Euro 2012: Portugal - Spain 0-0 (2-4) 27 June

What to say?

It was nothing like the game from World Cup 2010 when Spain beat Portugal 1-0.

This time Portugal was the stronger team, they were controlling the game and did everything to stop Spain from approaching to their goal.

They should win. They were close. But when it came to the penalties it was Spain who won.

Rui Patricio did everything what he could. An amazing save of Iniesta's shot helped to keep up Portugal's dream of the final. He saved also the first spot-kick of Alonso in the penalty shoot-out.

If only things were little different he would become hero just like Ricardo in his time... Today his performance was solid, he commited no mistake. But after the lost game, who will remember about this?

Lech Poznań - Inter Baku 0 (9) - 1 (8), Krzysztof Kotorowski saved 3 penalties in penalty shoot-out

Polish Champion Lech Poznań made through into the third qualifing round to Champions League after 22-penalty shoot-out.

Lech Poznań win the first leg 1-0 but after the poor performance on home soil lost 0-1. It came to a tie and in the result the penalty shoot-out.

Goalkeeper Krzysztof Kotorowski saved Lech Poznań from an ashaming defeat with Inter Baku. He saved three penalties in total, and scored the final one himself.

It's nice that he had his moment of glory. He plays for the club since 2004 and has his ups and downs including being reduced to a second choice goalkeeper.

Lech Poznań is going to play with Sparta Praha in the next round.

Watch the video of the penalty shoot-out.

World Cup: Paraguay vs Spain 0-1, Casillas and Villar both saved a penalty!

Did anyone expect so even game? I though that Paraguay won't be an easy opponent, but I didn't suspect that Spain is going to have so much problems with attempts to shot on the goal.

The first half ended with a goalless draw, although Paraguay's goal was wrongly disallowed. It was not an offside. Another referee's mistake...

And the second... When it come to those situations with penalties. It was amazing! I was sure Casillas is going to save it. He saved penalties before, both in game and in penalty shootout. Didn't expect, however, that Villar will save a penalty too.





Both goalkeepers were lucky. Villar saved the re-take of a penalty, but it was almost scored, as he let the ball out of his hand. He clipped Fabregas who was first to reach the loose ball. Could be booked for that but refeere either haven't seen this or choose to not see it. Then Casillas in the last minutes of the match. He made a good save but bounced the ball straight on Paraguayan players foot. Amazingly he managed to save also the second shot.

This one time the stats didn't really show the effort of goalkeepers. 2 saves of Villar and 3 of Casillas but all of them were very good.

It was also interesting to see that both goalkeepers were the captains.

At ESPN page the both were named men of the match. Quote:

Men of the Match: Iker Casillas and Justo Villar - In a game devoid of much quality, both goalkeepers get an honourable mention. They both saved penalties to keep their respective teams in the match and the last time that happened was back in 1930 in a match between Argentina and Mexico.

Parguay did well on the World Cup. They showed more than Brazil and Argentina in their quarterfinals. The match with Japan might be boring, but the penalty shootout made up it. Now the thrilling second half in the quarterfinal. More matches like this!

Now Spain is going to face Germany in the semi-final. It won't be easy. It won't be easy at all.

World Cup: Uruguay vs Ghana (4) 1-1 (2) 2 June 2010, Fernando Muslera saves 2 penalties!

After an even game and 1-1 tie, the thrilling, dramatic ending. Lucky, lucky Uruguay. How can feel a player, who misses a penalty in 122' which would give his team a place in dreamed semi-final? Gyan's despair and happines of Muslera in this same time, who jumps up to touch the bar of the goal which saved Uruguay. Later, after the penalty shootout it was sad to see Gyan crying. He is not going to forget this easily.

Seems I have another favorite goalkeeper. Fernando Muslera saved 2 penalties! He read intentions of Ghana players well, throwing himself in the right direction every time. The first shot was perfect, unable to save. The second - he slighty touched the ball with tips of fingers. Third was weary weak and saves. Fourth was stronger but again Muslera guessed right!

Watch Uruguay - Ghana penalty shoot-out.

ESPN stats. 7 saves made by Kingson, who was not as self-confident and flawless as in the previous game with US. What had happened with him? After the lost goal he seemed to completely lose the focus. Muslera made 4 saves. In the dramatic ending he bounced the ball away, but it went straight to Ghana player. If not for Surez's hand it would end with goal. It was deliberated. What do you think about this?

Just noticed. Do they really see any difference between missed and saved penalty? It's always described missed, no matter if goalkeeper saves it or the player shots it over the goal. It's not like every goalkeeper has identical chances to save a penalty. Would he save a penalty if he did chose to throw himself always on the right? No. He read the intentions and was in right place when there was a possibility to make a save!

World Cup: Paraguay vs Japan 29 June 2010 penatly shootout 5-3

First penalty shootout in this World Cup. Didn't I say before that I like watching goalkeepers in action when it comes to penalties?

Elij Kawashima seemed to have a good intuition. He did save a penalty in Denmark - Japan match (although the goal was scored anyway, finished after Kawashima bounced the ball). He guessed the direction right at least two times but he wasn't able to reach the ball. The shots were perfect, strong and out of the reach.







Villar... that was impressive - he looked so self-confident, easy going as if he was defending penalties on big championships every day ;) Wonder what he did really fell... His skills didn't seem to be too high, he guessed right only once I think.

Did his attitude made Japanese players more nervous? Probably the tension was high enough, no matter what Villar was doing in the goal.











Villar celebrating with fellow goalkeepers.

Paraguay won 5-3 in the penalties and now is going to face Spain in the quarterfinal.

Liked the pictures in both teams. Every player approached his goalkeeper to give him a support. Noticed Villar talking with Paraguay's deputy goalkeepers. He was also looking on a piece of paper which a member of staff was holding. Were there tips written how Japanese players score the penaties?

Video: Watch penalty shootout Paraguay-Japan.

'I don't fear penalty shoot-out', says James

England had never won penalty shoot-outs. Will it come to it in todays England - Germany match?

Found an interesting article in Dialy Telegraph. Some excerpts:

James's German counterpart, Manuel Neuer, talks of playing the "memory game" if Sunday's World Cup round of 16 game climaxes in a shoot-out. This involves Neuer remembering all the advice from the German technical staff on which way to dive for which player. At the last World Cup, Jens Lehmann frustrated Argentina by checking on their players' preference from a slip of paper shoved down his sock. (...)

James would not reveal his intentions, saying: "I'll probably look over to the physio!" Most of the information will be absorbed on Saturday, leaving him far better prepared than in Euro 2004. "We played Portugal [in the quarter-final shoot-out] and didn't have the access to as much information as we could have done." (...)

England bowed out of Euro 2004 because Portugal's keeper, Ricardo, swept in a majestic penalty. "Of course I am up for taking one. In the preparation, all 23 can practice. There's only 11 and three subs who can end up on the pitch and take one. Whoever the goalkeeper is needs to be prepared," James said.

Read full story here.

It's one of the top stories also on Polish page of Gazeta Wyborcza.



Ricardo is on the photo! But of course his name was even not worth mentioning in the article. Why they always write this or that player wasted a penalty? Beckham in 2004 did waste it shooting over the goal. Ricardo did save Darius Vassell penalty in 2004, and Gerrard's, Lampard's and Carragher's at World Cup 2006.

Penalties at the World Cup

On Friday three of the best goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn, Petr Cech and Sergio Goycochea took a part in Adidas's press conference. One of the topic there was saving penalties. It's merely a luck? A lottery? Not at all!

Fragment of Andrew Warshaw's article:

Of the 198 penalties in World Cup history, 160 of them have been converted - excluding shootouts. The significance of well-prepared goalkeepers is never more important than at this stage of the tournament. "It's in the knockout stages where having a good goalkeeper will be most important," said Cech. "It's early days and we'll see what will happen. But this is where keepers will be most important. You need to keep your nerve. In shootouts, if you move too early or if your if your decision-making is wrong, you will never save a kick. You need to be mentally stronger than the taker."

But surely penalty shootouts are merely a case of Russian roulette? Not so, says Goycochea. "I used to tell people that it was all down to luck but in fact a good goalkeeper in shootsouts needs talent, skill, strength in the legs and a cool head. I don't like it when I hear people say a shootout is just a lottery."

Kahn, whose shootout heroics won the 2001 Champions League for Bayern Munich against Valencia, also talked up the virtues of thorough preparation. "It is a psychological game between the two of you which is often invisible to the fans. You can read a lot from the kicker's body language, about whether he's afraid.

"You can do a lot with eye contact and you can also irritate the taker with your body language. In a shootout the only one who can lose is the kicker, never the goalkeeper. The goalkeepers here so far have not yet been really tested or had too many opportunities to show their talent."

Read full story here.

Vladimir Stojković saved a penalty in Serbia vs Germany match 1-0 18 June, video

Serbia vs Germany. Nobody expected that Serbia will take the lead. In 60' a penalty is given to Germany, after Vidic carelessly touched a ball with hand in the penalty area. Lucas Podolski makes an attempt to score the penalty. Stojković saves it!



Video of the penalty defense could be seen here: Stojković saves a penalty.















Serbia is still in the game!

Quote of the day

Found this quote in an article about the most effective way of scoring penalties:

"When it comes to the penalty shoot-out the most disturbing element is the goalkeeper."

It is thought that the best chances to score have the players who focus on shoting the goal, not on a goalkeeper and what he is doing.

Is that true? Probably partially. Remeber than in Portugal - England penalty shoot-out at World Cup 2006 the only English player who scored was Hargreaves, who actually didn't look at Ricardo.

Goalkeepers can disturb players and win that way the battle of nerves which is penalty shoot-out. Who doesn't remember the famous Dudek dance in the Champions League final Liverpool - Milan in 2005?

World Cup 2006 memories

When I'm thinking about the previous World Cup one of the most notable moments is the penalty shoot-out Portugal - England. It was Ricardo's moment of glory. He saved three shots and so far he is the only goalkeeper who achieved it on the international championship stage.



Now there is no Ricardo in the squad, Portugal doesn't seem to be as strong team as it used to be after so much struggle in the eliminations, and there is no possibility they will face England on the quarter-final stage. The story can't repeat again.

But perhaps it will come to penaties in one of Portugal matches. Eduardo seems to be quite good in defending penalties so I'm not afraid on this side. I only hope that the Portuguese players were practising scoring penalties... It wasn't their strong side.

Penalty rule changed

According to CNN: Footballers taking penalties at next month's World Cup finals in South Africa will no longer be able to stop at the end of their run up to try and trick the goalkeeper.

The rule change is a reaction to the growing number of players, particularly in South America, now using so-called feints to deceive the opposition.

In an announcement made at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), chaired by FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Tuesday, those who halt just before kicking the ball will receive a yellow card for "unsporting behavior".

Read about this at sport pages a few days ago. My opinion? Some goalkeepers developed high skills in defending penalties. They wait till the last moment before they throw themselves, trying to guess in what direction the opponent is going to shoot.

Now the players have to learn how to score the penalties perfect, out of the reach of a goalkeeper. I think it's fair.