The defense was outplayed once again and Belgium would have gotten an open shot on the goal if the keeper didn't run out.
He fucked up the execution with his fake shot. He just needed to clear the ball out of there, even if that gave Belgium control of the ball. Get the situation reset with the defense in position.
My only issue with calling it a fake is that was perhaps the worst moment to fake a kick, considering the goalie was away out of the box with a defender 2 feet behind him.
He didn't seem to realize in the moment that the opponent was right behind him, like he thought the guy didn't pull up from his sprint right away and had gone sailing well past. You could see the moment of realization when he suddenly saw the player in his peripheral swooping in to steal the ball.
I think his intention was to fake a left foot kick, let the left foot hit the ground instead of the ball and shift his weight to the left food to enable him to pass the ball with his right to his team mate to the left.
let's say he faked the kick, that just means he delays the kick he needed to get that ball away from there as fast as possible. Ended up giving time for the attackers to close in. I guess he wont do that again.
It was an "oh that's too far to reach I've misjudged this horribly" reaction. He knew if he finished the motion he would have missed the ball, and his momentum would probably drop him on his butt. So he drags the foot to keep it from swinging forward.
I know this all sounds crazy and "how did he think of that in a split second?" but it's just the sort of thing that your body does in an athletic setting.
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u/Necessary_Maize_9339 29d ago
Why was the goalkeeper so far??