AFP Steven Berghuis is disappointed after missing a penalty against Argentina at the World Cup
NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 08:09
Franklin Stoker
editor NOS Sport
Franklin Stoker
editor NOS Sport
Orange and penalties. It has never been a nice combination. With the lost penalty series against Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar as the most recent example.
The Netherlands have won only two of their eight penalty shootouts at European and World Championships, at the 2004 European Championship against Sweden and at the 2014 World Cup against Costa Rica. So six times they went wrong.
In the run-up to tonight’s round of 16 against Romania, the Netherlands’ first knockout match at this European Championship, we went in search of an answer to the question: can the perfect penalty be trained?
Koeman not convinced
National coach Ronald Koeman said in the run-up to the European Championship that the penalty will not receive preferential treatment in his preparation.
“Penalties are always a theme, but so are corners and free kicks,” Koeman said. “I’m still convinced that you can’t train penalties completely with the help of psychologists. It’s about the moment. You can’t train that.”
Louis van Gaal, the previous national coach, took the penalty kick very seriously. He even enlisted the help of former volleyball coach Peter Murphy, who had the goalkeepers complete special penalty kick training. In the end, the Dutch team was eliminated after penalties, by Argentina.
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Dutchman Gyuri Vergouw wrote two football books about the art of the penalty. Vergouw is a statistician and works as an organizational consultant. And after more than twenty years of studying the penalty, he knows quite a bit about it.
The penalty kick professor believes that the penalty is still a neglected child.
The penalty is seen as a lottery by many coaches and analysts. How do you see it?
“In my opinion, a penalty kick is absolutely trainable. They just don’t want to hear it here in the Netherlands. They don’t believe in it because people have been saying for years that it’s a lottery. But in my opinion that’s not the case. People mainly say that to take the pressure off the players.”
“However, precisely because people say it’s a lottery, they increase the pressure on the players. If you know in advance that there is a big chance that you will miss, that will probably happen. If you know that you can train for it and then miss a lot less, you feel more confident, right? We really let it slide at this point.”
“I have repeatedly offered my advice to former national coaches, but I have never received a response from Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Dick Advocaat, Louis van Gaal or even Ronald Koeman.”
Bergwijn best figures
Steven Bergwijn has the best penalty kicks of the Dutch internationals. The Ajax striker has never missed: ten out of ten.
Memphis Depay does a little less from the penalty spot, but still more than enough. He hits three quarters of his penalties. Wout Weghorst and Georginio Wijnaldum are slightly lower, with just under 70 percent. Xavi Simons, Donyell Malen and Cody Gakpo score reasonably well from the penalty spot, but have not taken more than a handful of penalties.
There is one negative outlier for Oranje. Matthijs de Ligt took two penalties, both of which did not result in a goal.
“In my opinion, when a penalty is awarded, you should not only consider the psychological aspect, but also the statistical, technical and personal side. I have combined the elements and formed them into an advice.”
But what does it take to make a perfect penalty?
“My first tip: just make sure you are well prepared. Know what you have to do. You know it can be stressful, but stress comes in all shapes and sizes. Embrace that stress a little bit. Too much stress is not good, but too little is not good either. It’s about finding the right penalty takers who know how to find the middle ground.”
“Secondly: take a good run-up of at least five meters. Then you have a good speed that you can pass on to the ball. And tip number three: always shoot the ball into the corner, and preferably high. We can expect that from professional footballers, but at least shoot the ball into the corner.”
ANPMemphis Depay after his penalty miss against France in the European Championship qualifiers
“And always take your time before you shoot. You see Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the most successful penalty takers of our time, for example, always take a breath after the whistle before he runs up. Wait one or two seconds, calm down. Research shows that you should never run straight to the ball after the whistle.”
What do you advise goalkeepers?
“We know from research that it is best for a goalkeeper to wait as long as possible. For example, until you know where the penalty taker will place his standing leg.”
ANPCristiano Ronaldo takes a deep breath before his run-up
“The position of the standing leg usually tells a lot about which corner the penalty will go. A short run-up often indicates that the taker expects the keeper to choose a corner.”
How does the younger generation of trainers view your approach?
“I notice now that they are much more open to this. For example, I think that someone like Arne Slot would definitely want to listen to this. He comes from the culture of AZ, where they work a lot with data. And the same goes for René Hake. These types of trainers do pick it up.”
Finally, if it comes down to penalties against the Romanians, who should they take?
“I would put forward Stefan de Vrij, Bart Verbruggen and Daley Blind. And also Memphis Depay, because you can’t ignore him. Virgil van Dijk is then my fifth choice, because I assume he has learned from his experience in Qatar.”
“I think this quintet has a good kick and these players also have a stable personality. Yes, I would like to see it in them…”
2024-07-02 06:09:05
#stamp #including #Koeman #open
