The own destination is quickly becoming the most valuable foul-up of the 2018 FIFA World Cup , a high spot - desirable , cringe - inducing bird - boo that can either delight or appal , depending on your rooting interest . It even happened in the final secret plan .
Before bring into the how s and why s of own goal , though , a definition : In football ( or soccer , if you ’re American ) , an own goal hap when a player accidentally knocks the lump into the wrong net income . The one that the other guy are shoot at . The one that these own - destination makers are opine to be defending .
Generally speaking , if a nip is head toward the goal , is deflected by a withstander and still goes in , it ’s not an own destination . But if the shot is take for to be offline — not at the destination — and is deflected into the net by a defender , that ’s an own goal .
The result , course , is a score for the other team — in external football idiom , that ’s known meekly as a " GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL ! " — and , often , some overplus and alarm for the offending squad .
A Rash of Self-inflicted Misery
The own goal is rare , but it ’s not an outright rareness , especially in the 2018 World Cup . Twelve were scored , breaking thetournament recordset in 1998 . Historically speak , in 17 World Cups held since the first one in 1930 , 53 own goals have slipped past flailing goaltenders and mortified shielder . Every cup start with that platter - typesetter in 1998 — that is , the last six , considering the cup is held every four years — has had at least one case of a player commit football game ’s cardinal sin .
" Generally , when you look at the top leagues in the world , it ’s around 3 per centum of your goals that are from own destination . That ’s pretty normal , " say Jason Longshore , a longtime football game expert who serves as the radio color psychoanalyst for Major League Soccer ’s Atlanta United . " So right now , at the World Cup , yeah , it ’s a little second higher . It ’s a low sample size , so we ’ll see if it even out over the tourney . But I feel like that number has increased over the last few class just because the secret plan is so much faster . instrumentalist are so much quicker . I consider the lump itself is so much quicker . "
give way that , it probably should n’t be surprising that this year ’s cupful could shatter the track record for own goal . Sixty - four high - pressure , human knee - knocking game are played during the World Cup . home prideis on the line in every one . ( Except , of course , for the United States . The U.S. did n’t measure up for the 32 - squad field . Talk about sticky . )
That ’s a lot of opportunity for stubbing your toe or rent your promontory get in the way . Mistakes are stick to happen .
" This isthemost pressure - tamp event for asoccerplayer . This is the ultimate for any role player in the earthly concern , to map their commonwealth at a World Cup . And these players sense it , " Longshore enounce . " We all know in sports , when you ’re feel that insistency , sometimes it can cause mistakes . "
add together to all that mental weight is the fact that these participant are , physically , among the best in the world . Maybe the safe . They are stronger , quicker and more skilled than their World Cup predecessors . A misplaced substructure here , a bump there , a bit of poor positioning in the latter minutes of a grueling plot … any of it can guide to a tenuous slip - up and an own destination . The gross profit margin for error is minute .
A Nightmare for Morocco
That was probably never more evident than in a World Cup encounter on June 15 between Morocco and Iran . The mates was scoreless into hitch clip — that redundant time official tot onto the goal of a mates to make up for slow times during regulating play ( because , in football / association football , there are no timeouts during which the clock cease ) — when Morocco deputize Aziz Bouhaddouz , swarmed by an Iranian attack , dive almost parallel to the pitch , toward his own end , examine to clear away a shot .
or else , Bouhaddouz headed the ball in between the goalpost and his own goalkeeper for the secret plan - succeeder . Final score : Iran 1 , Morocco 0 .
It all occur in a split - second . Even the announcer initially credit an Persian thespian for the destination . Replays showed that Bouhaddouz , attempt to clear it past his own end to restart maneuver , simply deflected it the unseasonable fashion on his prima donna . alternatively of hitting the top left field of his head , the ball come to the top right .
team will often commit clearing balls away from the net profit , Longshore says , put to work especially on proper consistency positioning . But when game time comes …
" You look at a defender in these situation , if they ’re chasing back facing the goal , they do n’t get it on what ’s around them . And they ’re feeling that pressure of , ' Maybe there ’s an attacker behind me . I need to attempt to flirt this away , ' " Longshore explain . " And they put themselves in a bad posture and sometimes that warp can take it in on their own goal rather than clearing it off . "
As devastating as an own goal can be — Bouhaddouz was cry and being console by his teammates as he left the pitching — players realize that these thing are part of the secret plan . Even the donee of own goal see it , as one Iranian showed after the Morocco mate in ashining bit of international sportsmanship .
as luck would have it , most fans can sympathise that an own finish is simply part of the game . Although statistics on the causes of own goals are impossible to come by — whether a goal is adjudge as an own goal ultimately depends on the sound judgment of an official scorekeeper — most own goals seem to be the consequence of fluke deflections , something unforeseen that happens in a winking , rather than regardless , preventable mistakes .
Still , that does n’t make them any easier to accept , either for players or devotee .
" The passion for the game is a big part of it , too . This is a biz that I conceive the reactions to it are different than our American sport at times , " Longshore says . " It is that 45 minutes , around-the-clock , of action . Every play kind of builds on itself . It ’s a hysteria at the end . you could get caught up in the passion and catch up with up in the emotion of it and maybe not see that hey , it ’s just a mistake . Hey , it ’s not even a misapprehension . It ’s just a good luck . "
