Meaning of コース in a football match


Referring to a moment in Japan's game against Spain in the world cup where the
ball seemed like it might have gone over the line:

> 堂安選手は「自分が好きなコースだったので、絶対に決めると思って蹴りました」と話しました。  
>  Douan said "it was a ?? I liked, so I thought I will absolutely go for it,
> and kicked [the ball]".

I have two problems here. I'm not at all sure how to translate 決める in this
case. "Go for it" seemed to work.

My main confusion though is コース. I don't know what this means. My only guess
is that it refers to the 'course' from the player to the goal i.e. he had a
good angle to shoot. Am I even close?




It refers to the the trajectory the ball follows from the point where it is
kicked through a particular area of the goalmouth. I think this usage of コース
started in baseball in which the Japanese-English terms インコース and アウトコース refer
to what Americans would call "inside pitch" and "outside pitch", respectively.

Note that Doan is the player who scored the first goal for Japan, not the
second. He saw the trajectory the ball would follow before he took the shot.




It refers to the the trajectory the ball follows from the point where it is
kicked through a particular area of the goalmouth. I think this usage of コース
started in baseball in which the Japanese-English terms インコース and アウトコース refer
to what Americans would call "inside pitch" and "outside pitch", respectively.

Note that Doan is the player who scored the first goal for Japan, not the
second. He saw the trajectory the ball would follow before he took the shot.

