Yesterday, June 20, Spanish football team qualified for the 1/8 finals European Cup after beating Italy 1-0. It was a match in which Spain had many scoring opportunities, especially in the first half. However, despite all the unsuccessful shots on goal, the only goal was scored by the Italian. Riccardo Calafiori after center Nico Williams, who barely touched Mora. After this slight touch, the Bologna player wanted to clear the ball, but in the end he shot and scored a goal. own goal. At this moment, according to science, Calafiori should have scored a goal against the Spaniards, but fortunately for La Roja, in this case the predictions did not come true.
In 2020, a group of German scientists published a study analyzing the reaction of football players to own goals. It should be noted that only goals scored in Bundesliga German. Neither the Eurocup nor any other championship was analyzed. This makes it difficult to extrapolate the data, but it is still interesting to read the results.
Researchers studied 889 own goals, noted in the Bundesliga over the past 50 years. They also took into account the performance of the goal scorers in the rest of the game and saw that, apparently, failure usually gives them the wings to play better, and is compensated by a goal against the opponent. This didn’t happen yesterday in Italy, but it is a much more common occurrence than it seems.
Always positive, never negative
This German study consisted of two parts. The first analyzed 889 cases of own goals that occurred over the 50 years of the existence of the Bundesliga and the subsequent performances of football players. Then, in the second part, amateur football players were surveyed on four parameters: group performance, individual performance, individual public image and group public image.
Thus, they saw that it was “especially likely” that the players would score a goal. compensatory goal an own goal in one match. This may tire them out, but it actually gives them motivation to keep playing in search of the best results in the group.
The authors believe that this is due to a person’s social need for belong to a group. It is psychologically possible that we increase compensatory efforts when our own mistake puts the group at risk. This could be done even unconsciously. It should be noted that the study’s authors acknowledged that this effect can occur whenever the other team scores, even if it is not an own goal. However, the fact that the deficiency is due to one’s own error seems to require additional effort.
From the first own goal to Euro 2024
The first recorded own goal in the history of football occurred in 1877 in England, in a match between Wanderers and Oxford University. Interestingly, the author was the Wanderers goalkeeper himself, Arthur Kinnaird who, after stopping the ball, took a step back with it in his hand and knocked it into the goal. Despite his complaints, the goal was scored by Oxford University, although Kinnaird, who was a man of great power in England at the time, managed to keep the goal out after the match had ended.
In this case, since It was a mistake on the part of the goalkeeperIt would be impossible to compensate with a goal against the opponent.
Since then, almost all championships have had cases of goals of this type. Sometimes the Bundesliga study was carried out and sometimes it was not. But the truth is that there are many examples confirming this in other championships. Indeed, in the current Eurocup there was already one like this.
This happened on June 19 last year at a game. between Croatia and Albania. Albanian player Klaus Gjasula He scored the goal that temporarily made Croatia the match winner. However, it was he who scored the drawing goal in added time, in the 90+5th minute.
It seems an own goal can force players to redouble their efforts to compensate. Will there be more cases in the rest of the EuroCup?
Source: Hiper Textual
