a short 10 yd air dribble run towards the middle of the field, caught all the defenders moving to his side of the field while he moved to the middle of the field, and then sent a chip shot or a weirdly spinnng bounced shot at the goalie from a more central position giving the goalie less chance to cut down the angle. But if he had done this most people would complain.
7730 Germany scores-- Schweinsteiger 50 yds from the Port goal, on the left side, dribbled forwards and to the middle of the field on a diagonal until he was 30 yds from the Port goal in the left middle area. He then swerved to his right till he was moving almost parallel to the endline, as he dribbled once took four steps and shot with his right foot from 27 yds again for a goal.
This goal was like a replay of his earlier goal. It took advantage of the weakness in World Cup defenses I mentioned in an earlier post, how they leave a path to the middle open as if they do not realize moving to the middle gets an attacker closer to the opposing goal.
8245 Ronaldo shot a free kick from 45 yds at the goal. The German goalie misjudged it moved to his left but then recovered to dive to his right and save. The announcers shouted about how much was on the shot, afterwards writers wrote about how the shot was a swerving and deceptive shot, but it could be that what happened, was that the goalie for some reason simply misjudged the ball.
Maybe shots that are not a good idea get an inflated reputation, simply because goalies sometimes for sime reason simply misjudge things. Since this was a free kick Portugal had a chance to place players in positions that blocked the goalie's view of Ronaldo as he kicked the ball and of the ball coming at him. 8706 Figo crossed it in Gomes scored with a diving header. The fact that the end result this time happened to be spectacular, does not mean that these cross and header plays are always the best alternative.
CONCLUSION: This game illustrates: the wisdom of an attacker with the ball moving to the middle of the field; the weakness of hard line drive shots from close in and to the side; the strength of chipped shots; the cleverness of Portuguese team-play on the attack.
@2006 David Virgil Hobbs
www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon
http://davidirgil.blogspot.com
posted by David Virgil at 6:29 AM
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