The last fifteen minutes of the football match : analysis of technical actions of goalkeeper

Introduction. Match analysis studies show that the Italian Division A players cover 23.5% metres less at high intensity in the last fifteen minutes than in the first fifteen minutes of the match and the highest number of goals are scored in the last fifteen minutes of the second half (Ferretti F., 2007). A high-level goalkeeper runs about 4 km in a match (Stølen T. et al., 2005) and his movements are accomplished primarily through slow changes of position, alternating with fast actions of a few meters (Filippi C. and De Bellis R., 2008). Therefore the aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of technical actions that the goalkeeper of tha A Division completes during the match and to check if in the last quarter of an hour there is a change in frequency of such actions. Methods 50 games of the 2007-2008 season of the Italian Division A were examined for a total of 100 goalkeeper performances. The collected data was analyzed using the Anova test to check if every single action in each performance showed significant differences between the different quarters of the match (6 quarters), and with the Student t test to verify if there were differences between each action in the average of the first 5 quarters and last quarter of the match. The statistical significance calculated at p <0.005. Statistical analysis was performed using the software SPSS v. 17. Results and Discussion An analysis using the Anova test did not show any statistically significant difference, while analyzing the average of the first 5 quarters with the last quarter of the match, there was a significant difference in the high jumps with one or two punches (p < 0.001). This result indicates that there are more high jumps with one or two punches in the first 5 quarters of the match than in the last fifteen minutes. Conclusion With the passing of minutes, the game becomes less organized as a result of physical decline, the players often try to shoot a goal, remaining in large numbers inside the box area and increase the danger to the goalkeeper and the possibility of being scored a goal. From this study it is possible to assume that towards the end of the match, these factors lead the goalkeeper to change his technical and tactical approach, opting for different choices, such as not making high jumps because of the presence of many players in the goal-area making possible contact with a player and loss of the ball. Ferretti F, (2007). Il calo nell’ultimo quarto d’ora, Scienza e Sport, 0:20-5. Filippi C and De Bellis R, (2008). L’allenamento fisico, Il Nuovo Calcio, 189:146-50. Stølen T, Chamari K, Castagna C, Wisløff U, (2005). Physiology of soccer, Sport Med. 35(6):501-536.