Saturday, June 9, 2007

"Nice Goal. Now let's move on."



I looked at this goal several times. At first it appears that the defense was fine, to my attention turned to maybe a goalkeeper out of position, which he wasn't. The keeper could maybe have been out toward the ball another 2 feet to cut down the angle a little more but big deal.

Then I noticed the shooters response and the coach's reaction and it hit me: they both knew that this was purely accidental. Yes, the forward did a nice job of putting a little spin on the ball the arc it around the keeper. But skill implies that he controlled the situation. He didn't. Skill deciding this would say that he could repeat such a goal 7 out of 10 attempts or better. He couldn't. So it was a random set of multiple variables that the shooter didn't control that led to the goal:
►Spin on the ball from the original passer
►Position on the field - even 6 inches difference up or down the field and the ball either is blocked by the keeper or goes wide of the goal
►Wind - a slight breeze change and the ball isn't a goal
►Shooter shoe laces bounce up and changes how the ball comes off his shoe

What I'm saying is that there will be goals that simply are chocked up to randomness. The defense should not feel bad. The offense should not feel confident. Just, move on.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's what makes it great. the fact that it doesn't happen 7 out of 10 times. i find your simplistic reaction a bit strange. it's a beautiful goal exactly for the reasons you say it isn't. because it's so rare a strike it should be appreciated. . . .and then we can move on.

Arnie Kriegbaum said...

I agree with you that this goal is special. My hope with my comment was to remind the defense that there are times in games when they have done everything correctly and still get scored on. In those times, they should no be depressed at their weakness as defenders.

I liked your description of this goal as "rare".

Thanks for the comment.