Photography at Football matches - behind the goal setup

[fathomfive]

Usually behind the goal at a match there will be a raft of cameras all set up on tripods ready to catch that crucial image.
Now, a thought happened across my mind last night and I wondered just how people set their camera up to use remotely and capture said crucial image(s). Not so much the use of a remote, but would they be pre-focussing / setting the aperture to cover a certain amount of the penalty area with a decent depth of field and relying on players passing through?
Or is it more complex?

[Simpo Two]

Football happens fast and the attack can come in from any angle and distance. They'll have a top DSLR (Nikon D3 etc) with fast lens, and I suspect the AF system will be set up for continuous tracking and whatever group dynamic setting they find best. The rest I suspect is anticipation, reflexes, luck and of course 10fps.

[RobDickinson]

I suspect they use a wide angle lens , 12-16mm, and prefocus and just have a hueg DOF.

[fathomfive]

That's what I thought - you're setting the depth of field, say, to cover everything from inside the goal to the penalty spot and hoping that when something happens in that area and you press the button, your 10fps will bag you the shot you're looking for.

[DHA]

Most of the shots used that are taken from behind the goal are usually when a goal is scored or a save is made, a great example is this