The penalty is one of the most decisive moments in football. It’s a 1 vs. 1 in an 11-year sport where two opponents go head-to-head with no one interfering. Although this action is part of the sport, in reality it is an instant where mental strength prevails over any other characteristic, so the game is put aside. The nerves usually play a separate game for the player and that is why over the years the archers have been looking for a way to get their opponents out of their minds to cause a mistake.
Thus, some goalkeepers choose to speak to whoever is going to kick the ball while he accommodates it, others try to exchange unnecessary words with the referee so that the time is extended and thus doubts arise, there are those who constantly seek the eyes of their rival to impose them insecurity and thus strategies accumulate.
The regulation is clear, the goalkeepers must have at least one foot on the lime line when the shot is executed, but before they can do what they want, as long as they do not reduce the distance from the penalty spot. That’s why many choose to run from stick to stick, some to yell and point towards a post, inviting the kicker to seek that side in his shot, and now there seems to be a new method.
Alvaro Jimenez, youth of the Division of Honor of the Racing de Santander, has saved three of the last four penalties that have been kicked and the resource he uses has gone viral. The goalkeeper chooses to kneel on the line while the player waits for the judge’s order and during his run towards the ball. His posture makes the player believe that the goal will be easier to convert since he will not be able to get off the ground and fly to one of the sides, however, just before he kicks, everything changes.
The agile guard that seems dejected stands up and the force it uses to get up takes advantage of it to take off to the side. In the video that went viral in a match against him Atlético PerinesHe does just that and manages to contain without problems the low shot that went to his right, although not having been so corner or powerful it was easy.
Although the strategy of Jimenez It can be disputed, the truth is that the numbers support it since they have only converted one of the last four penalties. It will be necessary to see if the young man maintains that revolutionary way of positioning himself in front of the ball or if he decides to change and become more traditional over time.
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