2018 World Cup

[Phantom255x]

amazing to see how horrible world class players are in penalty kicks. Do they not practice?

Penalty kicks should never be kicked to the middle of the goal. You also have much better odds if your kicks are grounders. Lift the ball off the turf and you give the goalkeeper a better chance. Lift it high enough and  you risk kicking the ball over the bar. Keep the ball on the ground and keeper has much more difficult time getting there.

You are oversimplfy things here. Scoring a penalty is not that hard in  a practise mode. But against a cat reflex goalie, 60 thousands in the stands, after playing 2 hours and the whole nation breathing down your neck...

Not just that, but sometimes when a player kicks the penalty, he will keep it on the ground BUT also on just 1 side of the goal. If a goalie dives to one side and the ball is kicked there, it's a miss and a save by the goalie. That's how Modric was stopped in the 116th minute. Great kick but the goalie made a 50/50 call and dove to his left, and thus stopped it.

It's not as easy as people think. The hesitation before a kick and seeing where the goalie is looking/leaning is a lethal method some players use. Now you could hope to elevate the kick and hope it goes over the goalie diving near the ground, but there's also a big risk that it sails over the crossbar (which we saw happen in the group stages of the WC as well to some teams - like Panama I believe).

[wiley]

amazing to see how horrible world class players are in penalty kicks. Do they not practice?

Penalty kicks should never be kicked to the middle of the goal. You also have much better odds if your kicks are grounders. Lift the ball off the turf and you give the goalkeeper a better chance. Lift it high enough and  you risk kicking the ball over the bar. Keep the ball on the ground and keeper has much more difficult time getting there.

You are oversimplfy things here. Scoring a penalty is not that hard in  a practise mode. But against a cat reflex goalie, 60 thousands in the stands, after playing 2 hours and the whole nation breathing down your neck...

Not just that, but sometimes when a player kicks the penalty, he will keep it on the ground BUT also on just 1 side of the goal. If a goalie dives to one side and the ball is kicked there, it's a miss and a save by the goalie. That's how Modric was stopped in the 116th minute. Great kick but the goalie made a 50/50 call and dove to his left, and thus stopped it.

It's not as easy as people think. The hesitation before a kick and seeing where the goalie is looking/leaning is a lethal method some players use. Now you could hope to elevate the kick and hope it goes over the goalie diving near the ground, but there's also a big risk that it sails over the crossbar (which we saw happen in the group stages of the WC as well to some teams - like Panama I believe).

Yes there is a lot of luck in penalty kicks.  Less good shots sometimes go in while better shots are saved, just due to blind guess by the goalie.  On of the goals saved by the Croatian goalie (the first or second one I think) was an awesome kick.  The goalie guessed right but still barely reached it with fully outstretched arms.  No shame in that "miss" at all...(Croatian goalie looks 6'8" on tv..not sure his actual height)

[Moranis]

Actually the hardest ball to stop is one in the upper corner.  There is no way a keeper can get that high and far on a dive. Those are just by far the easiest kicks to miss which is why they aren't used much

[Androslav]

Both Goalkeepers are putting on a master show. It sucks that one of them will have to move on and one of them will have to go home.

What a performance by Schmeichel, and Daniel Subasic.

TP.
It is rare to see a game where goalkeepers save 6/11 PKs.
Croatia to the title!
Šubašić saved the last one, hence my Man of the match honor would go to him.

[Billz401]

Looks like I missed some good matches today. Kind of sucky working 3rd shift and trying to stay up or wake up early to watch the games. Plus I lost a lot of motivation once my team Portugal was put out. Felt like they got robbed on 2 no calls late in that game lol.

Was really hoping for that Ronaldo v messi matchup which we may never see now

[ederson]

I can't find the book now with the math but just the small forward step a keeper takes helps cover almost the whole goal.  It is much more difficult than it looks . But players should be able to shoot better. The overtime penalty modric took was more like a pass to the keeper

[Androslav]

I can't find the book now with the math but just the small forward step a keeper takes helps cover almost the whole goal.  It is much more difficult than it looks . But players should be able to shoot better. The overtime penalty modric took was more like a pass to the keeper

I learned/read years ago that:
- PK is realized at a 79% rate.
- That it is best to stay in the middle (highest chance to stop the shot mathematically).
Still GKs psychologically feel that it seems as they are doing nothing, and rather jump to the side
- PK within a regular time (90 mins) are more accurate than those made in the shootout. Basically, it is like a FT's in basketball. Many hit them, but they hit them less frequent in high-pressure situations.

Modrić is not our best PK taker, but as a Cap, he just took the responsibility. He also did already score one against Nigeria. I felt as he waited for Schmeichel to fall on his ass/pick a side, but Kasper made him wait too long and the shot was a blank. However, facing Schmeichel again he overcame the mental hole, scoring it (barely ).

[ederson]

OBI is a big market for garden and home improvement :

"we give away as gift the balls to children so the next generation does better at the next wc"

[Androslav]

Good one.
Still, takes 20 years to work!

[Ogaju]

amazing to see how horrible world class players are in penalty kicks. Do they not practice?

Penalty kicks should never be kicked to the middle of the goal. You also have much better odds if your kicks are grounders. Lift the ball off the turf and you give the goalkeeper a better chance. Lift it high enough and  you risk kicking the ball over the bar. Keep the ball on the ground and keeper has much more difficult time getting there.

You are oversimplfy things here. Scoring a penalty is not that hard in  a practise mode. But against a cat reflex goalie, 60 thousands in the stands, after playing 2 hours and the whole nation breathing down your neck...

Actually no I am not oversimplifying ... world class players should do better than what I have seen ...some of the kicks are flat out atrocious. I am not saying they are easy, but i have seen some players just blast the ball down the middle. You should practice sidestepping the ball to the far angle keep the ball on the ground . By the way the referees should not let the keepers move forward before the ball is kicked that is a violation.

[Androslav]

amazing to see how horrible world class players are in penalty kicks. Do they not practice?

Penalty kicks should never be kicked to the middle of the goal. You also have much better odds if your kicks are grounders. Lift the ball off the turf and you give the goalkeeper a better chance. Lift it high enough and  you risk kicking the ball over the bar. Keep the ball on the ground and keeper has much more difficult time getting there.

You are oversimplfy things here. Scoring a penalty is not that hard in  a practise mode. But against a cat reflex goalie, 60 thousands in the stands, after playing 2 hours and the whole nation breathing down your neck...

Actually no I am not oversimplifying ... world class players should do better than what I have seen ...some of the kicks are flat out atrocious. I am not saying they are easy, but i have seen some players just blast the ball down the middle. You should practice sidestepping the ball to the far angle keep the ball on the ground. By the way, the referees should not let the keepers move forward before the ball is kicked that is a violation.

Many of the world sports elite, chess GMs, and even champions have made some unexplainable blunders.
Like missing a checkmate in one (!?):
WC Kramnik - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYOES3zZDu0
Ivanchuk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAYJIEB0lJU
or not being entirely present in the moment
WC Karpov - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10rV41kWiqY
WC Carlsen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxc5ZqSQ9C8
These are just a few examples.

How would you explain those?
It is not like they don't practice or don't have the mental capability to do so.

My explanation is that humans are emotional and often irrational beings. They have the ability to work mistake-free, like machines, but just for a small amount of time and where the pressure is alleviated.

[ederson]

First 15mins and Mexico looks good again

I D love so see them qualify over Brazil (Brazil = Lakers)

[ederson]

Japan is playing realy good. Instead of parking the bus like Russia they try to play football against an extremely talented team and OS far they should be proud with the performance. I wanted Senegal to qualify and Colombia instead of Japan but today's performance proves me wrong. Hope they can keep it up...

[Fafnir]

Japan looks more outclassed than Russia though, feels like BEL will get a goal or two the second half unless they can do more to have the ball. Hard to play so much scrambling D.

[ederson]

Japan looks more outclassed than Russia though, feels like BEL will get a goal or two the second half unless they can do more to have the ball. Hard to play so much scrambling D.

Belgium is the best team definitely  but Japan tries to play football unlike Russia who played against lesser then Belgium opponent.

Japan just scored....!