u/Longshotfootball — reddlx

Ronaldinho's free kick against England in 2002 — verified at 42.0 yards and 77 km/h. The lower speed is exactly why it beat Seaman.

The most iconic free kick of the 2002 World Cup. Ronaldinho vs England, June 21 2002. Quarter final.

42.0 yards out. 77 km/h. 2.5m of curl. David Seaman off his line.

The lower speed is actually what made it so lethal — the ball dipped late, moved in the air, and by the time Seaman read it there was nothing he could do. The curl and dip, disguised as a cross at that distance is what caught him completely off guard.

At 42.0 yards it's the longest verified World Cup free kick in the database (so far). The furthest World Cup strike we've measured so far.

Frame-verified from the footage — full methodology at longshot.football 🇧🇷⚽

u/Longshotfootball — 16 hours ago

▲ 2 r/WorldCupNation+1 crossposts

How we verified James Rodriguez's Puskas Award winning goal — frame by frame ⚽

With the World Cup starting in 5 days thought it was worth revisiting one of the greatest goals in tournament history — and showing exactly how we measured it.

James Rodriguez vs Uruguay, June 28 2014. Chest control to volley from 25.5 yards. 86 km/h. Goalkeeper beaten was Muslera.

The clip walks through the full process — pitch map origin, frame tagger marking contact and entry points, curl adjustment for his left-footed outswinger, and screenshot proof.

Every goal on longshot.football is verified this way. No estimates. No guesswork.

Full database at longshot.football ⚽🇨🇴

youtube.com

u/Longshotfootball — 1 day ago

▲ 5 r/WorldCupNation

David Luiz vs Colombia — 2014 World Cup

David Luiz. 32.9 yards. 102 km/h. Brazil vs Colombia. July 4, 2014.

Home World Cup. Quarter final. The crowd hadn't seen anything like it.

Luiz picks up the ball 32.9 yards out, shapes up — and then absolutely rockets it into the top corner past David Ospina. Knuckleball. No spin. Completely unpredictable flight.

One of the great World Cup free kicks. On home soil. In a quarter final.

Frame-verified on longshot.football 🇧🇷⚽

#DavidLuiz #Brazil #WorldCup2014 #Colombia #Football #Longshot

u/Longshotfootball — 3 days ago

▲ 0 r/sportsanalytics

Why goal entry point significantly affects measured distance — the geometry behind our verification methodology

One aspect of our distance measurement that generates a lot of questions — why do we measure to the actual goal entry point rather than the centre of goal?

Here's the geometry using Beckham's free kick as an example:

Shot origin: just outside the D area

Distance to centre of goal: 27.0 yards
Distance to top right corner: 24.8 yards
Distance to top left corner (actual): 29.4 yards

That's a 4.6 yard difference on the same shot depending purely on where the ball entered the net.

Most databases and broadcast graphics use centre of goal as the reference point because it's simpler. But for a database focused on accuracy it felt wrong to ignore where the ball actually went — especially on wide free kicks and angled shots where the difference is most pronounced.

The same logic applies to speed — the ball travels further on a wide entry than a central one in the same flight time, so the calculated speed is also affected.

Happy to discuss the methodology or any edge cases where this gets complicated.

youtube.com

u/Longshotfootball — 3 days ago

▲ 10 r/WorldCupNation

Antonee Robinson's volley vs Germany today was verified at 121 km/h from 23.1 yards — 6 days before the World Cup

Just measured Robinson's volley from today's friendly against Germany.
23.1 yards. 121 km/h. A volley.

6 days before the World Cup kicks off and he's hitting it that hard. Manuel Neuer didn't move.Frame-verified from the footage — full methodology at longshot.football 🇺🇸⚡

u/Longshotfootball — 3 days ago

▲ 2 r/sportsanalytics

Frame-by-frame speed verification of Mesut Özil's 2010 World Cup goal — methodology and results

Been building a database to verify long-range football goal distances and speeds using video footage. Here's how I measured Özil's strike against Ghana at the 2010 World Cup.

Method:

Distance measured using a to-scale pitch map
Speed calculated by marking contact frame and entry frame
Flight time = (entry frame - contact frame) / fps
Speed = distance in metres / flight time

Result:

Distance: 23.3 yards / 21.3 metres
Flight time: 20 frames at 25fps = 0.800 seconds
Speed: 21.3m / 0.800s × 3.6 = 96 km/h

The working is fully shown — anyone can check it against the footage and replicate the measurement.

Happy to discuss methodology, margin of error, or any challenges with the frame verification process.

u/Longshotfootball — 5 days ago

▲ 9 r/WorldCupNation+1 crossposts

Muntari's goal against Uruguay in 2010 came from 39.1 yards — frame-verified at 105 km/h. Still one of the greatest World Cup strikes never properly celebrated.

July 2 2010. 45th minute added time. Ghana one goal up. 36 minutes from becoming the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final. Muntari's strike from 39.1 yards hit 105 km/h — Fernando Muslera never moved.

The goal got lost in what happened afterwards. It deserved better.

u/Longshotfootball — 4 days ago