With the ladies -in full swing, FlashScore has investigated how the keepers have been developed en masse within the game for women and continues to determine new milestones.
The goalkeeper position in football always has an extra level of control. And although a wrong tackle, a bad shot on goal or a misplaced pass can indirectly have an impact on a game, keepers can often be in the center of the debt, because their mistakes often lead to goals.
Nowhere is the focus on the importance of keepers who have been just as intense as in the game for women.
“I have seen better in Sunday League”, “they need smaller goals” – Such comments aimed at female keepers can often be found in different sources of social media, even after spectacular goals.
YouTube is full of reels of monumental cryers, with comments from self -proclaimed experts who may not succeed in applying context when a female goalkeeper has spectacularly failed.
Target machine errors have caused the debate
Clear goalkeeper errors have often ensured that debates are popping up about how female keepers are not aware based on unfair comparisons.
That was also the case two years ago during the FIFA World Cup World Cup, when the South African Kaylin Swart allowed a soft shot directly to her by Lineth Beerensteyn of the Netherlands to glide through her arms in the back of the net, which activated collective abuse around the stadium.
Target forecast is the target of the ladies and the men's game most clearly as the position to describe the difference, but you could claim that the debate was missing an appreciation for how young the professional women's game is, with the popularity of the women's game that has grown relatively quickly.
Transition of mere shot stoppers
Nowadays, women of women have undergone a transition from just shot to participate in the defense, with a greater focus on distribution, starting counterattacks and playing a greater role in game management. But it took time to have the goalkeeper to catch up with the rest of the women's competition, because it was actually ignored in the beginning, according to former goalkeeper Martha Reyna.
Today, Reyna works as a data analyst of women's football for HUDL (HUDL is a global leader in performance analysis technology, who offers integrated software and hardware solutions that help train, recruit, develop and compete at every level of sport) and has focused on the development of female goalkeepers through her occupation.
“I think the keepers of women have improved, but perhaps not as much as the general game. There was much more attention to score goals than stopping in the past, so the keepers of women have been overlooked, but now there is much more focus in the area,” says Reyna.
The importance of data technology
This is underlined by comments from former Tottenham keeper, Cloe Morgan, for athletics. “You were set in the goal if you were considered the weakest or least talented on the field – I can't remember the large number of times I was told to get into goal because I would cause the least damage there.”
Martha Reyna, who will participate in a panel discussion with Izzy Christiansen and Flo Lloyd-Hughes in London on Tuesday 9 July, in connection with the match of England against the Netherlands, emphasizes that access to data technology is one of the areas where the goalkeepers of women have made a lot of progress in the last decade.
“A part of the goalkeeper will always be instinctive, but there is no doubt that more access to data has accelerated the development of the game for women. Nowadays you have data to show almost everything, how most goal curses can be made, set pieces, punishment or open play.”
“You can carefully map out how teams attack, how they organize for set pieces, and keepers have data about where the most likely penalty customers would focus and their success rate. So technically they are equipped at a much different level than we have seen before,” says Reyna.
Statistics underline crucial development
Reyna has collected statistics bomb data from the ladies-euro since the 2005 tournament. Part of it includes a positioning error statistics, which on average is the distance that the goalkeeper deviates from the optimum position for each shot. The data shows that the positioning errors by goalmen of women have decreased in the history of the euros, with 2022 on average the lowest.
Hudl Performance Datamartha Reyna, Hudl
Reyna's research has also shown that the number of shots from outside the frameworks has been taken, which indicates that keepers today have a much more chance of saving long -distance attempts than before. At the same time, Schoten also means the goal that keepers are being challenged considerably more today (the shot quality in the last euro was highest since 2009).
Hudl Performance Datamartha Reyna, Hudl
Hudl, Performance Datamartha Reyna, Hudl
Data also shows that the length of keepers' passages has decreased, with the 2022 euros being the shortest average distance that keepers have passed the ball. This is clear evidence that keepers play a much more active role in building play from the back to put pressure on the rear four.
Hudl Performance Datamartha Reyna, Hudl
Introduction of goalkeeper coaches
A common denominator for the development of keepers of women is the introduction of specific goalkeeper coaches, who was not necessarily a common characteristic within clubs, just a decade ago.
The role of goalkeeper coaches in women's football has grown considerably as the women's play has become more professional and competitive. Although specialist goalkeeper coaches were a rarity involved, they are now increasingly common, with clubs recognizing the importance of dedicated training and development for their keepers.
“Goalman coaches have had an enormous impact on the development of the women's game, not only in terms of distribution, decision-making and contribution to the construction game of the team, but also for guaranteeing a pipeline of players for the future and developing the mental aspects of the game,” says Reyna.
As a result, various female keepers such as Mary Earps, Bente Nordby, Ann-Katrin Berger and Gao Hong have reached a level where they have been converted into inspiring role models for young people to stimulate the development of the women's game even further.
“I remember that during my active career, Hope Solo was the only one to look at, but today there are so many great female keepers that young people can be inspired by. Nowadays you even see little boys with the names of female stars on the back of their shirts, and that says a lot about how far we got,” Reyna concluded.