The Precedent of a Penalty Specialist
I’ve seen many people on this app questioning why on earth Australia would replace Patrick Beach with Matthew Ryan right before penalties. To answer this question, it’s time for a history lesson.
Back in 2014, the Netherlands were facing the Cinderella story that was Costa Rica in the World Cup quarter final.
Despite being in a group with Uruguay, Italy and England, Costa Rica won their group, then beat Greece in the round of 16 to make it to the quarters after winning a penalty shootout. How were they able to do this? Keylor Navas.
While James Rodriguez and Paul Pogba are the youngsters most fondly remembered from the 2014 World Cup, Keylor Navas burst onto the scene as an elite goalkeeper. In the round of 16, he won man of the match behind a legendary performance and save in the penalty shootout to get Costa Rica to the quarters. With him between the posts, Costa Rica were more than happy to go to penalties.
Thanks to more Navas brilliance, Costa Rica had kept the Dutch from scoring a goal in 120 minutes and since Costa Rica couldn’t generate many shots, let alone score a goal, penalties felt inevitable. Manager Louis van Gaal had a trick up his sleeve.
Tim Krul was a 26-year old goalkeeper at Newcastle United. While he showed flashes, he had also dealt with many ankle injuries that limited his availability, making him the backup behind Jasper Cillessen. Cillessen had finished with the most clean sheets (shutouts) in the Eredivisie (top Dutch league) while also putting up great performances in the champions league. However, Krul did have 1 advantage over Cillessen.
Krul was considered a much better penalty goalkeeper than the Dutch starter. With Navas on the other side and the strong possibility of penalties, Louis van Gaal knew he needed an edge.
According to Krul himself, Netherlands’s goalkeeping coach approached him on the bus on the day of the match and told him the plan. If penalties appeared inevitable, he would be brought in for Cillessen. When extra time came around, he needed to study Costa Rica’s shots and then warm up himself. Fast forward to the game, in the 121st minute, Krul was subbed in.
At the time, it was a gutsy call. But the hope was that Krul’s size would intimidate Costa Rica and his reflexes would win the day. In the penalty shootout, Costa Rica scored the first one, but Krul stopped the second shot.
On Costa Rica’s 5th kick, the Dutch were up 4-3, if Costa Rica missed, the Netherlands would move on. Michael Umaña stepped up for Costa Rica and Krul stopped his penalty, confirming the Netherlands’s spot in the semi-final.
This has been deemed one of the greatest substitutions in World Cup history.
It’s also worth noting that Australia used this exact strategy to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. In their intercontinental matchup with Peru, Andrew Redmayne was subbed in at the 120th minute and stopped the final penalty to send Australia to that World Cup.
So yeah, it didn’t work today, but there is plenty of precedent for this being a smart move. Australia just missed their own penalties.
