There may be the ultimate punishment: ‘Old fashioned, together with Koeman, will not be open to her’

• Franklin Stoker

  NOS Sport editor

Orange and penalties. It was by no means mixture. With the penalty shootout loss towards Argentina on the World Cup in Qatar being the newest instance.

The Netherlands have solely gained two of their eight penalty shootouts at European Championships and World Cups, the 2004 European Championship towards Sweden and the 2014 World Cup towards Costa Rica. So it went mistaken six occasions.

Going into tonight’s spherical of 16 towards Romania, the Dutch group’s first knockout match at this European event, we have been searching for a solution to the query: will the kick- excellent punishment to coach?

Nationwide coach Ronald Koeman stated within the run-up to the European Championship that the penalty is not going to obtain favorable therapy in his preparations.

“Penalties are at all times a problem, however so are corners and free kicks,” Koeman stated. “I am nonetheless satisfied you could’t practice penalties totally with the assistance of psychologists. It is about now. You possibly can’t practice that.”

Louis van Gaal, who was the previous nationwide coach, got here to a really severe subject with the penalty. He even received assist from former volleyball coach Peter Murphy, whose goalkeepers had accomplished particular penalty coaching. Lastly, the Dutch group was eradicated after penalties by Argentina.

Dutchman Gyuri Vergouw wrote two soccer books in regards to the artwork of penalty kicks. Vergouw is a statistician and works as a administration advisor. And after greater than twenty years of learning the punishment, he is aware of a little bit about it.

The punishment professor believes that the punishment remains to be uncared for.

The penalty is dismissed as a lottery by many trainers and analysts. How do you see that?

“For my part, penalty kicks may be skilled fully. They simply do not wish to hear it right here within the Netherlands. They do not imagine in it as a result of folks have been saying for years that it is a lottery ‘ there may be an opinion that’s not true.

“Nevertheless, simply because folks say it is a lottery, they put strain on the gamers. If you recognize upfront that there’s a good likelihood that you’ll lose, it’s going to most likely occur. If you recognize you’ve got an opportunity to coach after which miss so much much less, you are feeling extra assured, proper?

“I’ve at all times provided my recommendation to former nationwide coaches, however I by no means received a response from Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Dick Advocaat, Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman.”

“For my part, with a penalty kick you shouldn’t solely deal with the psychological facet, but in addition on the statistical, technical and private facet. I put the weather collectively and created them into an recommendation .”

However what does it take for an ideal punishment?

“My first tip: simply be sure to’re ready. Know what to do. You realize it may be disturbing, however stress is available in all sizes and styles. Take that strain a little bit too. An excessive amount of weight will not be good, however not too little. It is about discovering the best penalty takers who know discover the center.”

“Second: take run of a minimum of 5 metres. Then you’ve got a long way you can provide the ball. And tip quantity three: at all times choose the ball up within the nook, ideally excessive. Sure let’s not count on skilled footballers, however a minimum of kick the ball into the nook.”

“And at all times take your time earlier than you shoot. You possibly can see Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the profitable penalty takers of our time, at all times taking a breath earlier than operating, for instance, after the whistle .Wait a second or two, settle down.

“We all know from analysis that it’s higher for a keeper to attend so long as doable. In order that you recognize, for instance, the place the penalty taker places his supporting foot.”

“The place of the supporting foot normally says so much in regards to the angle at which the penalty will probably be taken. A brief run usually signifies that the receiver expects the keeper to take a nook.”

How does the youthful era of trainers view your strategy?

“I discover now that they’re much extra open to this. For instance, I believe that somebody like Arne Slot undoubtedly desires to hearken to this. He comes from the AZ tradition, the place they work so much with knowledge. And the identical goes for René Hake. These form of trainers will construct it.”

Ultimately. If it involves punishments towards the Romans, who ought to they take?

“I’d ship Stefan de Vrij, Bart Verbruggen and Daley Blind ahead. And in addition Memphis Depay, as a result of you’ll be able to’t ignore him. Virgil van Dijk is my fifth selection, as I assume he’ll profit from his expertise in Qatar. “

“I believe these 5 have kick and these gamers even have a secure character. Sure, I wish to see in them…”