Koeman’s new penalty plan: Oranje ready but the margin remains untrainable

The Dutch bench in Monterrey is bathed in the sterile glow of a pre-dawn training session, hours before the 3.00 a.m. kick-off against Morocco. Ronald Koeman has drilled his team daily on penalties, yet he insists the decisive margin cannot be rehearsed. "There is only a margin you cannot train," he told reporters, pointing to the unscripted pressure of stepping from the halfway line to the spot. "You have to stay cool and businesslike; that gives you the best chance." Koeman, a former penalty specialist himself, knows the stakes. Oranje’s last two World Cup exits—2014 and 2022—both came via shoot-outs, twice against Argentina. This time, the Dutch have scaled back the intensity of their preparation compared with Louis van Gaal’s data-driven approach in Qatar, when the staff even consulted former volleyball coach Peter Murphy. "I thought it was a bit exaggerated at the time," Koeman said. "Everyone has the right to do it their way. We have done it differently." The Dutch coach believes only victory in a shoot-out will settle the debate over the best method. "Then we might finally be done with this discussion." Virgil van Dijk, a penalty taker in Oranje’s ranks, echoed Koeman’s realism. "That is the margin the coach is talking about," he said. "A moment like that you cannot train." Van Dijk, who missed in the 2022 quarter-final shoot-out against Argentina, admitted the miss lingered. "We trained every day in Qatar and every ball went in, but in the real moment it didn’t. I was upset for a while after the World Cup."

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Yet Van Dijk has since reclaimed his composure, converting a crucial penalty in October 2023 during Euro qualifying against Greece. The burden now shifts to the goalkeepers. Tim Krul made his name in 2014 by saving two penalties as a substitute against Costa Rica, but this tournament may belong to Robin Roefs, Sunderland’s reserve goalkeeper, who has stopped four of his eight career penalties. Starting keeper Bart Verbruggen brings more experience to the task, having faced 54 penalties and made seven saves. Morocco, meanwhile, will rely on Yassine Bounou, the 35-year-old Al Hilal goalkeeper who has repeatedly elevated his game in shoot-outs. Bounou saved two penalties against Spain in the 2022 round of 16, helping Morocco advance to the quarter-finals.

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"We all know that penalties involve a lot of luck," Bounou told modestly. "We prepare for matches of this calibre, whether it goes to extra time or penalties." The match kicks off at 3.00 a.m. Dutch time on Tuesday in Monterrey, broadcast live on .nl, NPO Start, NPO 1 and NPO Radio 1, with audio description available for blind and partially sighted viewers on NPO 1 Extra (channel 81).