MDANTSANE SHARES HIS PENALTY SECRETS

Very few players take penalties the way Baroka captain Mduduzi Mdantsane does. The left-footed midfielder takes just one step before planting the ball into the back of the net, doing that in both spot-kicks against Orlando Pirates in the Telkom Knockout final. “I always practice taking penalties before and after training,” Mdantsane explains. “I’ve realised that the reason players miss penalties is because they want to look down at the ball. To take a penalty, you have to look at the goalkeeper because the ball will never move. When you look at the goalkeeper, you can be able to change direction because most goalkeepers move before we kick the ball. It’s all about being confident. “When it comes to generating power, I don’t put too much power on the ball. When you run for a long distance before kicking the ball, you have a big chance of kicking it over the bar. But when you are closer, the ball will not balloon over the bar.”