Football Special Report: The Art of Goalkeeping
One of the most important positions on a football team is that of the goalkeeper. This player is the last line of defence, is usually blamed when a team loses and can often be the one player that can rally the other players into performing great things on the pitch.
During the 2010 World Cup that took place in South Africa recently, a lot of keepers were unhappy with the Jabulani ball. Some people even went so far as to say that the standard of goalkeeping has declined over the years and some talented new goalkeepers are needed to revive this great tradition. This very interesting position in football will continue to feature heavily in the years to come.
Not a lot of people know that a keeper’s feet are more important than his or her hands, because if a goalkeeper cannot get his feet to where the ball is, then his hands will be useless. Over the years, we have seen countless examples of keepers moving just a split second too late and a goal is scored. A goalkeeper’s ability to move through the air and either catch a ball or deflect it away from the goal is one of his or her greatest assets. It is those types of diving saves that are seen as the most impressive and worthwhile. Whenever proper goalkeeping techniques are taught to potential number 1‘s on a team, their safety is extremely important and this has to be highlighted. The way a goalie falls is of utmost importance and he or she has to protect their stomach, back and any bones that may be protruding. It is always stressed that the goalie should protect themselves along with their goal at all times.
Not a lot of coverage is given to the psychology of a goalkeeper and their mental health. The key aspect of this is that a goalkeeper has to be confident and positive at all times. When a drop in confidence occurs, all future performances by the keeper will be affected. A coach on a football team sometimes has to play the part of psychiatrist and they should really focus their energies and advice on goalkeepers.
One of the biggest problems that goalkeepers face is how to deal with a goal that has just been scored. Goalies are human, they make mistakes like the rest of us, and a coach has to step it up and train a goalkeeper to look past the goals scored and look to the next save and making that really count. Football matches are won by scoring goals, so it is very stressful to be the one person on the team that is the last thing standing in the way to stop that from happening. In the aspect of good coaching in regards to goalkeepers, a coach has to believe in a goalkeeper or they should not let him play in the first place. The England goalkeeper Rob Greene, in England’s first match at the 2010 World Cup made a dreadful mistake that saw a very easy goal scored, when the ball slipped through his fingers. The coach’s response in that instance was to bench the goalkeeper and put his replacement David James in goal. Even though James is a good goalkeeper, he could not manage to win his country any matches and this incident probably destroyed the confidence level of Greene.
There have been some amazing goalkeepers that have come and gone in the game of football over the years. The current world champion Spain has one of the best goalkeepers as their captain at the moment. Iker Cassilles is a phenomenal goalkeeper and he has managed to win matches for his country many times in the past. Another great goalkeeper was German Oliver Kahn, who at one time was also captain of the German squad. A lot of writers and sports commentators have said that Lev Yashin was the greatest goalkeeper that ever played the game. He was nicknamed the Black Spider because of his ability to save seemingly impossible shots. This amazing Russian keeper played in three World Cups and had a speciality of saving penalty kicks, which he managed to do 150 times in his career. He is also the only goalkeeper ever to have won European Footballer of the Year. With the changing game and modern striking techniques, it is unlikely that a keeper of his calibre will ever be produced again.
Goalkeepers are one of the most important, yet also most often blamed players on a football team. It is a coach’s job to manage the psychology of a keeper and make sure he is in top mental shape to make amazing saves. We will continue to see some great goalkeepers come and go in the future but the importance and necessity of this position will never diminish.
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