Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Worst Shootout Performance in History

Congratulations to RSC Anderlecht of Belgium for giving us one of the most shocking displays of penalty kick taking in history. With the barrage of spot kicks landing in the parking lot, it seemed more like a long distance competition than anything else. I'm sure more than a few supporters were greeted by a few dents in their cars after the match.

The English commentators kept going on and on and on about how sub-par the pitch was, and that Champions League football shouldn't be played on such surfaces, bla bla. Give me a break! Stop being so nearsighted. From the looks of it (and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out), the Partizan players didn't seem to have any real issue putting the ball in the back of the net.

This came down to technique. Something the Anderlecht players simply didn't have. That divot in the ground from the 1st kick wasn't the result of a bad pitch. Although it depends who you ask, since more than a couple golfers would have marvelled at what were exquisite pitches of the ball. Don't divots mean you made good contact and got under the ball to send it to the stratosphere?

Anyway, you can judge for yourself. In fairness to Anderlecht though, they did produce this one piece of magic in the losing effort.

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