Rassie struggling

South Africa . Rassie still seemed to be on a bit of a slide, yo-yoing between great and shocking (in a bad way!), which didn't really help out his team mates. As his confidence took a knocking so his decision making got worse, leading to goals you would otherwise expect him to not allow for in the first place (not letting the scoring chances develop initially i.e. as he got caught out when rushing out to meet a player at the top of the D, only to be caught out totally out of position for a goal).

With his height, a lot of goals were going in between his legs. Much misunderstood by outfield players who will often comment on this, was becoming too much of a regularity, especially at PC's where his opponents saw a weakness. But the taller the goalkeeper, the harder it can be to snap them shut, given balance issues and sluggish movements, and at 6'3 this is a little expected for him. Rassie seemed to also get caught our trying to make saves on the move, and this could either be not being set positionally, or out of being given the 'run around' as a result of defensive breakdowns and an increase in unmarked attackers.

In the case of imploding to severe goals against score lines, he needs to work on regaining his confidence. Confidence is so key to successful goalkeeping, as as soon as the defenders lose confidence in the goalkeeper behind them, they freak out abut pushing up the pitch, making it difficult to score and readdress the balance and so on. I think Rassie needs to work on consistency, but here, the only way to get back 'in shape' with performances, is to go away and refind that level of confidence to play as well as he had being against Germany etc. Once there, he should be able to refind his form.

New Zealand vs South Africa: Pieterse a little shaky

The pressure of the big stage can be a little troubling for goalkeepers new to the international scene, and with such a large crowd to play in front of for the first time, I think nerves are starting to settle in for a few goalkeepers. Cortes didn't have the best game against Belgium but managed to have a stormer against India. Similarly, Pieterse has been great for South Africa as they continue to prove their mettle at the highest levels, but then crumbled against NZ.

Rassie has been in great form, starting to prove his real worth after taking over from predecessor Chris Hibbert, and highlight reel saves against Germany and his performance against Australia for example at London (vs Chris' in Beijing) would suggest pipping him at being called upon against tough opposition. And in this respect, goalkeepers can never undermine the importance of self confidence. You HAVE to be positive to the point of arrogance at times, because if you lose confidence in yourself all is effectively lost. And your team can't afford for you to have a meltdown, especially so if you're representing your country!

So you can watch and learn a bit from games like these, putting into practice in your game your own level of self belief:

• once you have allowed a goal, move on immediately; forget it never happened, play like it didn't and work to keep your team in the game
• leave the self criticism to post-match analysis otherwise you can creep into self doubt and lose all that sense of it which is so crucial to a goalkeeper playing well
• confidence is a technical aspect you cannot learn by watching or reading - you have to do it and put it to work, to make it work!