Very nice, good work.
And you can't talk about Toni Kroos' shot without tipping a hat to Marco Reus!! .... GOOOOOOAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!
I've watched over half the group matches, and imho Ronaldo's free kick (his third goal) in the match against Spain was jaw-dropping.
Looking forward to Uruguay v. Portugal tomorrow. That should be a good one, right out of the gate. Opting to watch it in a local Portuguese bar/restaurant, which should be interesting.
BTW, what crying cry-babies Mueller and Neymar, Jr. are. Neymar can't get bumped without a full-fledged scene.
Just dismiss my previous comment; I stand corrected. The position you show is the one at the third touch.
To me, the most fascinating part of what happened before Kroos' shot was his teammate setting it up after the tap by pinning the ball as if he were a holder on a field-goal attempt in U.S. football.
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In the animation you've got the position from which the free kick was taken wrong. A free kick inside the penalty area is always, by definition, a penalty kick taken from the penalty spot.
The photo got it right. The free kick took place a couple of feet outside of the box. Kroos taped it (as indicated by the first yellow arrow) to Reus (who was inside the box), Marco stopped the ball, and Toni smacked it into the net. Watch the replay below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDGR1ER-9Sc
Although this was not one of them, you can have free kicks inside the box for minor infringements.
For instance, if the goal keeper picks the ball up with his hands after it is deliberately passed to him by a teammate, or if a teammate throws him the ball from a throw-in, or if the goalkeeper takes too many steps with the ball in his hands.
These free kicks are always indirect, meaning someone has to tap it first before shooting.
This is how they look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsvQ07qDrTk
Christiano Ronaldo is a great player for Portugal. He scored many goals in career, he also is the best player in the world by points. Also he's the second best player by goals. Ronaldo is 33 years old, he was born, Febuary
Very cool. Though I don't know that Ronaldo's was any better than, say, En-Nesyri's against Spain. Or Messi's control at speed against Nigeria.
Maybe you could do something similar for key assists, like Banega to Messi. Or even one for howlers. Like Toni Kroos to Young-Gwon Kim.
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Actually, I believe that a portion of the analysis of the German goal is incorrect. I believe that the ball went to the RIGHT of the Swedish defender closest to the kick. In fact, he started with his chest toward the kicker, but to protect himself he twirled in a clockwise fashion as he ran to the ball and that permitted the ball to pass behind his back as his left side approached the kicker. I did a series of pauses on the video to see this. I thought that his lack of courage (and possibly good sense) contributed to the goal. I could be wrong but this is what I remember seeing when I looked carefully at the video.
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Hey Steve, I made the animations here and you're totally correct that it went to the right of the Swedish team player at the beginning of the kick. However, by the time they got to this photo frame, that player had moved to the right of his initial position on the field, hence he ended up being on the right side of the arrow we used to represent the kick instead of the left. Good eye though!
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Sydney, Great graphics!
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Yep, you are right. Nice animations.
The Swedes needed a defender on the far post.
If you look carefully there are three Swedish defenders in line not protecting anything in particular.
One of them should go on the far post.
They also needed the two men in the wall to do their job, instead they lost concentration and simply stood around while Kroos drove the ball between them.
Good observation. Unfortunately, protecting the posts seems to have been rejected many years ago.
Crazy, right?
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These are pretty cool. But what about Philippe Coutinho bending goal in game 1. That was also a thing of beauty.
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Amazing use of new Mental Canvas technology. Takes you onto the pitch. A totally new way to see the game.
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Both were outstanding goals, but what about CR7's sublime curling over the wall strike against Spain?
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