France – Poland – Bleus – “We imprison the goalkeeper”: stopping a penalty, a mission that has become “impossible”

Stay on your line, do not touch the posts or the crossbar, do not distract the shooter by delaying the execution of the penalty. In short, be a docile, quiet guardian and wait kindly. Law 14 of the International Football Association Board places the goalkeeper in a cage before each penalty kick. The shooter can stop his momentum and wait for his opponent to choose a side before executing the sentence.

Tuesday, against Poland, Mike Maignan suffered the evolution of the game. He stopped Robert Lewandowski’s first attempt but did not have both feet on the line at the time of the shot. Second chance: the Pole stops his run-up twice, the Milanese doesn’t flinch, but Lewy finds the incoming post. Bingo. And yet, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The match referee made the right decisions and applied the rules to the letter.

So, no matter how frustrated Maignan is, it is what it is. The wise people decided to favor the attacker, the goals, the numbers, the spectacle. Too bad for the goalkeepers. The balance of power was already tilted in favor of the shooters. “Tomorrow, are we going to be prevented from using our hands to stop a penalty? Are we going to be told to put our backs to the shooter? Are we going to position ourselves on the line according to the shooter’s wishes? I may be extrapolating but we are heading towards something that really scares me“, Charles Itandje, the former Lens and Liverpool goalkeeper, told us a year ago.

“We imprison the guardcontinues Christophe Lollichon, former Chelsea goalkeeping coach now in Dunkirk. He can’t move anymore and it’s becoming painful. We need to restore an equal relationship between the goalkeeper and the shooter. I don’t mind an attacker marking timeouts unless we restrict the goalkeeper in front. Today, it’s becoming impossible for the goalkeeper and we clearly want to reduce the chances of stopping the ball. If he wants to hang on the bar, why are we depriving him of that? It’s like getting rid of the panenka. It wouldn’t make any sense. There’s no more fairness.“