Eddies struggle to score on penalty kicks
FC Edmonton scoreless on five penalty kicks this season
As a team, FC Edmonton has had little trouble putting the ball in the net.
The Eddies have scored six goals in their last two matches, including last week’s Amway Canadian Championship game against the Ottawa Fury FC, and have yet to be held off the scoresheet in North American Soccer League play.
It’s been a different story in one-on-one situations, though, as Edmonton has yet to score on a penalty kick heading into the second leg of their home-and-home Amway quarter-final with Ottawa at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Clarke Field.
The combination of striker Frank Jonke (twice) plus midfielders Ritchie Jones, Lance Laing and Sadi Jalali have been thwarted on all five opportunities, which is an oddity in professional soccer. Enigmatic Liverpool FC striker Mario Balotelli has scored on 28 of 30 chances from the spot in his career while former Southhampton FC midfielder Matthew Le Tissier was successful an astonishing 47 times on 48 kicks.
“You kind of wing it. This last penalty, I could watch a 100 times and, if I had looked up a split second earlier, I would have seen the goalie was already moving,” Jonke said about his recent miss against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. “Stepping up to the spot is about confidence. It doesn’t matter how much you practise, it’s about how you feel on that day.”
Jonke mentioned his penalty goal in last season’s Amway semifinal match against Major League Soccer’s Montreal Impact. It looked like it had given Edmonton a berth in the final until a controversial last-minute call went against the Eddies.
“I was feeling good then; I had already scored a goal,” Jonke said. “Most of the time, you can see by a player’s body language on TV whether he’s going to miss it or he’s going to convert.”
Jalali, who scored his first professional goal last season on a penalty kick, finds it easier to just let instinct take over.
“I just zone out and watch the goalie,” he said. “The keeper has to react first, so when he makes a move, I try to go to the other side.”
When asked about the best player on penalty kicks, both Jonke and Jalali immediately mentioned legendary French midfielder Zinedine Zidane’s chip over Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 2006 World Cup final. One the broadcasters said: “Only one of the world’s great players would attempt something as audacious as that.”
Is it a move an FC Edmonton player would dare try?
“Nine times out of 10, a chip will work, but that one time you miss it will make you look like an idiot,” Jonke said. “It’s always going to be about picking your poison. In hindsight, you will always see the right spot.”
On the other side of the ball, conceding a penalty can be just as devastating. Eddies left-back Kareem Moses talked about that uneasy feeling when an attacker bears down on you inside the danger area.
“Hopefully, the keeper can handle it or I can put my body in front of it,” Moses said. “It happens so fast and it’s a split second to think about it. Honestly, in that situation, I don’t know what I’ll do, but hopefully, I’ll come out on top.”
Moses’ job is to keep the ball from tickling the mesh and he is likely low on the list of players who would step up for a penalty kick at the crucial moment, but with the Eddies’ lack of success lately, the defender sees an opportunity on his horizon.
“A lot of guys have missed this season,” he said with a laugh. “I think I can be third after Christian (Raudales) and Tomi (Ameobi). Those are the two who haven’t missed yet.”
Moses worked on his technique in Tuesday’s practice at Clarke Field while Jonke looked on. Is the defender the last player Jonke would like to see line up for FC Edmonton?
“Oh calling out names?” he said, watching Moses at the spot. “I’m confident in any of our guys.”
The safe answer. Moses went on to justify his teammate’s faith, burying the kick high and hard past a diving Tyson Farago.
“Franky! Your money’s in good hands,” Moses yelled back.