I will step up for penalties again

...player overcomes fear of taking penalties

"I have faced my fear, and you know that big players must step up… We have seen Sadio Mane missing, but then taking one again. The same with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The only thing that matters is how you pick yourself up."

Deon Hotto is finally over his fear of taking penalties. This is what

The PlayMaker found out after the player recently took two consecutive penalties for Orlando Pirates in a 3-2 win over SuperSport United earlier this month.

For the first one, Hotto smashed the ball right down the middle, with Ronwen Williams, who is regarded as South Africa’s first-choice keeper at the moment, unable to stop it. For the second one, the Namibian sent Williams the wrong way to mark a brace of goals for Pirates on the day.

What made this noteworthy was that just a few years ago, Hotto came under fire for missing a penalty for Namibia during the 2016 Cosafa Cup when the Brave Warriors faced Botswana at a packed Sam Nujoma Stadium.

Back then, Namibians subjected the player to all sorts of profanities, and it resulted in the player being slightly averse to taking spot-kicks, various reports suggested.

So, what led to Hotto’s recent confidence in taking penalties?

“Everything gets better in time,” he says regarding that period when he was nervous to take penalties.

“I have been taking penalties in training and friendly matches. I am now ranked number two at Orlando Pirates, just behind our captain Happy Jele, when it comes to taking penalties. So, my confidence has grown from that and I can now say that even if I miss, I will take it again,” he explained.

“I have faced my fear, and you know that big players must step up… We have seen Sadio Mane missing, but then taking one again. The same with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The only thing that matters is how you pick yourself up. I have matured as a player, and I understand missing is part of the game. But I will not stop because I am a dead-ball specialist,” he declared.

Hotto has added that element to his game, even though he was mostly known as an ‘Assist King’.

Assist King

Regularly setting up teammates and finding the back of the net often, the Orlando Pirates player is often not far off the list when it comes to players with the most assists in the DStv Premiership.

This has been the case for a number of years since he joined Golden Arrows from African Stars back in 2014.

Now in his eighth year in South Africa, Hotto has remarkably been recorded as having 43 assists in that country’s elite league.

His return on goals has also been quite good, with 32 goals in all competitions marking his current statistics in that department.

This has led to him winning several personal awards over the years while also helping ‘The Buccaneers’ win a trophy (MTN 8) for the first time in six years during the 2020/21 season.

While the title of ‘King of Assists’ is well-known, in recent weeks Hotto has been carving out a reputation of being a great dead-ball specialist.

Dead-ball specialist

This refers to his ability to provide great crosses from free kicks - often also converting them in style - and being able to successfully slot home from penalties.

At the beginning of this campaign, his ability to score from a set-piece was on full display when he sent one flying in from 30 metres against Stellenbosch to win the September goal of the month in the DStv Premiership.

In the Caf Confederation Cup against Royal Leopards on 27 February, Hotto set up Jele from a free-kick that had the markings of a man who has mastered the art of taking set-pieces. On that occasion, the Namibian floated the ball into the area and straight onto the head of Jele, who only had to provide the slightest of touches to score. That day would also see Hotto going on to provide two more assists, for an overall haul of three assists in the game.

Adding to those heroics, the flying winger’s renewed confidence in taking penalties has led to him becoming a go-to player for the Buccaneers.

With club football currently on an international break, Hotto’s next chance to add to his growing reputation as a dead-ball specialist will come on 3 April when Pirates are due to play Al-Ittihad in the Caf Confederation Cup.