by Ian Royal »
03 Apr 2012 17:30
Much easier for Crouch to hit it in roughly the right direction. Hitting across a ball from a cross like that and guiding it accurately on the volley certainly is a tricky skill. I'll give you it's harder
technique to hit it like that, but then that's not the same as a harder goal to score, or a better goal to score.
If Crouch gets it a bit wrong it just looks overly ambitious and goes a bit over or wide. If Benzema gets it wrong it probably squirts off elsewhere making him look stupid.
But you're totally underplaying the difficulty of hitting a volley like Crouch's which dips into the top corner, over the keeper, from so far out, having one touch to tee it up, on the turn, without really looking as you're doing it. Phenominal awareness and accuracy over such a long range in those circumstances.