Goalkeeper mistakes and moving on
(Baonghean.vn) - In round 3 of V-League 2023, at Vinh Stadium, in the 10th minute of the match between Song Lam Nghe An and Hai Phong, goalkeeper Van Tien awkwardly passed the ball to foreign midfielder Vytas, who easily scored a goal for the away team's midfielder, much to the dismay of the coaching staff and teammates.
At first, there was no excuse for this careless move, this terrible mistake by Van Tien. But looking closely, everyone knew that he had rarely been the main goalkeeper in the V-League before, and was only a substitute when Van Hoang had not recovered from his injury, so everything was soon seen as an unfortunate accident.
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The match between SLNA - Hai Phong took place at Vinh Stadium. Photo courtesy |
Most recently, in the knockout round match of the 2022-2023 Champions League between the two world's top rivals Liverpool and Real Madrid, strangely, both goalkeepers made terrible mistakes that led to a humiliating loss for their team. Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois received the ball back from his teammate, handled it clumsily and let the ball bounce out, creating a great opportunity for his opponent to score. On the other side of the battle line, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson also rushed out to clear the ball from his teammate's back pass, the ball bounced off the opponent's striker's foot and flew into the empty net... So, even the top goalkeepers in Europe and the world are no exception to avoid mistakes?
The three examples above all have the same reason: the goalkeeper receives a pass back from his teammate, does not handle it decisively and immediately has to pay the price when the opponent approaches and the opponent is always better at using his feet than any excellent goalkeeper so he always wins. This also means that the goalkeeper's mistake when using his feet is not a strange thing, a new thing, it is an indispensable part of football, of the mistakes, errors that any goalkeeper makes, whether it is Van Tien, a stranger, or Courtois or Alisson, famous far and near.
And these are professional mistakes, purely in terms of footwork skills, the weakness of most goalkeepers. Therefore, today, strategists will prefer to choose goalkeepers who are good at using their feet like De Gea of Manchester United or Ederson of Manchester City today to serve the style of play that controls the ball, deploying the ball very low from the goalkeeper's feet in the penalty area. However, it is easy to see that no matter how good they are at using their feet, it is very difficult to avoid goalkeepers making mistakes in a certain situation, a certain fatal moment. Those mistakes cannot make them lose their position to others, because they will immediately learn from their mistakes to minimize mistakes, promote their inherent strengths to help their team stand firm against all storms and tempests. Song Lam Nghe An can bring Van Hoang back as usual, but for Liverpool or Real Madrid, replacing Courtois or Alisson is more difficult than... flying to the sky!
Unlike other positions on the field, a goalkeeper's mistake immediately leads to a goal, destroying the team's efforts and giving away the opponent's achievements. Therefore, there are professional and ethical mistakes that can ruin a goalkeeper's career. Many people know that there was a U23 Vietnam goalkeeper who made a mistake and then could not get up, then sank into silence. But there were also cases where the Vietnam National Team goalkeeper played dirty, received a red card, and had to spend a long time to restore his reputation and be invited back to play as the main goalkeeper for the national team. Those are truly commendable and learnable steps.
The goalkeeper is half of the team - this saying is to emphasize the role of the goalkeeper, helping teammates feel secure in having a solid, reliable rear, making few mistakes. Commanding the defense excellently, judging situations quickly, reacting promptly and accurately, mastering the "sky" under his management, handling the ball low, handling it neatly with his feet, being skillful and courageous in front of penalty kicks... are the top qualities that modern goalkeepers need to have, which are popular today. It is impossible not to mention the time of AFF Cup 2008, in the achievement of winning the regional gold cup for the first time, goalkeeper Duong Hong Son was truly a shining star, "good at everything" not allowing any big or small mistakes in the army winning against regional opponents, including the great rival Thailand at that time./.