Visual perception & performance in penalty kick among soccer goalkeepers : a review

Abstract

Penalty kick (PK) in soccer is classified as a discrete motor skill that only takes less than two seconds to complete. On the other end, it is rare for the goalkeeper (GK) to emerge triumph in PK. This study examined, using systematic review, visual perception and performance of GKs during PK. Some key areas within studies would consists of area of interests (AOIs) for the GK to fixate upon and also to provide explicit practical strategies for GK in PK situation. A systematic literature search using keyword like ‘visual perceptual in soccer penalty kick’ was done up till 29th March on 5 electronic databases: (1) One Search, (2) Sport Discus, (3) PubMed (4) Science Direct, and (5) Google Scholar. 13 articles were retained for systematic review, after screening and assessing for eligibility. They were assessed for risk of bias. Results of the 13 studies showed that soccer GK’s response direction, time, gaze fixation on areas of interest at different phases have shown to have associated with behaviour pattern of a successful GK in PK. The compiled results allowed the author to proposed strategies for GK, that encompasses different expertise PK kicker and phases with possible guidelines. In conclusion, the proposed strategy provides a sense of holistic approach in real PK situation. However, there are many other factors that might influence a GK that was omitted in this study such as anxiety and fatigue. Therefore, the proposed strategy is open for validation by future researchers. More studies must be conducted to substantiate the behaviour pattern of a successful GK.