This Vietnamese goalkeeper had it all under control. A long ball played forward, he thought he’d just stroll 30 yards from his goal and clear the ball a la Manuel Neuer. Simple, right?
Or not.
Everyone loves a good hero. Jasmin Handanović was that hero on Tuesday night for NK Maribor in a Champions League playoff against Hapoel Be’er.
Holding on to a slender aggregate lead on away goals in the 90th minute, the Maribor goalkeeper came up with an incredible sprawling save to keep his team ahead.
The average age of players in the English Premier League is 26.8, meaning the vast majority of footballers weren’t playing 25 years ago when the most dramatic change to the game in recent times was instituted. Many weren’t even alive in 1992 when FIFA decided to prevent goalkeepers from picking up passes intentionally kicked to them by teammates.
I have some thoughts on goalkeepers taking penalties. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net positive from an entertainment standpoint. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net negative, from a soccer standpoint.
Sure, there have been goalkeepers who double as penalty specialists and they are professional footballers, so they can be expected to have enough skill to score from the spot when called upon. On the other hand, hello Thibaut Courtois in the Community Shield:
There's perhaps no other refereeing decision, in any sport, that causes the deep emotional reaction of the awarding of a penalty kick. When the call is made for a spot kick from 12 yards out, the response is typically either a flurry of expletives and impending sense of doom or the feeling of utter joy derived from receiving a blessing, depending on which side of the call you are.
And it seems these feelings are warranted — stats show that there’s a 75-80% chance of the penalty being converted.
Guillermo Ochoa switched clubs this summer, but he's already looking right at home with Standard Liège. Below is some video evidence that shows he's doing just fine in Belgium.
Former Chapecoense goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, one of three players to survive the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster, shared an Instagram video on Monday celebrating a remarkable milestone in his recovery process. Follmann had his right leg amputated because of the accident, but he’s now running again with the use of a prosthetic.