Goalkeepers show evolution and are decisive in the Cup – 06/08/2023 – Sport

Rebecca Spencer helped Jamaica through the group stage of the Women’s World Cup without conceding a goal, including the 0-0 draw that eliminated Brazil in the last round.

Nnadozie Chiamaka saved the penalty that prevented Canadian Christine Sinclair from becoming the first athlete to score in six World Cups and, without being leaked in two games, took Nigeria to the round of 16.

Together, the goalkeepers of the 32 teams that played in the first phase of the competition in Australia and New Zealand were also fundamental for the drop in the average number of goals conceded in relation to the last Cup.

In the 44 games of the group stage this year, there were 126 goals in 48 games, an average of 2.6 per game. In the 2019 Cup, in France, with 24 participants, there were 146 goals in the 52 games of the tournament, an average of 2.8 balls in the net per duel.

Also, four years ago, 30 games (58%) had three goals or more. So far, in the current edition, 21 duels (44%) had elastic scores.

There are many examples from this World Cup that demonstrate a clear evolution in the technical capacity of the players who play the most stigmatized role in women’s football.

The last test was the performance of the Swedish Zecira Musovic. Author of the saves that stopped the United States this Sunday (6), in the round of 16, she still made two saves in the penalty shootout. She was responsible for eliminating the current two-time champion and classifying her selection for the quarterfinals.

The process is still ongoing. The average height of goalkeepers in this Cup, for example, is 1.73 meters, exactly the same as in the last edition of the tournament, in 2019, in France, which indicates a difficulty in finding taller goalkeepers.

In the competition held in Oceania, the tallest owner of the goal is the Italian Francesca Durante, with 1.81 meters. The shortest are 1.65 meters. They are: Kaylin Swart (South Africa), Karly Théus (Haiti) and Trần Thị Kim Thanh (Vietnam).

In four years, if the average height remained the same, what changed was the development of issues as important as height, such as physical and cognitive conditioning, decision-making, footwork, reaction speed, strength and power levels , in addition to coverage of aerial plays.

These are aspects that take time to improve and depend, above all, on good base training, something that is still an obstacle for the vast majority of players.

In Brazil, for example, it has only been four seasons since the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) began to organize junior championships. In 2019, the entity created the Brazilian under-18 women’s championship. Last year, the competition changed its age group and became an under-20 tournament.

In the recent past, this was unthinkable for female players. Margarete Maria Pioresan or just Meg, 68, was 35 years old and had not played soccer since 1988 when she decided to dedicate herself to the Brazilian handball team, which would compete in the World Cup in the category in 1989.

The following year, retired from the courts and fields, and working as a physical education teacher, she was convinced by Eurico Lira, creator of Radar, the base of the Brazilian team, to compete in the first World Cup, in 1991, in China.

“We, back there, never had anything basic. We were already thrown into the lions’ arena”, recalls Meg in an interview with Sheet. “Even today it is taking time to develop the base in Brazil”, adds the former goalkeeper, who was part of the Brazilian national team in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups and in the 1996 Olympic Games.

For her, the evolution of current goalkeepers is clear. “Finally, all the countries disputing the Cup are giving decent training to them”, she points out.

The former player remembers that when she was an athlete there were few specific jobs for her role. There was not even a goalkeeper coach in the women’s teams, something that, added to the low number of games, hinders the development of the function.

“Goalkeepers are the ones who suffer the most [pela falta de treinos e jogos]”, says Meg. “It affects not only the goalkeepers but also all line positions. It turns out that the outfield players can help each other, while the goalkeeper cannot fail once.”

Brazil’s holder in the World Cup, Letícia Izidora, Lelê, is also the goalkeeper for Corinthians. This year, before serving the national team, she accumulated just 15 matches for the team that leads Nacional. Even considering all of last season, she accumulated 34 games, adding matches for the Alvinegra team and for Benfica, where she played on loan.

Only this year, still without completing the entire season, goalkeeper Cássio played in 39 games for the men’s team, even though he was not in the starting line-up in all of the club’s commitments.

According to data from the Ogol website, a reference in statistics, Lelê has accumulated 177 matches for clubs since 2013.

“Goalkeepers, in general, have a late formation. They start playing at under-17 or under-20. A boy starts at under-11, under-9. Until he becomes a professional, there are ten years of experience Therefore, we see a smaller number of goals considered defensible in men than in women”, says Edson Junior, coach of goalkeepers for the women’s team at Corinthians.

Even in the elite of women’s football it is not easy for them to accumulate a good baggage. Among the countries that played in the first phase of the World Cup, some of them have first division leagues with few clubs, such as Denmark (8), Costa Rica (8), South Korea (8) and Vietnam (7). ).

In Brazil, there are 16. Even in more developed countries, the number is not much higher. Spain has the biggest women’s league in Europe, with 16. In the United States, there are 12. The biggest is in Argentina, with 20.

“Any comparison of women’s and men’s football has to take these numbers into account because they are very discrepant”, emphasizes Edson Junior.