Giveaway for goalie?
| 25 June, 2010 | Adie Chan |
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Without the help of the rest of the team, defending against a penalty kick is arguably one of the hardest tasks faced by soccer goal keepers. But new research shows that the kicker’s body movements may betray its intention, hinting to the goalie which direction the ball is about to go in enough time to do something about it (i.e., before the ball is even kicked).
Using motion capture technology to record college-level penalty kickers outfitted with more than 40 sensors on 19 major joints of their bodies (and the ball), Gabriel J. Diaz of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute identified five reliable early indicators of the ball’s ultimate trajectory, including the angle at which the non-kicking foot is planted on the ground and the angle of the hips as the kicking foot swings forward.
Are these the indicators that the world class goal keepers of the World Cup are using to defend against these powerful shots on goal? If not, should they be?
–Jef Akst, Associate Editor, The Scientist
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I heard a report sometime during the World Cup that when a goaltender moved prior to the kick, they actually did slightly worse at stopping the ball that if they just stood there and waited to react. From this, to truly earn their professional salaries, I guess that they should be studying future Dr. Diaz’s work rather than just making believe they are doing something. Future Dr. Diaz should write a book and make some money from his efforts.
I wonder if there is enough time for the goalie to process and act on these cues? I was always given to understand that goalies made up their mind ahead of time which way they were going to jump, because if they didn’t anticipate the kick they couldn’t extend in time to reach the corner of the goal. It’s pretty much a guessing game. You need to read the other guy’s mind, not his body language.