Goalkeeping at the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Non-s(ci)ence

The afternoon session of the second day of the DFB International Coaching Conference 2014 was about the goalkeepers and their performances at the 2014 WC.

 

Many (video) examples were shown in which national goalkeepers showed superior goalkeeping skills (Neuer (GER), Navas (Costa Rica), Ochoa (MEX), Jesper (NED)……), however, also in which goalkeepers were not so “fortuned” (Akinfejew (RUS), Casillas (ESP)….).

From the video sequences the main question arose what characteristics the modern goalkeeper needs to present, also with reference to "being a new sweeper".

However (and unfortunately), limited information were given and a key message was in short range finishes the goalkeepers should stay/remain standing as long as possible and cover as much space as possible and many goals could have been prevented in the WC.

Last but not least, time-motion-analysis (TMA) showed that the goalkeeping itself did not change throughout the last decades. Every goalkeeper has on average 13-15 actions of which 2-3 are crucial (to prevent conceding goals). However, the goalkeepers needed to change/develop football skills after the back-pass regulations were introduced.

The last part consisted of the structure of the DFB Goalkeeping “license” which also seemed to be implemented by the UEFA in the coming years.

 

The Training Manager - planet.training