Polaroid
I need a tittle
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In baseball the hidden ball trick, a play where the baserunner is fooled into an incorrect location of the ball and tagged out, is something of a lost art. Over the last six years there have been a total of two successful hidden ball tricks in the big leagues, both coincidentally by Mike Lowell from his days at the Florida Marlins, which matches the number of perfect games and is one less than the number of unassisted triple plays over the same period. The beauty about the hidden ball trick is that it is impressive when it comes off but there is pretty much no downside other than from looking a bit silly if the baserunner manages to predict the play.
Although the sports couldn't be any more different, there is a version of the hidden ball trick in soccer; not strictly a hidden ball, but more it is another way of fooling the opposition in this case when a team has been given a penalty. Penalty kicks in soccer are generally converted at a rate of 75%+ so the onus should be on scoring a goal, with the probability in highly your favor, than concentrating on theatrics for the benefit of the watching audience. Unlike in baseball, penalty trick theatrics have the huge downside of not scoring a goal.
Hisato Satō and Tomoaki Makino both play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima of the Japan Professional Football League and are well known for orchestrating some innovative penalty tricks. A couple of months ago Hiroshima were playing against the Pohang Steelers of Korea, and were awarded a penalty which Satō elected to take. Instead of shooting, he lays the ball into the path of the running Makino who scores the goal. In a play where so many things could go wrong (the ball was hit too hard, the defender gets back in time, Makino mistimes his run) the fact that was pulled off perfectly is even more admirable.
And last weekend, the pair were at it again in another penalty trick. Makino looks like he is going to take the penalty and distracts the opposition by appearing to push them back outside the penalty area in preparation of taking the penalty kick; amidst the jostling, Satō runs through the pack of players and dispatches the ball into the back of the net leaving the opposition motionless.
Although both penalties make for impressive viewing, the sizeable risk of failure means that you probably won't see this type of incident happen in next month's Champions League final. Now that would be a ballsy play.
.
Although the sports couldn't be any more different, there is a version of the hidden ball trick in soccer; not strictly a hidden ball, but more it is another way of fooling the opposition in this case when a team has been given a penalty. Penalty kicks in soccer are generally converted at a rate of 75%+ so the onus should be on scoring a goal, with the probability in highly your favor, than concentrating on theatrics for the benefit of the watching audience. Unlike in baseball, penalty trick theatrics have the huge downside of not scoring a goal.
Hisato Satō and Tomoaki Makino both play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima of the Japan Professional Football League and are well known for orchestrating some innovative penalty tricks. A couple of months ago Hiroshima were playing against the Pohang Steelers of Korea, and were awarded a penalty which Satō elected to take. Instead of shooting, he lays the ball into the path of the running Makino who scores the goal. In a play where so many things could go wrong (the ball was hit too hard, the defender gets back in time, Makino mistimes his run) the fact that was pulled off perfectly is even more admirable.
And last weekend, the pair were at it again in another penalty trick. Makino looks like he is going to take the penalty and distracts the opposition by appearing to push them back outside the penalty area in preparation of taking the penalty kick; amidst the jostling, Satō runs through the pack of players and dispatches the ball into the back of the net leaving the opposition motionless.
Although both penalties make for impressive viewing, the sizeable risk of failure means that you probably won't see this type of incident happen in next month's Champions League final. Now that would be a ballsy play.
.
