Mumbai schools adopt strategy of changing goalkeepers during penalty shootout.
At the international stage, a lot of time is spent on researching about a goalkeeper when it comes to penalty shootout. Even at the local school level, sides would have met each other pretty often to know the opposition keeper’s strengths and weaknesses. But what is different in the latter is more than one ‘keeper doing duty under the bar in penalty shootouts.
St Mary’s ICSE (Mazgaon) booked their place in the semifinals of the Utpal Sanghvi football tournament with an exciting win over St. Joseph’s (Wadala) at the MSSA grounds, Azad Maidan, on Tuesday. The teams were locked 2-2 at regulation time. St Mary’s won on sudden death after the teams were 3-3 after shootout.
The penalty shootout ‘keeper trend was brought on display when the Mazgaon side changed their keeper thrice in the shootout and the team from Wadala changed theirs two times.
Fielding more than just their first-choice ‘keeper during the penalty shootout is a tried and tested formula for Zakir Hussain, coach of the Mazgaon school. “I have a ‘keeper for the game and a separate one for the shootout. There is a third ‘keeper waiting on standby. One may find this odd but a change in the middle of a pressure situation can very well unsettle the opposition’s nerves,” the coach said.
Dhrish Saggi was the first penalty shootout ‘keeper for St Mary’s. The 13-year-old started the game as a winger with Mikail Kazi tending the goal. “As often is the case, the best player of the team ends up as the goalkeeper during the shootout, this is as good as an unwritten rule. There is no question of me and the first choice ‘keeper having any argument,” said Saggi.
Hanzel Fernandes, DY Patil International School, Worli, coach comes from the same school of thought. “Such a tactic is nothing but a psychological ploy to unsettle the opponent. I, too, follow the three goalkeepers strategy with the one in the shootout playing in his preferred position during the game.”
Desmond D’Souza, AVM Juhu coach, begged to differ. “Other teams opt for this as it affects the rhythm, but such things come down to the player who kicks and the player who saves. It’s no less than a lottery. People gamble in day-to-day life, more so in sport.”
Stopwatch: St Mary’s ICSE 2 (S Harsh, Granvil B) drew with St Joseph 2 (T Fernandes, N Bohara).
St Mary’s won 6-5 on penalty shootout; Don Bosco (Matunga) 2 (S Sail, F Anthony) bt Fatima HS (Vidyavihar) 0
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