Fans at the World Cup in Qatar have already seen a lot of missed penalties. It is enough to mention Robert Lewandowski’s two unused penalty kicks (although he could have scored again in the match against France) or the penalty kick saved by Wojciech Szczęsny (against Mexico and Argentina).
Tomaszewski thunders. “Complete Meatballs”
However, everything was surpassed by the Spaniards, who played a penalty shoot-out with Morocco in the 1/8 finals of the World Cup. Out of three attempts, they failed none. Sarabia hit the post and Soler’s and Busquets’ shots were saved by the keeper. Neither did the Japanese. They scored four times and only hit the net once.
This indolence of the Japanese and Spaniards annoyed Jan Tomaszewski.
– The training staffs of Spain and Japan on this topic are equal to zero. 50 years ago I had my teammates in training say which corner they were going to shoot at, then I could practice my reaction to the ball, which was heavy back then, not light like it is now. Now the ball goes extremely fast and there is no way to shoot hard into the corner and the goalkeeper touches it. Meanwhile, all these virtuosos from Spain are technical to the pain. And probably coach Enrique, who I hope will be kicked out of the national team soon, thought: they are such technicians that they will definitely manage. Well, they did … They set themselves up to ridicule the goalkeeper, and complete meatballs came out – said w
“Please note that in the penalties that have been scored, if someone hits the corner hard, even if the goalkeeper goes there, he has no chance. I am not surprised by the technical Spaniards, especially since their coach did not work out, despite the fact that he was an outstanding footballer. However, I was surprised by the impotence of the disciplined Japanese in penalties, they should have been much better prepared. Even if you know that this or that player is shooting in a certain direction, there is always another option: a shot in the middle. Then it’s over. Generally, if you hit hard, precise, and repetitively, there’s no problem. And when I watch here at the World Cup how a player runs so strangely and also looks in which direction to shoot, it’s just a sucker for me – the former goalkeeper of the national team fired.
Jan Tomaszewski was the first goalkeeper in the history of the World Cup who saved two penalties during the tournament. In 1974, he first saved a penalty in a match against Sweden, and then against Germany in the famous “match on water”. His achievement was equaled in 2002 by Brad Friedler, and in 2022 by Wojciech Szczęsny.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
