Last Wednesday night, the Sounders collected a vital 3-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps at CenturyLink Field. While the storylines have centered around the offense clicking to devastating effect – and rightly so – it could have been a very different result if not for Stefan Frei’s fantastic save on Fredy Montero in the 36th minute. Let’s take a closer look at how he managed to deny the former Sounders Designated Player.
First things first, let’s break down the challenges a goalkeeper faces when defending a free-kick. For experienced goalkeepers like Frei, shot-stopping from the run-of-play becomes a sort of exercise in muscle memory, relying upon pattern recognition: the angle and speed of the shooter’s approach, location of the shot, how far back they raise their shooting leg, whether or not there’s defensive pressure, etc. It’s almost subconscious, stemming from the tens of thousands of saves a goalkeeper makes in training and matches throughout their career. Set pieces, however, are an entirely different beast.
If a goalkeeper guesses where the attacker will place their shot, they might produce a truly stunning save. But a more likely outcome is that they guess wrong and get stranded on their line, watching helplessly as the ball sails into the back of the net. So, discipline lies the core of Frei’s world-class save, as he waits to move either way until the ball clears the wall.
The above photo shows the exact moment where Montero is about to strike the ball, while the photo below shows the initial flight of the shot as it travels toward the goal at top-speed. Compare Frei’s positioning in both pictures; he hasn’t shifted an inch to either side, showcasing elite concentration and discipline to not move until the ball clears the wall.
In fact, the only difference between the two photos is that Frei is in a crouched, athletic stance in the second one, or what goalkeepers refer to as ‘getting set’ for the shot. This is an important distinction for set pieces. Goalkeepers want to get set in that split-second when a striker begins his shooting motion, providing them with crucial milliseconds necessary to change direction and make a save. But with defenders obscuring the play, it’s important to get set at the exact moment the ball travels around the wall, just in case there’s a deflection.
As we now know, the shot took a slight deflection off Chad Marshall. Had it connected more fully with someone in the wall, and if Frei had begun shuffling to either side, the ball could have ricocheted and sailed in the opposite direction, leaving him with no chance of making the save. But because he exercises patience, he’s able to deny a sure goal that would have shifted the momentum in favor of the visitors.
Now let’s examine Frei’s starting spot, as well as the makeup and positioning of his wall.
When setting up a wall, goalkeepers tend to dictate the number of players necessary based upon the distance of the shot, meaning the further away, the smaller the wall. Also, you want the last man, Osvaldo Alonso in this case, to station himself one yard beyond the near post. This forces the shooter to put so much spin on his effort that it not only makes it around the wall, but also curls back enough to make it on target. Frei also recognizes that Montero might try to go over the wall, so he puts four of the tallest players on the pitch in his man-made barricade, restricting the chances of a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque knuckle-ball over the top. But he also leaves the likes of Gustav Svensson and Joevin Jones to mark runners in case Montero clips in a cross, accounting for every possible set-piece scenario.
As for Frei’s positioning, he does well to station himself beyond both his wall and the two Whitecaps players standing next to it, which allows him to track the entire flight of the ball. If he’s one or two steps over to his left, Montero could strike a driven shot at his own teammates, who would then duck out of the way, thus leaving Frei’s vision obscured so he sees the shot late.
If you look closely at the clip above, it’s clear that Frei tracks the flight of the ball from the instant it leaves Montero’s foot to the moment he makes contact with his left hand. In fact, based upon the consistency of his footwork, crouched stance and squared shoulders, it looks like he even anticipates the slight deflection off of Marshall’s shoulder. When you aggregate all of those variables, the way Frei positions both himself and the wall is a masterclass in defending set pieces.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this save is Frei’s precise, efficient footwork to move across his line while generating enough power to reach the top corner and push the ball into the underside of the crossbar. Keep in mind that the goal-frame is 24-feet wide from post-to-post, and that Frei is actually standing 1-2 yards to the left-of-center. Given that the shot ends up in the absolute top corner of the goal, this means Frei was able to recover about 14 feet with just two quick, shuffle steps in the span of about two seconds. And he does this while maintaining a crouched stance so he can produce enough power on his take-off to reach the upper corner of the goal-mouth. A lesser shot-stopper would have taken a crossover step, maybe even two. But by employing more traditional, lateral footwork, Frei stays squared to the shooter and attack the ball at forward angle, redirecting Montero’s powerful effort enough to claw it off the goal line.
The final, and most important, aspect of this save is the way that Frei takes flight, shifting the weight from his right foot to his plant foot as he hurls himself toward the ball. When he makes that shift, he takes a slightly diagonal step with his left so that as he sails through the air, he palms the shot while flying at a forward angle. Had he made a parallel or backwards step, he still might have saved the shot, but he would’ve crashed into the post or landed in the side netting, leaving Christian Bolanos with an easy tap-in. Instead, he’s able to get up quickly and smother the rebound. Frei also contorts his upper body at the very last millisecond, extending himself just a little bit more, which was enough to push the ball onto the bar.
Every element of this save was textbook goalkeeping, which has become a regular occurrence for Seattle’s No. 24 throughout his time with the club. But instead of continuing to wax lyrical about Frei, let’s see what the Whitecaps bench thought...
