An interesting Letter from London by Clive Davis; an enjoyable post by Dave Hill on The Meaningful Game (he is fast becoming my favourite blogger on Comment is Free); and England’s 6-0 victory over Jamaica. I have reached a point where I can no longer resist the urge: I must opine on something footbally.
Penalty shootouts are an easy thing to analyse, because the number of factors that influence the outcome are much fewer when compared to an actual ninety-minute match. Just one kick, and a binary outcome. With more and more games being decided on penalties (most importantly, the 1994 World Cup final), one would assume that, by now, the managers and players would have solved the equation. Annoyingly, this is not in fact the case, as Peter Crouch’s ridiculous over-the-bar effort on Saturday reminds us. So allow me to state the bleedin’ obvious…
(1) Most penalty saves are lucky. Crucially, not good judgement or good reactions. Goalkeepers find themselves in the vicinity of the ball, and palm it accordingly…
… so (2) It is all about power. Even if the goalie dives the right way, he will be a second behind the ball, and will not stop a powerful shot…
which means (3) It is all about the run-up. This has been a long held opinion of mine, ever since Romania lost to the Republic of Ireland in the second round of Italia ’90. They were let down by Daniel Timofte’s causual, poncy, cool-as-a-cucumber, two-step run-up that allowed Pat ‘Packie’ Bonner to make the save. Bonner got all the credit, but it was Timofte’s doing. The Italian hosts succumbed to Argentina in a similar fashion.
A plea to English penalty takers: For the love of God, Queen and Country do not try to be clever. At Old Trafford, Crouch attempted a nifty lob from the penalty spot, and looked quite the gangly fool. Leave trickery and audaciousness to the Brazilians, because they have the confidence to pull it off. There is no need to try and fool the goalkeeper. He’s not actually part of the equation.
Extra time, then penalties
An afternoon of concentration, watching both the Scottish and English FA Cup Finals simultaneously. Both games were very exciting, end-to-end affairs, and the parallels were many – Red versus White; an under-dog versus a giant; extra-time; and finally, Goliath beating David on penalties.
Last year’s English final also went to extra time and penalties. Then, it was a necessary end to a frustrating final. This year, however, both shoot-outs were testimony to exciting games. Had the stakes been lower, we might have seen the under-dogs fight with less vigour, the favourites more relaxed, and a result determined in 90 minutes. The penalty shoot-outs are a symptom of both teams trying that extra bit harder.
Arsenal 4-0 Portsmouth
Ah, the great British game!
We began in North London with a cappuccino from the bagel counter, and settled in to watch Lehmann from Germany, Lauren from Cameroon, Campbell from England, Toure and Eboue from Ivory Coast, Frenchmen Cygan, Pires, Henry and Flamini, Gilberto from Brazil, Fabregas and Reyes from Spain, and Bergkamp from Holland. They played against Ashdown, Griffin, Taylor and O’Brien from England, Priske from Denmark, Vignal from France, Cisse from Senegal, Vukic from Senegal, Todorov from Bulgaria, Viafara from Columbia, Hughes from Scotland, Skopelitis from Greece, LuaLua from the Congo, and Mornar from Croatia.
Despite all this hot international talent, we still froze our bollocks off.