Joanne O’Riordan: Goalkeepers are different – and women’s football is no exception

Goalkeeping training is no longer just running around a pitch, or having people fire shots at you

The physical differences between men and women in goals are obvious. The average height at this women’s World Cup for goalkeepers is 5ft 8in , while the average height in Qatar at the men’s World Cup was 6ft 2in . The goals remain the same size for both, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an immediate disadvantage, especially with more goalkeeper-specific coaching being utilised.

Even with the explosiveness of the shots that goalkeepers have to face, reaction time is huge. The USA’s Lindsey Horan blasted a shot at Sweden’s Musovic that recorded a travelling speed of over 90kmph. Even more impressive was how late Musovic saw the shot as the ball curled around bodies. “What I would say is, I think lots of goalkeepers probably haven’t received specific goalkeeper training over the years, and if they have, it tends to be later for girls and boys. So I think where we’re going to improve is perhaps by starting them younger, and just really getting young girls at an earlier age.

“I think if you look at the percentage of what a goalkeeper does in each area of the game, I think shot-stopping is probably less than 10 per cent of it now,” says Goodwin, “whereas distribution, and I’m reluctant to give you a figure, but it’s very high.

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