Every position in soccer is important. The striker scores the ball, the defender protects the ball from the opponent team striker, and the goalkeeper is the last line of defense between victory and loss. Perhaps that is why goalkeepers, even though they are less hyped, might be the most important position.
In this article, we will be covering everything that you need to know about how goalkeepers have evolved in the way they played in the past, and the way they tend to play now. So, scroll down and keep reading if you want to get all your answers. Of course, you can also choose to watch live soccer streams instead.
Table of Contents
Shot stopping
Shot stopping is the bread and butter for every successful goalkeeper. Other than a few minor changes, goalkeepers have evolved in the way they stop the ball rather than producing a special stance that will be able to stop the ball.
In addition, in the past, most people would think that shot-stopping is all there is to goalkeeping. However, there is a lot more going on in goalkeeping than a single line of 2-dimensional actions. Most people would not even be able to comprehend how much people nowadays train in different types of defending instead of the simple shot-stopping.
Handling
It is one thing to be able to stop the ball, but it is a completely different thing when it comes to handling it. We have already mentioned that people in the past didn’t think that there might be more to goalkeeping than shot-stopping. Being able to handle the ball and how exactly you can handle it is more knowledge for modern goalkeepers.
With the right handling style, a goalkeeper would be able to successfully pass the ball to a teammate who might be able to make strategies to score the ball into the enemy goal.
Reflexes
Soccer has existed for a very long time even when science didn’t have a lot of influence in the world. Back then people didn’t know a thing about having good reflexes as a goalkeeper using scientific proof. That’s why none of the goalkeepers ever trained in improving their reflexes.
Now that science has advanced a lot, people know exactly how important having a strong reflex is. That is why modern goalkeepers are highly trained to have good reflexes that might even be more superior than players in other positions.
Aerial Command
Dealing with the ball in the air is a very hard part of the responsibility of a goalkeeper. No one knows where the opponent is going to strike. If they decide to punch or head the ball, this might prove to be disadvantageous.
To prevent this from happening, goalkeepers are trained with special methods that allow them to learn the perfect strategies. You can choose to observe a few goalkeeping moments on sites such as Hesgoal.
An aerial command might be a part of shot-stopping. However, we have included this separately since former professionals didn’t have much idea on how to train for this unlike players in the modern world.
Penalty Saving
Penalty saving was never a thing in the past. This is because penalties never existed, to begin with. As far as the game was concerned, as time passed, the game structure and format began to change and become more complicated. When penalty shots were first introduced goalkeepers were the only line between scoring and missing.
As a result, modern-day goalkeepers are given intense training. Being able to block the ball from the near-point blank range is also an important part of their training.
Arm Distribution
It is not only the legs of the goalkeeper that must be trained beforehand but also their arms. Goalkeepers need to be able to distribute the right amount of energy into their arms and throw the ball.
Arm distribution is important because, when a goalkeeper receives the ball he needs to be able to throw it towards his teammates no matter how far away they are. Additionally, he should be able to understand how much energy he needs to expand to achieve the purpose so that his arms do not become sore.
Who can be considered the Ultimate Goalkeeper of the modern era?
There are plenty of well-to-do goalkeepers that we can consider as nominations of this criteria. From the recent Turkish League, there’s Galatasaray’s Fernando Muslera. However, if you are thinking of the best of the best, in our opinion none of them can exceed Liverpool’s Alisson Becker and Manchester City’s Ederson.
Conclusion
With this, we are done with a few of the factors that goalkeepers nowadays have evolved in. In the past, there weren’t many rules in soccer. As time passed and soccer became more complicated, evolutions for goalkeepers became a vital thing. You can watch live soccer matches today and you will also agree with me!
