Imagine this situation: you are playing a soccer match and your team has won a corner kick. The planned routine is a penalty corner and your task is to get to the end of the eventual ball inside the box. What if you could 100 percent guarantee that you will have several meters of space at the start of this move and could be relatively sure that no one will track your run?
It sounds too good to be true. But that is precisely what Wolverhampton Wanderers achieved in their 2-1 win over Everton last month, putting together a neat corner routine that was seamlessly converted by daniel podencia – at 5ft 5in (165cm), hardly the most obvious penalty box target.
Daniel Podence’s goal was a rare moment to celebrate this season for Wolves, who are the lowest scorers in the Premier League (Photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
How did they do it? Well, Podence took the corner kick. And therefore this goal is completely unique in the last three and a half seasons of Premier league football, the only time a player has taken a corner and his team has maintained possession of the ball before converting it from a close position.
The move itself hinged on two wonderful passes and a clean finish, first from Ruben Neves (who had received the ball from a Podence corner) crossed to joao moutinhopersistent at the edge of the box.
The beautiful ball off Moutinho’s foot over the defense falls perfectly for Podence’s run…
…and Podence’s volley is calm and clinical.
It could have just been an impromptu team effort rather than a planned routine, but it doesn’t really matter. This goal is interesting because it shows how the defending team doesn’t even consider that the corner kicker can become a threat in the penalty area.
There are two key factors. First of all, it relies on Podence making sure he stays in position, which isn’t too difficult because the opposition will always have players inside the six-yard box.
Second, he relies on the cross to Moutinho, forcing the defending team to turn to face away from the corner shooter. This not only encourages them to run to the other side of the pitch when the keeper (probably) yells “out!”, but it also means that Podence can run behind on the blind side. At no point in the play, any Everton defender is aware of his run.
With the data, it is possible to find other examples from recent Premier League seasons where players took a corner and then scored from a close position, though none of the other examples are nearly as ingenious.
The two most intriguing objectives are different, but they are worth checking out.
Here it is newcastle‘s Sean Longstaff doing so earlier in the campaign, although this is based on a rebound from the woodwork. Longstaff takes the corner at short for kieran trippierwho sends the ball into the area for a Sven Botmann header. This hits the far post and bounces nicely for Longstaff to hit the rebound. Just one out of training camp. It is notable, however, that Longstaff had spent two fulham defenders before converting. Again, they did not consider that the corner kicker could become a goal threat in the box.
That’s the thing about corner defences: if you’re one of the players tasked with coming out to the players involved in the short corner, you seem to shut down almost automatically. Sometimes there is also a big gap between the two groups: those who go out to shut themselves in and those who defend the cross. Arsenal exploited that space effectively over the weekend with Xhaka Granite Get in a good position for a trim.
The other relevant goal was scored by andres robertson in 2019-20 against Sean Dyche’s men Burnley – not a team known for being vulnerable to headed goals from set pieces. Once again, there is a caveat here. After Robertson took a penalty corner to james milnerBurnley’s cross clears the initial cross.
But the play ends in a situation similar to Podence’s goal. The ball falls to Fabinho, outside the area and towards the opposite side of the field of play to where the corner was taken. Burnley pushes towards him, while Robertson charges from behind on the blind side.
Fabinho’s deflected pass into the box is met with his run and Robertson fires an excellent header into the far corner.
Perhaps things would be different if a big-name goalscorer is taking out the corner, as Thierry Henry used to do for Arsenal, for example, he would be less likely to go unnoticed. And these targets are clearly extremely rare. But his rarity is what surprises the opposition: they don’t expect the corner kicker to become a serious scoring threat moments later.
But in an era of set-piece coaches and increasingly complex routines, it may be worthwhile for other teams to try to replicate this type of goal.
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