On the effect of a shooter's approach angle and kicking foot on the anticipation of penalty-kicks

Previous reports suggest that a penalty taker's approach angle may affect goalkeepers' interceptive actions. However, experimental verification of the influence of approach angle on shot direction prediction from a goalkeepers' perspective has not yet been provided. In a video-based experiment, we manipulated left- and right-footed penalty-takers' approach angles under six conditions (0 degrees-50 degrees) and we asked goalkeepers, field players, and non-soccer-players (20 participants per group) to predict the penalties' shot direction. Goalkeepers and field players outperformed non-soccer-players. Anticipation performance, on average, was best under the 20 degrees and 30 degrees conditions and worst under the 0 degrees and 40 degrees conditions, and left-footed shots were harder to predict than right-footed shots. Further analyses showed that the observers' tendency to make bottom corner predictions as well as the confidence in their predictions overall decreased with increasing approach angle. Collectively, our findings provide preliminary evidence to suggest that goalkeepers' anticipation performance is influenced by a penalty taker's approach angle.