It was the 21st minute when Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake sent a long ball up and over the pressure, deep into the U.S.’s half with the Americans holding a 1-0 lead in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. A quick header at midfield by Devon Williams sent the ball to the feet of Michail Antonio, who turned upfield and took off.
After a nice bit of footwork, Antonio turned Tyler Adams inside out, cut toward goal and blasted a remarkable shot from distance up and over Zack Steffen and into the back of the net.
MICHAIL ANTONIO. THERE WAS NO STOPPING THAT. 😳
His second goal in three appearances for Jamaica 🇯🇲 pic.twitter.com/r6uK1XUCkZ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) November 16, 2021
It was an incredible piece of skill from the West Ham striker — particularly astonishing since Antonio has never scored from outside the box for his club, and is one of just four players to score 50-plus Premier League goals all from inside the penalty area — but immediately fans and pundits started to question Steffen’s role in it all, with some insisting that fellow U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner could’ve done better.
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Though I understand why some might question Steffen getting beaten from over 30 yards, it’s not so straightforward. And as Paul Tenorio pointed out, it’s incredibly harsh and unfair to put the blame for this one on Steffen.
As Antonio got the ball and cut inside, Steffen’s first responsibility was to evaluate the Jamaican striker’s next course of action. Will he dribble and take on the back line, will he pass the ball or will he shoot? Despite his track record, Antonio’s body language and extra long touch inside made it pretty clear that he was lining up for a shot. Steffen suddenly needed to check his positioning and ready himself for the shot, should it be on target.
When looking at a goalkeeper’s positioning and angle play, the easiest way to judge if they have their angles correct is to draw two lines from the point of the ball: the first extending to the near post and the second extending to the far post. If the keeper is in the middle of the resulting triangle — the two ends from the ball to the posts plus the goal line itself — then you know they are in the optimal position and can cover a shot anywhere on target.
Now I’ll admit, the angles we are provided from the video aren’t perfect, but we get a pretty good sense from the camera angle behind the goal that Steffen was in virtually the optimum position to face a shot on target, regardless of whether it came toward the first post or the further corner. We can debate if he should have been a few inches here or a few inches there, but in the big picture it’s quite minimal and certainly doesn’t impact the outcome of the play.
When the ball is struck, Steffen has his feet on the ground, his body leaning slightly forward, his hands at his hips and he’s ready for the shot. His evenly distributed weight allows him to be in the optimum balance to react to the shot. Once the ball is launched off Antonio’s foot, Steffen reacts, taking two very quick side shuffles to his left before throwing himself toward the ball.
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But what about the footwork? Former USWNT goalkeeper and U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Briana Scurry was in the studio for Paramount+ at halftime and said she felt that Steffen got it wrong.
There are three types of footwork that goalkeepers often rely on: bounding (the ability to bounce up and down and side-to-side quickly, to prepare yourself for a shot), the side step (think of it as a shuffle when the goalkeeper moves one leg at a time to one side) and the crossover step (when the keeper crosses one leg in front of the other).
In a perfect world, Steffen does a crossover step rather than a side shuffle to help him cover more distance faster — that would mean Steffen moves his right foot over his left foot, followed by a quick side shuffle to orientate himself into his dive. However, it’s an incredibly advanced technique and difficult to execute given the circumstances. You also run the risk of getting caught mid-step, tripping over yourself and never being able to launch your body to the ball. Additionally, in order to execute it correctly you need time — time to get your steps correct from point A to point B in the goal and time to then react to the shot.
The problem here was that the ball was hit so hard by Antonio that he canceled out the extra time you are usually afforded under these circumstances and therefore every action from Steffen automatically needed to be sped up. Sure, it might have been optimal for Steffen to use the crossover step, but due to the variables at play it was incredibly difficult for him to do so. Had he tried to implement the crossover step, it’s likely he would have tripped over himself and never even had the opportunity to launch toward the ball.
The only way he could have had the time to complete the crossover footwork efficiently was if he gambled and went early. But how could Steffen have had the foresight to know that this ball would go toward the back post? He couldn’t. No goalkeeper in the world is a mind reader. Had he gambled toward the far corner and Antonio rifled the shot into the near post, Steffen would have looked silly and been crucified for cheating. Therefore, his decision to go with the side shuffle was correct.
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If you watch closely you’ll notice he did manage to get two quick side shuffles in to orientate and ready himself for his dive. He had to keep his steps small here because of 1) time, and 2) because it’s what kept him balanced in his approach. Any bigger steps there and he risked getting caught mid-step and/or slipping and never getting to the ball.
If there is a discussion point for me, it would be whether or not he went with the correct hand to make the save. Due to the ball’s pace and the unpredictable trajectory of the shot, I understand why he went with two hands — he wanted to give himself more coverage to account for the potential deviations in path — but I can’t help but feel that he would have had a better chance to make the save had he gone with his top hand (right hand).
There’s a big debate in the goalkeeping community as to what hand is the best in these types of situations. While there are those who are against the top hand entirely, I have long believed the top hand can offer a little more reach across the goalmouth compared to the bottom hand.
If you were to stand with just your left foot on the ground, you can reach higher with your right hand by tilting your hips and shoulders than you could with your left hand. A similar process occurs when diving off the lead foot — the top hand will reach further than the bottom hand.
Had Steffen used the top hand it would have helped him launch in a vertical motion toward the ball, his back leg following close behind. By dragging his back leg across his body it would have created momentum/power in his dive, helping his arm to extend as his body started to turn toward the ball, leading to a few extra inches in his dive/extension save.
Even if he had gotten this correct, there is still no guarantee that it would have changed the outcome of the play. It’s possible that he would get there, but it’s just as likely he gets his fingers on the ball and the shot is just too powerful to stop. Just because a ball is potentially savable doesn’t mean it should be saved. There is a notable difference.
Additionally, the ball was hit with a ridiculous amount of power and it was dipping and swerving during the entirety of its flight. If you watch the replay in slow motion you’ll see the ball was bouncing slightly before Antonio struck it, essentially turning his attempt into a dipping volley, causing the ball to do all types of nasty movements in the air and change its trajectory several different times during flight.
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Rather than have a ball that followed a normal ascending trajectory toward the back of the net, there was zero spin on it, causing it to dance every which way in the air and never have a direct path to goal. This makes it incredibly difficult for even the best goalkeepers in the world to read well.
Not to mention that, if you watch closely, it’s almost as if the ball rose and then dipped over Steffen at the final moment. The ball had an incredible trajectory and I’m not sure there’s a way to save that, no matter who would have been standing in goal.
Had Steffen pulled off this save, it would have been up there for save of the year in any competition around the world. Sometimes you just need to accept that it’s a hell of a strike and tip your cap to the scorer.
(Top photo: John Dorton/ISI Photos)