High shots and (very) light goalkeeper touches
I'm good at seeing if the GK got a touch after a save but apparently my high shots need work...
I worked 3x adult 7v7 games last night.
One mistake I made twice was that I didn’t see when the goalkeeper tipped it over their own crossbar but got a very light touch on it.
The touches were so small that they barely changed the trajectory of the ball.
They were also light enough that I didn’t hear them.
It’s a pretty informal league so after both incidents, the defending team told me the GK had gotten a touch so I went with the corners.
What was funny was I was easily able to see when the goalkeeper got a touch after any other movement like a dive, even if the touch was very light. Not sure what the difference is but when the keeper’s hands went straight up to parry over the bar, I missed them.
Takeaway: These were games downtown and there were a surprising number of sirens and other sounds crowding our game. It was also raining. This combination made it harder to hear light touches. But higher-level games are going to have lots of crowd noise so it’s something I need to get acclimated to. I need to really turn on when shots are taken, especially high ones apparently.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙