Goalkeeper mistakes and the next step

At first, there was no excuse for Van Tien's careless play, for this terrible mistake. 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.

The match between SLNA - Hai Phong took place at Vinh Stadium. Photo: Archive

Most recently, in the knockout round match of the 2022-2023 Champions League between the world's two top rivals Liverpool and Real Madrid, strangely, both of their goalkeepers made terrible mistakes that led to a humiliating loss for their team. Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois received a pass 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 pass back, 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 playing with his feet than any excellent goalkeeper so he always wins. This also means that the goalkeeper's mistake when playing with 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 the unfamiliar Van Tien or the famous Courtois or Alisson.

And these are professional mistakes, purely in terms of footwork skills, the weakness of most goalkeepers. Therefore, today, strategists will prefer 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 efforts of the whole team and giving away achievements to the opponent. Therefore, there are professional and ethical mistakes that can ruin a goalkeeper's career. Many people know that there was a goalkeeper of the U23 Vietnam team who made a mistake and then could not recover, then sank into silence. But there were also cases where the goalkeeper of the Vietnam National Team played dirty, received a red card, and had to spend a long time to restore his reputation and be invited back to be the main goalkeeper of 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, having timely and accurate reflexes, mastering the "sky" under his management, handling low balls, handling them neatly with his feet, being skillful and courageous in the face of penalty kicks... are the top qualities required of modern goalkeepers, who are popular today. It is impossible not to mention the 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" without making any big or small mistakes in the army that won against regional opponents, including the great rival Thailand at that time./.