Goalkeepers over the years have been called many things, crazy, being the mildest of the tags they have been given. Some have unfortunately been accused of influencing games with their performances. Yet few have been labeled cheats.
Interestingly this was and accusation leveled at this unique group of individuals in the past week on the back of their performances at the World Cup in Moscow during penalty shoot-outs.
Fans of the losing teams have screamed at their television sets that the goalkeeper has come off his line in the penalty shoot-outs. They have demanded the VAR step in.
Even if the referee could hear them, their appeals would fall on deaf ears as the VAR is not sanctioned for use during a penalty-shoot out. As has been quoted “there is no provision in the VAR process employed at the World Cup for a review of the goalkeepers position.”
The reason for the outcry is that the laws of the game state that “the defending goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until the ball has been kicked.”
The debate has raged on, fuelled by pundits and the media, as the feeling is that the referees at the World Cup, as in many other competitions across the globe, are turning a blind eye to this particular law.
In the shoot-outs so far Denmark’s Casper Schmeichel, Croatia’s Danijel Subasic, Spain’s David de Gea and Russia’s Igor Akinfeev have all advanced off of the goal line before the striker has taken their shot. Some have prevented goals, others have not.
Iran’s goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand actually stood behind his goal line and adopted a technique that was common over fifty years ago, by advancing forward from within his goal as Cristiano Ronaldo stepped forward to take his kick. It was a technique that proved successful, as Ronaldo missed.
Yet as stated all of these tactics are illegal, and the laws state quite clearly that , “if a goalkeeper commits an offence and, as a result, the kick is retaken, the goalkeeper must be cautioned.”
Yet are certain fans and media making a mountain out of a molehill?
Rarely is this law policed. In fact one of the few times it has been the Republic of Ireland’s under 17 goalkeeper received a second yellow card in the European Championships played in May. He was sent off and an outfield player had to take his place. Ireland lost to the Netherlands.
So why would it appear that so few of the match officials at any level of the professional game enforce this rule?
It is probably best to look at the situation of the goalkeeper. First and foremost the players playing at the world cup would have been training and practicing to perfect their trade for more than a decade. One of the first things a goalkeeper is taught after sorting out his technique is to close down the angle of a shot.
By advancing off his goal line to close down the angle of a shot, the goalkeeper gives the striker a smaller target to aim for. They practice this every single day at training.
When a striker bears down on goal the goalkeeper advances to reduce the target the striker has to aim at. The striker must shoot early, back themselves or try to go around the goalkeeper.
So suddenly at a penalty shoot out the goalkeeper is being asked to forget what has become a natural instinct. A skill of positioning themselves in the right place honed through hours of practice. He or she is not to move forward at all. They are only to move sideways.
The goalkeeper has in recent times suffered more rule changes to their game than any other position in over 100 years of the game. Now once again the balance is being tipped towards the attacker. There is no penalty on how many steps the striker must take before he shoots, that he must do something un-natural and shoot with his weaker foot, so why should the goalkeeper suddenly have to do something that goes against all of their training?
At the World Cup in most cases they are facing the cream of World football, masters at finding the back of the net, players with precise shooting skills. Goalkeepers stepping off their line a metre should make little difference. After all they have 192 square feet to aim at, or 17.83 square metres.
Yet taking a penalty is such a big game with the eyes of the world on you and knowing that so much rests on the result is far from easy. It was, one of the Italian players, Donadoni or Serena at Italia 90 who said after their semi-final loss on penalties to Argentina, that as he walked forward to take his kick, despite knowing where he was going to place his shot, he could not feel his legs, so much did the magnitude of the moment take over.
Researchers have claimed that the average speed of a penalty in top-flight football is 70mph or 112kmh, With goalkeepers standing 36 feet or 11 metres away they have around 0.7 of a second to react. That is not a lot of time! It is even harder if you are suddenly expected to cast aside all of your training and only dive sideways, and not naturally step forward first.
Yes, according to the Laws of the Game the goalkeepers are breaking the law. Sure, when they make a save they are affecting the outcome of a match. So as it stands they should be penalized.
However, the odds on a goalkeeper making a save if the laws were adhered to would become greatly reduced. If you add to this VAR being employed in a penalty shoot-out then the shoot-outs are likely to go on well into the night. Something the television broadcasters would not want.
If this debate continues to rage post Russia, FIFA need to sit down with former and current World class goalkeepers and discuss the issue. They can then hopefully revise the law to give goalkeepers a chance of making a save, but stopping the ceaseless debate that arises when they do after stepping off their line.
Thank you for commenting again All White. I too feel it is a law that FIFA need to look at. Let’s hope it is cleared up in four years time.
Interesting piece Ashley.
As you say according to the laws they are cheating, but almost every goalkeeper at every level does it and rarely do referees pull it up. I have screamed at my TV for the referee to penalise the keeper.
Had never thought about a goalkeeper’s instinct to move forward as never played in goal. This is a very interesting and valid point, and suddenly makes the fact that all keepers do it more understandable.
I agree these are top players and they should be able to score as the odds are very much with the attacker. I would like to see FIFA look at this law and make it easier for referees and clear it up as it does no one any good when a player is called a cheat.