Fans of association football will have all experienced this at one time or another. When watching a match on TV, there’s a specific camera angle that’s diagonal to the goal where it looks like the ball is going near the net, only to find out that the ball goes up and is sent in the opposite direction away from goal.
I’ve watched more than a thousand matches on TV in my lifetime and I still find myself jumping up for joy at what looks like a clear shot or header on goal only to sheepishly turn away and hope that no one saw how silly I was. The ball actually heads up and slightly to the camera, not away from it.
It’s what I call the Bermuda Triangle of soccer TV camera angles where strange things happen. It’s so annoying and happens once or twice in every three to four matches I watch.
A perfect example of this phenomenon was in the 51st minute of the Croatia against Turkey game when Olic raced in to the box to head the ball past Turkish goalkeeper Rustu. The ball went up into the air and over the goalie’s head. It looked to be heading into the net only for it to go straight up and slightly away from goal.
Can anyone explain this phenomenon and why it happens?
