Stockmann not at his best against Oz

In the first final against Australia since the Champions Trophy series, Jaap Stockmann was unfortuantely not at his best as Holland lost. Given how much he has been proving himself to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and the strong performances that drew praise and his being awarded Goalkeeper of the tournament, somehow things didn't come off as planned in the finals game. After making changes to his approach seeing a full split keep the ball out of goal, he reverted to his old game and seemed to regress, perhaps hitting a mental barrier with the weight of expectations. Not to sound overly critical, but given how well he has been playing, you would hope he would be playing at his optimum best, even if his team didn't really help out (by pitching in on the scoring front!).

For example, for the first goal, he really needed to extend as he had been, to push the ball away for the save. On the third and fourth goals, diving would have been an option to get to the low ball in the corner of the goal. Indecision or improper application of technique is going to be fully exploited by shooters at this level, and after the third goal , heads down, things seemed to get worse from there on in. It won't be long until Stockmann hits the training ground and the domestic season to be able to work through these technicalities and hit his peak again.

• On the first goal, he pushed out with poor rotation at the hips meaning he dropped the knee and couldn't reach the ball with the left toe
• On the second, he did not raise his RHP well, or attack it 'punching up', being beaten by a screamer to his top right
• On the third, the defence really broke down and in a scramble (which he couldn't do much more than cover as he did), the ball rolled over the line after the defense in front of him weren't man marking well enough
• For the fourth and fifth goals, he needed to dive as he wasn't going to reach the ball from the upright like that - needs to work on his tendency of going with everything with his feet which could otherwise become a liability (goalkeepers at the elite level need to constantly evolve - as shooters work out ways they can beat them, the goalkeeper has to work harder at these to maintain unbeatability)
• On the fifth, his defenders stopped defending: he needed to either commit to a baseline run and slide tackle with good timing (as the ball carrier drew him off the post and would do even then), or get his defence to cover

Pinner unlucky in loss

Pinner did well enough in spite of England's loss and failure to place in the medal standings at the World Cup, in their final game against Argentina. Vivaldi was solid to achieve a clean sheet again, making the saves out of strong basics and awareness at the corners. Pinner was level headed, making sure he was only beaten twice, compared to Oz's goalfest, but I feel he could have done better at the second goal with a tactical approach in sliding in to tackle, given that he was already committed. And as a baseline run with no defender dealing with it, it was his responsibility arguably.

• Good strong left hand to the first PC to make the save, rebound pushed out well clear
• Did well to get the angle set and close down the shooter to push wide on the shot before that
• On the first goal, he did well to close down the attacker but ended up stranded; either needed to dive out, or alert his defender to intercept (pre-planning needed as seemed immediate and difficult to respond to)
• On the second, he could have been better to slide in; given he had already gone with that decision and committed, he really should have gone in for the block/tackle, as getting back up into the play did nothing to prevent the goal - basically flapped at it with his stick

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.