LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ALGERIA FREE KICK

[maceo4]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

Folks will keep making excuses for this AVERAGE GK until he retires...

you hav hit the nail on the head.

[mcal]

Folks will keep making excuses for this AVERAGE GK until he retires...

...and top class GKs until they are shamed into retirement like this below:

[Eaglezbeak]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

[maceo4]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

[Gotti]

I personally would never blame the keeper that’s what children do, the wall was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall,Algeria where going to be ultra aggressive considering they where not too interested in playing another game of extra time!

Well childish “adults” indulge in silly excuses for poor goalkeeping...

Walls don’t (or hardly ever) cover the entire width of the goal (which actually would serve to obstruct the GK’s view). Instead, walls are set up principally to do the HIGHLIGHTED in your drivel - “invite” the kicker to direct the ball to a specific area (by covering another area) which the GK is supposed to cover. Dude, that’s Spot-Kick Defence 101! SMH
>

[Gotti]

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

Bros, you can have BOTH a great FK and POOR goalkeeping - both are NOT mutually-exclusive!
And if it was our goal, it’s the opposition’s fans who will rue the latter - like SAs did with Ekong’s winner.
>

[Eaglezbeak]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

But if someone was to point out how lucky he was they’d have a valid point,I don’t think Nigerians are easy on Nigerian footballers after all they didn’t expect much from this Nigerian team to start with not many people are discrediting the free kick but that wall was surely bait, a good footballer should take advantage of the other teams weaknesses and Mahrez did so but I can’t imagine him scoring such goals in the Premier League regularly (that’s If he’ll even be designated to take free kicks for Manchester City)!

[mcal]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

But if someone was to point out how lucky he was they’d have a valid point,I don’t think Nigerians are easy on Nigerian footballers after all they didn’t expect much from this Nigerian team to start with not many people are discrediting the free kick but that wall was surely bait, a good footballer should take advantage of the other teams weaknesses and Mahrez did so but I can’t imagine him scoring such goals in the Premier League regularly (that’s If he’ll even be designated to take free kicks for Manchester City)!

...there are pecking order at club level, I bet his probably number 11 or 12, but at national team level he is their number one because he plays along side the best. And he did learn good from them vs our own free kick takers.

[Ekorian]

Of 352 shots Marhez had taken in City uniform, 152 were on target and he scored only ONE FREE KICK. You don't become a world class free kick taker overnight unless you are starring at a useless uncoordinated, thin and porous wall in front of you. Stats don't lie..

[maceo4]

Of 352 shots Marhez had taken in City uniform, 152 was on target and he scored only ONE FREE KICK. You don't become a world class free kick taker overnight unless you are starring at a useless uncoordinated, thin and porous wall in front of you. Stats don't lie..

He used to take them at Leicester though, and you don't have to be a WC FK specialist to score a FK, especially from how close this FK was...

[maceo4]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

But if someone was to point out how lucky he was they’d have a valid point,I don’t think Nigerians are easy on Nigerian footballers after all they didn’t expect much from this Nigerian team to start with not many people are discrediting the free kick but that wall was surely bait, a good footballer should take advantage of the other teams weaknesses and Mahrez did so but I can’t imagine him scoring such goals in the Premier League regularly (that’s If he’ll even be designated to take free kicks for Manchester City)!

Yea they might have a valid point, but the entire forum would come down on that person for trying to diminish the goal of our favorite 'talisman' Messi/Robben all in one player, calling them a hater, what is wrong in their life that they are projecting it on a small boy, asking them what successful thing they have done in their life to give them the audacity to talk down on our boy wonder etc...

[Eaglezbeak]

Of 352 shots Marhez had taken in City uniform, 152 was on target and he scored only ONE FREE KICK. You don't become a world class free kick taker overnight unless you are starring at a useless uncoordinated, thin and porous wall in front of you. Stats don't lie..

Thanks for the stats,I also believe that players need to use their own initiative to improve it makes me shake my head when a genius like CR7 carries on practicing whilst everyone else is in a jacuzzi with their mistresses and showing off their new Balenciagas on IG despite not even making the bench for an mid table football club!

[Eaglezbeak]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

But if someone was to point out how lucky he was they’d have a valid point,I don’t think Nigerians are easy on Nigerian footballers after all they didn’t expect much from this Nigerian team to start with not many people are discrediting the free kick but that wall was surely bait, a good footballer should take advantage of the other teams weaknesses and Mahrez did so but I can’t imagine him scoring such goals in the Premier League regularly (that’s If he’ll even be designated to take free kicks for Manchester City)!

Yea they might have a valid point, but the entire forum would come down on that person for trying to diminish the goal of our favorite 'talisman' Messi/Robben all in one player, calling them a hater, what is wrong in their life that they are projecting it on a small boy, asking them what successful thing they have done in their life to give them the audacity to talk down on our boy wonder etc...

Yeah that’ll probably be the case concerning most national team websites or forums, go on the English FAs Football Forum and criticise Harry Kane for only scoring against nobodies or go on the Argentine website and say Messi hardly makes an impact for Argentina and these are valid points but football fans won’t reason with you concerning their favourites!
This is CE so expect Nigerians to defend their players but that does not take away from the fact that the wall was weak!

[metalalloy]

I finally rewatched the game after days of mourning.
There were so many things wrong in that last minute that i didn't know where to begin.
Prior to the foul, a clearance attempt was made by our player ( not sure who) but the ball was kicked to an Algerian player. Was the foul necessary? Why was Onyekuru lying on the floor behind the wall? I've never seen such poor attempt at block incoming free kicks. And contrary to the report here on CE, Akpeyi was well positioned but he moved to his left behind the wall before moving back to the right in an attempt to stop the kick.
Such nuances should be noted by our mercenary coach. After watching the lackluster final yesterday, I still can't get over the agony of the defeat.

It is a smart move to defend against ground fk's. It is not that unusual

This is a variation
[/video]

[metalalloy]

Folks will keep making excuses for this AVERAGE GK until he retires...

SImple and Short!

[metalalloy]

Of 352 shots Marhez had taken in City uniform, 152 was on target and he scored only ONE FREE KICK. You don't become a world class free kick taker overnight unless you are starring at a useless uncoordinated, thin and porous wall in front of you. Stats don't lie..

Thanks for the stats,I also believe that players need to use their own initiative to improve it makes me shake my head when a genius like CR7 carries on practicing whilst everyone else is in a jacuzzi with their mistresses and showing off their new Balenciagas on IG despite not even making the bench for an mid table football club!

And just what makes you think they do not practice? From the direct fk's Etebo and Kalu took, you can tell they clearly practice fks. They simply are not as good or talented as the likes of Ronaldo. You people keep using freak outliers like CR7 to try to prove some spurious point. Some things are innate and then honed by extra talented human beings like CR7. In the same vein, CR7 can go and practice catching the ball from now till the end of time, and wont be as good at goal keeping as Neuer. Stop using outliers to try to prove what you expect the norm to be.

[maceo4]

I never blamed the keeper that’s what children do, the walk was basically saying “look there’s a gap to curl the ball at” and Onyekuru could’ve at least added to the length of the wall instead of thinking Mahrez was going to try to pass the ball into the bass of the wall!

I don't see how an extra man on the wall does anything against that FK, you would need another 4 or 5 players thats how wide past the wall the ball went (min 2:30 in the vid)...

[/video]

The wall was loose nearer to where the ball was curling and they left that space for Algerians for some reason!

Thats the goalies side though, you dont want to obstruct his vision. Anyways if the shoe was on the other foot and Samu scored this same FK we'd be talking about how world class the FK was nothing about poor keeping...

But if someone was to point out how lucky he was they’d have a valid point,I don’t think Nigerians are easy on Nigerian footballers after all they didn’t expect much from this Nigerian team to start with not many people are discrediting the free kick but that wall was surely bait, a good footballer should take advantage of the other teams weaknesses and Mahrez did so but I can’t imagine him scoring such goals in the Premier League regularly (that’s If he’ll even be designated to take free kicks for Manchester City)!

Yea they might have a valid point, but the entire forum would come down on that person for trying to diminish the goal of our favorite 'talisman' Messi/Robben all in one player, calling them a hater, what is wrong in their life that they are projecting it on a small boy, asking them what successful thing they have done in their life to give them the audacity to talk down on our boy wonder etc...

Yeah that’ll probably be the case concerning most national team websites or forums, go on the English FAs Football Forum and criticise Harry Kane for only scoring against nobodies or go on the Argentine website and say Messi hardly makes an impact for Argentina and these are valid points but football fans won’t reason with you concerning their favourites!
This is CE so expect Nigerians to defend their players but that does not take away from the fact that the wall was weak!

Ol boy, you keep talking about the wall when the FK was taken to the other side, the side the wall wasn't covering. I'm struggling to get your point, if you are to blame anybody here its the keeper, the wall wasn't a factor in this goal, abi you want them to line up in front of the keeper blocking his sight?

[dhoney]

I finally rewatched the game after days of mourning.
There were so many things wrong in that last minute that i didn't know where to begin.
Prior to the foul, a clearance attempt was made by our player ( not sure who) but the ball was kicked to an Algerian player. Was the foul necessary? Why was Onyekuru lying on the floor behind the wall? I've never seen such poor attempt to block incoming free kicks. And contrary to the report here on CE, Akpeyi was well positioned but he moved to his left behind the wall before moving back to the right in an attempt to stop the kick.
Such nuances should be noted by our mercenary coach. After watching the lackluster final yesterday, I still can't get over the agony of the defeat.

Finally someone else saw it. A video taken from behind the goalposts clearly shows that Akpeyi was well positioned. People simply saw a still photo taken from a poor angle and concluded that Akpeyi was behind the wall.

Nevertheless, and in certain cases, staying behind the wall can also be good. We saw Mbolhi do this yesterday v Senegal and he made a crucial save when the ball went over the wall. It is the distance from where a kick is taken that determines optimal positioning for a kick and not an edict that states NEVER stand behind the wall. Thus, it is wrong to claim that a goalkeeper must ALWAYS stay away from a wall on every free kick! The wall is designed to do the following -- (1) create difficulty for the kicker, no more. The goalie can stand behind it if there is enough distance that the chance of looping a ball over it and into goal but then stand away from it if it a short distance making a looping kick highly unlikely to be successful. So context matters.

Now, why did Akpeyi not make the save in spite of the fact that he was well positioned for it? My thinking is as follows: (1) The split second move to the left was adverse. It meant he could not return to his right on time to save the kick, or (2) I wonder if he had stayed the course whether the kick was even possible to save except if it came directly to him. I state this because a human body's reaction to a powerfully hit ball is never going to be quick enough to reach for a ball outside of the body if the ball is traveling at great speed. This is actually what you see with Ronaldo and Messi's kicks that whizz past a goalie that is just about two feet out. The goalie's reaction can never be quick enough for such balls. What happens is often a late reaction as you also see during penalty kicks taken from just 12 yards out.

No no no sir. I was 100% in support of Akpeyi until I re-watched it. I am not sure if you have played soccer ( I have played as outfield player and was a very good gk as well, trained under Laloko for few years) before but bros it`s a big crime for a keeper to arrange a wall and then stand behind the same wall. The first thing you do as a Gk is to have a LOS (Line On Site)..you just have to have a clear site on the ball. Two, technically, a GK should have an idea of the distance a player would be able to drop a shot over the wall....very very few players would be able to drop that ball over that wall. Go and re-watch Nigeria vs Argentina free kick Messi scored again Enyeama, it was about 30m away which made it a lot easier to drop the ball over the wall, it was difficult to blame Enyeama but easy to praise Messi`s brilliance sir. Against Algeria, it was about 20m away ..apparently too close for a drop over the wall. The options Mahrez had were just 2, hit the ball through the wall and hoping there would be a small gap , the second hit the ball around the wall as hard as you could and hoping the keeper couldn`t handle it.. but unfortunately Akpeyi was not even there.

[dhoney]

Folks will keep making excuses for this AVERAGE GK until he retires...

SImple and Short!

Omo I tire o. You complaining about Onyekuru. The GK is responsible for the number of players he wants on his wall...smh

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

I finally rewatched the game after days of mourning.
There were so many things wrong in that last minute that i didn't know where to begin.
Prior to the foul, a clearance attempt was made by our player ( not sure who) but the ball was kicked to an Algerian player. Was the foul necessary? Why was Onyekuru lying on the floor behind the wall? I've never seen such poor attempt to block incoming free kicks. And contrary to the report here on CE, Akpeyi was well positioned but he moved to his left behind the wall before moving back to the right in an attempt to stop the kick.
Such nuances should be noted by our mercenary coach. After watching the lackluster final yesterday, I still can't get over the agony of the defeat.

Finally someone else saw it. A video taken from behind the goalposts clearly shows that Akpeyi was well positioned. People simply saw a still photo taken from a poor angle and concluded that Akpeyi was behind the wall.

Nevertheless, and in certain cases, staying behind the wall can also be good. We saw Mbolhi do this yesterday v Senegal and he made a crucial save when the ball went over the wall. It is the distance from where a kick is taken that determines optimal positioning for a kick and not an edict that states NEVER stand behind the wall. Thus, it is wrong to claim that a goalkeeper must ALWAYS stay away from a wall on every free kick! The wall is designed to do the following -- (1) create difficulty for the kicker, no more. The goalie can stand behind it if there is enough distance that the chance of looping a ball over it and into goal but then stand away from it if it a short distance making a looping kick highly unlikely to be successful. So context matters.

Now, why did Akpeyi not make the save in spite of the fact that he was well positioned for it? My thinking is as follows: (1) The split second move to the left was adverse. It meant he could not return to his right on time to save the kick, or (2) I wonder if he had stayed the course whether the kick was even possible to save except if it came directly to him. I state this because a human body's reaction to a powerfully hit ball is never going to be quick enough to reach for a ball outside of the body if the ball is traveling at great speed. This is actually what you see with Ronaldo and Messi's kicks that whizz past a goalie that is just about two feet out. The goalie's reaction can never be quick enough for such balls. What happens is often a late reaction as you also see during penalty kicks taken from just 12 yards out.

No no no sir. I was 100% in support of Akpeyi until I re-watched it. I am not sure if you have played soccer ( I have played as outfield player and was a very good gk as well, trained under Laloko for few years) before but bros it`s a big crime for a keeper to arrange a wall and then stand behind the same wall. The first thing you do as a Gk is to have a LOS (Line On Site)..you just have to have a clear site on the ball. Two, technically, a GK should have an idea of the distance a player would be able to drop a shot over the wall....very very few players would be able to drop that ball over that wall. Go and re-watch Nigeria vs Argentina free kick Messi scored again Enyeama, it was about 30m away which made it a lot easier to drop the ball over the wall, it was difficult to blame Enyeama but easy to praise Messi`s brilliance sir. Against Algeria, it was about 20m away ..apparently too close for a drop over the wall. The options Mahrez had were just 2, hit the ball through the wall and hoping there would be a small gap , the second hit the ball around the wall as hard as you could and hoping the keeper couldn`t handle it.. but unfortunately Akpeyi was not even there.

correct explanation. I also played goalie, albeit for only ~ 1 season at Uni level. The GK IS responsible for the wall. You put up your best wall, take the best position, and accept it if an exceptional player beats you. This Akpeyi thing no be am. I was confident he had learned from the Argentina goal before this freekick, only to see him hide behind his wall again. When a goalie is "cheating" on positioning, an experienced player will easily punish him. Even Ozil scored a comparable freekick (for Arsenal) with a "lazy" shot against a keeper that was "cheating" recently. Similar angle as well.

[Eaglezbeak]

I finally rewatched the game after days of mourning.
There were so many things wrong in that last minute that i didn't know where to begin.
Prior to the foul, a clearance attempt was made by our player ( not sure who) but the ball was kicked to an Algerian player. Was the foul necessary? Why was Onyekuru lying on the floor behind the wall? I've never seen such poor attempt at block incoming free kicks. And contrary to the report here on CE, Akpeyi was well positioned but he moved to his left behind the wall before moving back to the right in an attempt to stop the kick.
Such nuances should be noted by our mercenary coach. After watching the lackluster final yesterday, I still can't get over the agony of the defeat.

It is a smart move to defend against ground fk's. It is not that unusual

This is a variation
[/video]

Onyekuru didn’t quickly react to where the ball was going he just lied there and the ball was no where near him

[paj]

Nigerians always find it difficult to give credit where credit is due. There's no need blaming akpeyi, coach etc for that goal just accept that it was a World class goal that even the best of the world wouldn't save.

I laff...Enyeama has saved better FK's from Messi...for world cup at that