arXiv · 2509.26088
Predicting Penalty Kick Direction Using Multi-Modal Deep Learning with Pose-Guided Attention
Abstract
Penalty kicks often decide championships, yet goalkeepers must anticipate the kicker's intent from subtle biomechanical cues within a very short time window. This study introduces a real-time, multi-modal deep learning framework to predict the direction of a penalty kick (left, middle, or right) before ball contact. The model uses a dual-branch architecture: a MobileNetV2-based CNN extracts spatial features from RGB frames, while 2D keypoints are processed by an LSTM network with attention mechanisms. Pose-derived keypoints further guide visual focus toward task-relevant regions. A distance-based thresholding method segments input sequences immediately before ball contact, ensuring consistent input across diverse footage. A custom dataset of 755 penalty kick events was created from real match videos, with frame-level annotations for object detection, shooter keypoints, and final ball placement. The model achieved 89% accuracy on a held-out test set, outperforming visual-only and pose-only baselines by 14-22%. With an inference time of 22 milliseconds, the lightweight and interpretable design makes it suitable for goalkeeper training, tactical analysis, and real-time game analytics.
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Pasindu Ranasinghe, Pamudu Ranasinghe. 2025-09-30. Predicting Penalty Kick Direction Using Multi-Modal Deep Learning with Pose-Guided Attention. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_14
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