Goalie Krul’s homework does the trick

Tim Krul had Tottenham Hotspurs’ penalty takers and the directions they would shoot listed on his water bottle ahead of Norwich’s shock win on spotkicks in the FA Cup on Wednesday night, reports the Daily Mail. When the two teams failed to score during extra-time after it ended 1-1, the Canaries knew they would have to rely on the man between the sticks to be the hero. Krul had clearly prepared for that outcome to the game as his water bottle listed every penalty taker and which direction they were likely to go. That included Troy Parrott, who only made his second appearance for Spurs.

Eric Dier would strike Spurs’ first penalty past Krul, despite the Norwich man going the right way, but Erik Lamela struck the bar with his. Giovani Lo Celso scored and then Parrott was the first to have a spot-kick saved, with Krul diving low to his left to turn it away.

The crucial penalty fell to loanee Gedson Fernandes, whose tame effort to the right of the goal was saved by the Dutch goalkeeper with another demonstration of his reflexes. With Norwich scoring three of their spot kicks meant the Canaries advanced.

It brought back memories of his shootout antics for Holland at the 2014 World Cup, when Louis van Gaal introduced him as a late specialist substitute. On that day, he guessed the right direction every time and saved two penalties to help his side advance to the next side. It was even more impressive given Krul’s reputation outweighed reality — he had actually saved just two of the last 20 penalties he had faced prior to Wednesday night.