2011 FIFA Women's Soccer Media Analysis & Reporting Deficiencies
The quality of the reporting and analysis of the Women's World Cup, I found (I did not watch or read that much about it) to be astonishingly simple-minded.
The commentators I encountered, all ignored crucial points such as: how many paces of the feet and yards separated the initial contact with the ball from the shot point?; what was the angle of the dribble-movement relative to the angle of the pass that first gave the goal-scorer possession of the ball? when shot on the first touch, what was the angle of the shot relative to the angle of the incoming pass?; when shot off a dribble, what was the angle of the shot relative to the dribble direction?; what was the distance between shot-point and goal-line?.
Americans habitually ignore such key points, and simply assume, that soccer excellence is a matter of being gifted with some kind of talent or spirit.
I am experiencing limits on my time and energy, a lack of video equipment, and a lack of staff--hence my ability to report on the US Japan Women's World Cup Final is limited; yet I can still improve on the professional reporting and analysis produced by the well-funded well-equipped companies:
Note: 12:00 means straight in front, the direction my body is pointed at; 3:00 means directly to my right (90 degree angle to right); 6:00 means directly behind; 9:00 means directly to my left (90 degree angle to left); and then there are points between.
48' US near-miss
As the US player Alex Morgan ran at the ball crossed in to her from her right, she was about 4 yards in front of the Japan left goal-post, with the ball coming in to her from about 1:30 O'Clock; she attempted to one-touch the ankle-high ball off a low bounce into the goal @ 9:00 O'Clock with the inside of her left-foot, and hit the goal post. Ball-incoming to ball-outgoing angle was approx 135 degrees.
69' US Goal
After the US player Alex Morgan ran behind the (originally bouncing) but now rolling long pass the defender had sent straight up to her, she was about 16 yards in front of the Japan goal; she placed her body between the defender and the ball, and shot the rolling ball with the inside of her left foot, at a 45 degree angle to the right into the left side of the Japan goal.
81' Japan Goal
Japan player Miyama, used her right thigh to intercept US defender clearance ball before it bounced, which was coming in to her from 9:30 O'Clock; Miyama was 8 yds in front of middle of US goal; on the first touch she deflected the ball forwards with her right thigh, took a step with her left foot, and a step with her right foot, two steps as the ball bounced, and kicked the ball at about a 75 degree angle to her left with her left foot, across the goal line 5 yards away from the point of the shot.
104' US Goal
Alex Morgan (US), dribbled to the right goal-line slash penalty-box-line corner intersection, and with her left foot, sent a 22 yard volley pass to Wambach (US) who was standing near the middle of the front goalie-box line. 6 yards from the middle of the Japan goal-line. Wambach, headed the ball (which never bounced) at a 90 degree angle to her right, across the goal-line; the point of shot to goal-line distance was approx 6 yds.
117' Japan Goal
Some say that the Sawa goal, which forced the US into overtime, was accomplished by way of Sawa kicking the ball into the goal with her heel ("an amazing flying heel shot"). Inspection of the videos shows that this was not actually the case. Sawa had her right leg stretched almost straight and her right foot thigh high when she contacted the ball she was jogging at; Sawa deflected the ball (which never bounced) to her right at a 120 degree angle, with her right foot, not her right heel. One can see from the follow-through that the ball was not heeled into the goal. The ball richoted hard--a 120 degree deflection allows the ball to retain plenty of velocity. The ball crossed the left side of the goal-line 12 yards from where Sawa contacted the ball. The US player who touched the ball after Sawa did not effect the outcome-- the shot would have been a goal anyway, with the ball passing the goal point at a point near where it did after the deflection, even if there had been no deflection.
Note that in the five examples of above, the ball's direction after it departed the shooter's body, relative to the ball's direction before it was shot away, was (135 + 45 + 75 + 90 + 120) /5 = 93 degrees.
See: http://www.sportsknowhow.com/soccer/dimensions/soccer-dimensions.html
The commentators I encountered, all ignored crucial points such as: how many paces of the feet and yards separated the initial contact with the ball from the shot point?; what was the angle of the dribble-movement relative to the angle of the pass that first gave the goal-scorer possession of the ball? when shot on the first touch, what was the angle of the shot relative to the angle of the incoming pass?; when shot off a dribble, what was the angle of the shot relative to the dribble direction?; what was the distance between shot-point and goal-line?.
Americans habitually ignore such key points, and simply assume, that soccer excellence is a matter of being gifted with some kind of talent or spirit.
I am experiencing limits on my time and energy, a lack of video equipment, and a lack of staff--hence my ability to report on the US Japan Women's World Cup Final is limited; yet I can still improve on the professional reporting and analysis produced by the well-funded well-equipped companies:
Note: 12:00 means straight in front, the direction my body is pointed at; 3:00 means directly to my right (90 degree angle to right); 6:00 means directly behind; 9:00 means directly to my left (90 degree angle to left); and then there are points between.
48' US near-miss
As the US player Alex Morgan ran at the ball crossed in to her from her right, she was about 4 yards in front of the Japan left goal-post, with the ball coming in to her from about 1:30 O'Clock; she attempted to one-touch the ankle-high ball off a low bounce into the goal @ 9:00 O'Clock with the inside of her left-foot, and hit the goal post. Ball-incoming to ball-outgoing angle was approx 135 degrees.
69' US Goal
After the US player Alex Morgan ran behind the (originally bouncing) but now rolling long pass the defender had sent straight up to her, she was about 16 yards in front of the Japan goal; she placed her body between the defender and the ball, and shot the rolling ball with the inside of her left foot, at a 45 degree angle to the right into the left side of the Japan goal.
81' Japan Goal
Japan player Miyama, used her right thigh to intercept US defender clearance ball before it bounced, which was coming in to her from 9:30 O'Clock; Miyama was 8 yds in front of middle of US goal; on the first touch she deflected the ball forwards with her right thigh, took a step with her left foot, and a step with her right foot, two steps as the ball bounced, and kicked the ball at about a 75 degree angle to her left with her left foot, across the goal line 5 yards away from the point of the shot.
104' US Goal
Alex Morgan (US), dribbled to the right goal-line slash penalty-box-line corner intersection, and with her left foot, sent a 22 yard volley pass to Wambach (US) who was standing near the middle of the front goalie-box line. 6 yards from the middle of the Japan goal-line. Wambach, headed the ball (which never bounced) at a 90 degree angle to her right, across the goal-line; the point of shot to goal-line distance was approx 6 yds.
117' Japan Goal
Some say that the Sawa goal, which forced the US into overtime, was accomplished by way of Sawa kicking the ball into the goal with her heel ("an amazing flying heel shot"). Inspection of the videos shows that this was not actually the case. Sawa had her right leg stretched almost straight and her right foot thigh high when she contacted the ball she was jogging at; Sawa deflected the ball (which never bounced) to her right at a 120 degree angle, with her right foot, not her right heel. One can see from the follow-through that the ball was not heeled into the goal. The ball richoted hard--a 120 degree deflection allows the ball to retain plenty of velocity. The ball crossed the left side of the goal-line 12 yards from where Sawa contacted the ball. The US player who touched the ball after Sawa did not effect the outcome-- the shot would have been a goal anyway, with the ball passing the goal point at a point near where it did after the deflection, even if there had been no deflection.
Note that in the five examples of above, the ball's direction after it departed the shooter's body, relative to the ball's direction before it was shot away, was (135 + 45 + 75 + 90 + 120) /5 = 93 degrees.
See: http://www.sportsknowhow.com/soccer/dimensions/soccer-dimensions.html
Labels: soccer media, soccer tactics, women's soccer
posted by David Virgil at 1:37 PM
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