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Shot-stoppingRepresentativeTactics

Deflected shot in a low-visibility zone

React to shots with the sightline partially blocked by densely grouped players in front of goal — the situation where early reading fails and pure reaction to the ball’s appearance is what’s left.

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Load

minutes
10
dives/set
4
Sets and reps
3 × 4
Intensity
High

dives per set, per goalkeeper

Microcycle days it fits

MD-3, MD-2

Each bar’s height is that day’s dive ceiling.

Setup

Goalkeepers
1
server
1
outfield player
3

Space: 18 × 14 m

Equipment: Balls, Bibs, Full goal

The coach serves and manages the breaks.

1 steps

A server shoots from outside the box with several players grouped in front of the goalkeeper’s sightline. The ball may arrive clean or deflected, with the goalkeeper unable to track the full trajectory.

Exercise sequence

Coaching points

  • Reposition laterally before the shot to open the best possible sightline, without ever having it fully clear.
  • Accept that in this situation, reacting to the ball’s sudden appearance replaces trajectory reading — train confidence in that reaction, don’t try to predict the unpredictable.
  • Keep the base ready to react in any direction until the last possible instant.
  • After the save, reorganise vision immediately for the second contact, which arrives just as unannounced.

Progressions

  1. Increase player density in front of goal.
  2. Reduce the shot distance.

Regressions

  1. Reduce player density.
  2. Increase the shot distance, giving more reaction time.

Sources · 2

  1. StudyExpertise and training of anticipation in goalkeeping: two scoping reviews (2025), Journal of Sports Sciences
  2. Book«Scientific Approaches to Goalkeeping in Football», Bennion Kearny