Corners and crosses

youcrazyjesus!

Can somebody tell me why roughly 99.99% of crosses and corners are either ballooned into the stratosphere or, more often than is not the case, hit the first man?

It really defies belief that so many professional footballers from teams around the globe simply cannot get the ball into the box from outwide. I find it frustrating watching a game that the ball is rarely delivered into the box from out wide.

redout

youcrazyjesus! wrote: »

Can somebody tell me why roughly 99.99% of crosses and corners are either ballooned into the stratosphere or, more often than is not the case, hit the first man?

It really defies belief that so many professional footballers from teams around the globe simply cannot get the ball into the box from outwide. I find it frustrating watching a game that the ball is rarely delivered into the box from out wide.

fullstop

youcrazyjesus! wrote: »

Can somebody tell me why roughly 99.99% of crosses and corners are either ballooned into the stratosphere or, more often than is not the case, hit the first man?

It really defies belief that so many professional footballers from teams around the globe simply cannot get the ball into the box from outwide. I find it frustrating watching a game that the ball is rarely delivered into the box from out wide.

It's because they're trying to hit the crosses with so much pace and bend, it's not easy to get it just right. If it was only a matter of getting the ball in the box, they could just chip it in, but that would be easy for the defence...whereas if the ball is played in at speed it only needs a flick off defender or striker to go in.

TangyZizzle

Nakamura hit a belter of a corner this afternoon, the best Iv seen all tournament to be perfectly honest.

Mars Bar

And the guy who takes the Chile set pieces, he sends in a great ball about 95% of the time.

I laughed at the commentator who said that one of the Algerian corners was one of the worst he has seen in the tournament so far. It was fairly pathetic alright...

leninbenjamin

Not to mention the nerves of playing front of 30,000+ people certainly play their part in it all.

Le King

mars bar wrote: »

And the guy who takes the Chile set pieces, he sends in a great ball about 95% of the time.

I laughed at the commentator who said that one of the Algerian corners was one of the worst he has seen in the tournament so far. It was fairly pathetic alright...

Yup, that was laughable.

HyperSkypeWiper

Gyan could've won the game for Ghana if he gave a good cross. Muntari (or someone) bursting through the centre well ahead of Lucas Neill and onside,

as usual

Gyan sent it into row Z

FreeOSCAR

mars bar wrote: »

I laughed at the commentator who said that one of the Algerian corners was one of the worst he has seen in the tournament so far. It was fairly pathetic alright...

Haha yeh that was hilarious. Then Lampard does the exact same in the 2nd Half and they dont say a word.

bonerm

Is it not a case that at the highest level that corners are not just a matter of placement but also other factors such as pace, swerve and power etc. When you try to create precisely fashioned corner-kick the margin for error is large and worse still an incorrect attempt can often end up looking like you can't even kick a ball.

By contrast I'm sure that if you gave the worlds top corner kickers a ball and asked them to merely drop the ball onto a reasonably sized target 30-40 yards away they could more often than not do it with ease.

Jay P

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Not to mention the nerves of playing front of 30,000+ people certainly play their part in it all.

Ah in fairness, it's part of their jobs to deal with that. Most players in the world cup would deal with that many spectators every week. Granted, there's the added pressure of being in the World Cup, but they should be able to handle it, they're professional sportsmen.

youcrazyjesus!

One or two of you answered it on reflection. Basically what you're saying is they're trying the killer ball all the time (trying to get perfect pace, height, swing) and the margin for error is slim and it can make them look foolish. Maybe the solution is to try not to just whip it a perfect cross every single time, surely in percentage terms it's best to just get the ball in there with an average ball than not get it in at all.

PogMoThoin

Craig Johnson explains why the balls the issue, it won't hang in the air, hence we've not seen one free kick scored:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8750020.stm

JerryHandbag

Slovakia's attempts at crossing today were hilarious. A good omen for when Richard Dunne and co have to deal with them in the Euros

Lukker-

When people try and cross the ball as they would an ordinary ball they over-hit it. When they make an effort to accomadate for the ball, it ends up not beating the first man. It's a lose lose, you're basically asking players to re-learn what they've been playing with for their entire careers and not expect the standard of shots and crosses to go down. Players are going to play by habit and the very fact that they have to make a conscious decision on how they are going to strike the ball basically sums up why Adidas are clowns.

Mikeyt086

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Slovakia's attempts at crossing today were hilarious. A good omen for when Richard Dunne and co have to deal with them in the Euros

But we play with Umbro footballs. Horrible, normal, predictable, Umbro footballs.