Quote:
Originally Posted by Shag
This whole play is bizarre. There's also a Russian defender plowing through 2 Uruguay players, creating the shooting lane.
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The Russian player was trying to clear out the Uruguayan players. What happens a lot is the defending team will set the wall according to the keeper's instructions. Typically, the keeper will set the wall to completely cover one side of the goal so only an absolutely perfectly taken kick would be able to go up and over the wall and get back down into the goal. One or two of the attacking team will position themselves on the open side of the wall in an attempt to block the keeper's vision. They will wait until the kick is taken and move at the last instant so the keeper has even less reaction time. The Russian player was trying to move those players earlier so the keeper can see. That "shooting lane" actually benefits the keeper because he can see. This keeper just messed up on it though...the shot went to the side he was expecting. The keeper should always have that open side of the goal covered. I don't know why he took that little hop to the closed side of the goal.