Theme 4: Goalkeepers dominating in the air

The “aerial control claim success rate” (the percentage of successful attempts by goalkeepers to claim the ball in the air) increased by 8% during this tournament when compared to 2019. While the average number of attempts to claim the ball was very low, at around one per match, more than nine out of ten (92%) of those attempts were successful, as opposed to just over eight out of ten (84%) at the previous U-17 World Cup.

Former Switzerland international goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler was suitably impressed: 

“The attitude and bravery of the goalkeepers when dealing with high balls was impressive in this tournament, especially late in games when the pressure was high and a lot was at stake. The goalkeepers showed great courage and timing to make crucial interventions.”

For this article, Zuberbühler also picked out three examples of goalkeepers commanding their penalty areas:

“In the first clip below, we see a great example of how Iran goalkeeper Arsha Shakouri dominates his six-yard box. His starting position is good when the cross is made and his judgement of the flight of the ball is excellent. Despite pressure coming in from an attacking player, who gets ahead of his defender, he remains fully focused and pushes off one foot to get good elevation and claim the ball. This is commanding and confident goalkeeping from a young player,” Zuberbühler explained. 

“In the second clip, we see USA goalkeeper Adam Beaudry dealing with a difficult high ball. He starts on his six-yard line and travels seven metres to punch clear in a challenging and crowded area. In this situation, timing and communication with his defenders is very important but the elevation of 2.35m that he achieves under pressure is crucial. The courage, confidence, focus and execution demonstrated in this situation is impressive.” 

The third clip selected by our Technical Study Group shows another courageous intervention, this time from Venezuela goalkeeper Sánchez in their group-stage match against Mexico. 

As Zuberbühler points out, “In this defensive corner situation, he starts slightly behind the centre of the goal area and has a player on the front post and one in the front zone. He is aware of the location of the attacking players and never takes his eyes off the ball as the delivery comes into a dangerous area. He is not distracted by the attacking players and gives his defender the call to leave the ball to him. He deals with a difficult high ball by making a clean punch and getting good distance on it away from the danger area. This is strong and decisive goalkeeping.” 

Goalkeepers at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023™ proved to be very effective at claiming high balls, registering a 92% completion rate. In doing so, they displayed some of the attributes any goalkeeper needs to reach the top of the game. As far as physical prowess is concerned, they showed great athleticism, agility, and the power to rise above the fray, including pushing off one foot when jumping high,rather than two. However, that is not enough on its own; for a goalkeeper to dominate the penalty area, that athletic ability has to be allied to great timing, as well as the bravery and confidence to come and pluck the ball off the heads of opposition attackers laying siege to your goal. On the evidence of this tournament, the future of elite goalkeeping looks to be in safe hands.